Chapter 2

The words echoed, a grotesque symphony of their betrayal.

Noah, my son.

Ethan, their son.

The medication. The deliberate, cold-blooded plan to erase Noah to secure Ethan's inheritance.

I felt a rage so profound it was a physical sickness.

I pushed open the door.

They turned, startled, but Victoria recovered instantly.

Her face was a mask of icy composure. Julian looked smug, even now.

"Liam," Victoria said, her voice flat. "You weren't meant to hear that."

"Heard what?" I choked out, my voice raw. "That you switched my son at birth? That you' ve been poisoning me? That you' re planning to murder him?"

Victoria didn' t flinch. "It was necessary. For Ethan. For the family."

"Our family?" I laughed, a harsh, broken sound. "This isn't a family. This is a horror show."

Julian smirked. "Don't be so dramatic, Liam. It's just business, in a way."

"I want a divorce, Victoria," I said, the words torn from my throat.

She actually laughed, a low, dismissive chuckle. "Oh, Liam. You have nothing. You are nothing without me."

I stared at her, the woman I once loved, now a monster.

I pulled out my phone. My hands were shaking.

I scrolled to a number I hadn't called in years.

"Ava," I said, my voice surprisingly steady. "Heard you're newly single. I'm about to be. Interested in a partnership?"

A pause, then Ava Chen' s calm, resourceful voice. "Liam. It's been too long. Tell me everything."

A memory surfaced, sharp and bitter.

Victoria, years ago, during our engagement.

She' d presented a document, pre-signed by her. A divorce agreement.

"It' s just a formality, darling," she' d purred, stroking my cheek. "A testament to my trust in us. We' ll never need it."

I, blinded by what I thought was love, had signed it without a second thought, feeling cherished.

The irony was a fresh stab of pain.

Noah didn't make it through the night. Or rather, they didn't let him.

The funeral was small, lonely. Just me, and a hired priest.

Victoria and Julian didn't come. Ethan wasn't there.

I stood by the tiny grave, a crushing weight on my chest. My son. I never even got to tell him.

I returned to our Manhattan penthouse, a place that now felt alien, a gilded cage built on lies.

The scene that greeted me was obscene.

Victoria and Julian were on the sofa, laughing, his arm around her. Ethan was at Julian' s feet, looking up at him with adoration.

They looked like a family. The family they had stolen from me.