Chapter 5 THE CLAIM

"You look terrible, Maya. Are they not letting you use the shower?"

The voice, smooth and invasive as syrup, slides into the room. I look up from wiping Leo's brow. Clara stands in the doorway, holding a ludicrously oversized bouquet of white lilies. She's dressed for a board meeting, not a pediatric ICU.

Liam, who'd been dozing in the corner chair, is instantly on his feet, a silent, solid wall between her and the bed.

"What are you doing here?" My voice is flat. All my emotion is reserved for the beep of the monitor.

"I came to see the child, of course. And to see you." She places the flowers on the windowsill, an act of conquest. "We need to talk. Man to man, as it were."

"There's nothing to talk about."

"Oh, I disagree." She smiles, glancing around the room with a pitying look. "I think we need to understand each other. For Daniel's sake. He's... stretched very thin."

A cold laugh escapes me. "Is that what we're calling it?"

She ignores me, stepping closer. Liam shifts, blocking her path completely. She finally acknowledges him with a flick of her eyes. "Liam. Still playing the faithful dog, I see."

"Still trespassing where you're not wanted, I see," he replies, his tone deceptively calm.

Clara's smile sharpens. She focuses back on me. "I'll be brief. You need to accept the way things are. That man you're so angry with? The provider in that lovely house? The career he has? That's me, Maya. Every brick, every paycheck, every ounce of respect he's earned in the last five years flows from my family. My father's company. My favor."

The words are meant to be bullets. They hit, but they find armor I didn't know I'd grown. "You're here to tell me my husband is a paid-for accessory?"

"I'm here to tell you he's mine." The veneer cracks, showing the steel beneath. "In every way that matters. He has been for years. You were the temporary caretaker of a life I built for him. It's time to step aside with some grace. Sign the papers he'll give you. Take your son. And go."

The sheer audacity steals my breath. I stand up slowly, my body humming with a new, clean fury. "You have a child with him. I know that. Do you think that's a winning argument? That you're the winner of some contest? You're the other woman who needed to trap a man with a baby to feel secure."

Her composure wavers for a second. "You know nothing."

"I know he forgot his son's birthday for yours. I know which child he chose to celebrate. I know whose hospital bed he's been too busy to sit at. You can have the prize, Clara. He's a coward and a liar. But you don't get to come into my son's room and issue decrees."

Liam speaks then, his voice cutting through the tension like a knife. "I think you're forgetting something, Clara. Last I checked, you're married. Or did your husband finally see the light? Why are you so obsessed with another woman's man?"

Clara turns her glacial gaze on him. "My marital status is not her business. Or yours. This is between me and Daniel. And by extension, her. She's the obstacle."

"No," I say, the word final. "I'm not an obstacle. I'm the ex-wife you're going to have to deal with. Now get out."

She doesn't move. Instead, she reaches into her sleek leather portfolio. "I thought you might be emotional. Daniel always said you were... sentimental." She pulls out a single, thick envelope. "This isn't for you. It's for him." She holds it out toward Liam.

He doesn't take it. "What is it?"

"A reality you've been avoiding." She drops the envelope on the empty chair. It lands with a soft, heavy thud. The window on the front faces up. I see Liam's full name printed in sharp, official letters. Below it, a line of text makes my heart stop.

SUBPOENA: PATERNITY TEST ORDER & INITIAL CUSTODY HEARING.

The world tilts.

Liam stares at it, all the color draining from his face. It's not confusion I see. It's recognition, followed by sheer, unadulterated horror.

"What is this?" My question is a whisper, directed at Liam, not Clara.

Clara's smile is back, victorious and cruel. "It seems you're not the only one who's been in the dark, Maya. Your loyal knight here has a few secrets of his own. A child, from what I understand. A little boy, about five. The mother is seeking formal recognition and support. She's quite determined."

She lets that hang in the toxic air. The parallel is too precise, too devastating. A secret child. Age five. The exact weapon that destroyed me.

"It's not true," Liam says, but his voice is hollow, stripped of its usual certainty. He's looking at the envelope like it's a venomous snake.

"The courts will decide that," Clara says sweetly. "I just happened to hear about it through my father's legal team. Thought you should be served properly. Wouldn't want you to miss your court date while you're busy here... playing house."

She turns to leave, pausing at the door. "Think about what I said, Maya. You have no allies here. Just different versions of the same betrayal. Daniel is mine. And your consolation prize?" She nods toward Liam, who is still staring, pale and shattered, at the legal papers. "He comes with baggage even bigger than yours."

She's gone.

The silence she leaves behind is screaming. The only sound is Leo's steady monitor and the ragged sound of my own breathing. I look from the envelope-the official, terrifying envelope-to Liam's face.

The man who has been my fortress for days looks utterly broken. He finally meets my eyes, and the pain in them is a physical blow.

"Maya," he rasps.

It's one word. A plea. A confession. A ruin.

And I have no idea what it means. The only man I trusted has just been served a paternity suit in my son's hospital room. Clara's last words echo. Different versions of the same betrayal.

The ground is gone again. But this time, Liam is falling with me.