Chapter 2

I didn' t make a scene.

I turned and walked away from Julian, from Chloe, from Mrs. Sterling' s triumphant gaze.

I walked through the grand ballroom, past the glittering chandeliers and the oblivious guests.

Each step felt lighter than the last.

Outside, the city air was cool on my hot face. I hailed a cab, not to the Sterling penthouse, not yet.

I went to a bank, one that held an account Julian had set up for me years ago.

A "cohabitation agreement" he' d called it. He' d had his lawyers draft it. I signed it without much thought, a young woman grateful for any semblance of security.

He' d put a substantial sum in it, a monthly allowance that mostly accumulated because I rarely spent it on myself.

He said it was for my "peace of mind."

I think he thought it would keep me tied to him, a gilded cage.

He never imagined it would be my escape fund.

I withdrew a significant amount, enough to start over, enough to disappear for a while.

Then, I directed the cab to the penthouse.

The doorman nodded, incurious. I was a familiar, if peripheral, part of Julian' s life.

The apartment was silent, vast, and cold. Filled with expensive things, but no warmth.

My personal belongings fit into two suitcases. Clothes, a few books, some small, sentimental items I' d hoarded from my childhood.

I looked at the sprawling rooms, the art Julian collected, the view of the city that always felt like it belonged to someone else.

No tears. Just a quiet resolve.

Before leaving the city, I had one more stop. The Sterling estate on Long Island, where Finn lived most of the time with his grandmother.

I needed to see my son.

The gates were, as always, imposing.

Mrs. Sterling met me at the door, her expression a mask of polite hostility.

"Clara. Julian didn't mention you were coming."

"I want to see Finn," I said, my voice steady.

"He's with his nanny. He's just about to have his nap." An excuse. Always an excuse.

"I'll be quick."

She sighed, a martyr to my inconvenience. "Very well."

Finn was in the nursery, a room larger than any I' d lived in before Julian.

He was playing with a set of wooden blocks, his small face serious.

He looked up when I entered. No smile. No "Mama."

"Finn, honey," I knelt.

He looked past me, towards his grandmother who stood in the doorway.

"Nana," he said, his voice small. He got up and walked towards her, clutching her skirt.

Mrs. Sterling put a proprietary hand on his shoulder. "He's a bit shy today."

Shy? Or conditioned?

My heart ached, a deep, hollow pain. This was their doing. They had systematically marginalized me in my own son' s life.

He preferred his grandmother. He barely knew me as his mother.

This wasn't just about Julian and Seraphina anymore. This was about Finn.

And about me.

I stood up. "I understand."

I didn't try to hug him. I didn't want to force an affection he didn't feel, not in front of her.

But his small, averted face was seared into my mind.

It didn't break my resolve. It solidified it.

I had to leave. For him, as much as for me. Maybe one day, he would understand.

I walked out of the Sterling estate without looking back.

The road ahead was uncertain, but for the first time in years, it felt like my own.