3:The Price of a Secret

The silence in the office was deafening. Julian’s gaze was fixed on the tablet screen, his thumb tracing the pixels of the little boy’s face. Leo’s eyes—the same storm-cloud gray that looked back at Julian in the mirror every morning—seemed to stare through the digital image and into his soul.

"He’s three years old," Julian whispered, his voice dangerously calm. It was the calm before a hurricane. "The math... the math is perfect, Elara."

"Julian, please—" Elara started, her voice trembling, but he slammed the tablet onto the desk with a sound like a gunshot.

"Don't lie to me!" he roared, rounding the desk. He grabbed her by the shoulders, not to hurt her, but because he looked like he might collapse if he didn't hold onto something. "How could you? You let me believe you left because you found someone else. You let me think you were just another gold-digger who got bored with the chase. But all this time... you were hiding my son?"

"He’s my son," Elara sobbed, finally breaking. She pushed against his chest, her tears staining the silk of his expensive tie. "I saw how you looked at your family, Julian. I heard you tell your father that children were nothing but 'liabilities' and 'messy distractions' to the Sterling legacy. I wasn't going to let you treat him like a business transaction!"

Julian’s grip tightened. His face was a mask of agony and fury. "I was a different man three years ago. I was a man who didn't know he had a piece of himself walking around in the world."

He let go of her abruptly, pacing the length of the glass office like a caged animal. He stopped, looking out at the city he owned, then turned back to her. The cold, calculating CEO was back, but there was something new in his eyes—an obsession that terrified her.

"Pack your things," he commanded.

"What? Julian, I just started—"

"Not your office things, Elara. Your apartment. Everything." Julian stepped toward her, his shadow swallowing her whole. "The Sterling heir does not live in a two-bedroom walk-up in a neighborhood where the streetlights don't work. You and the boy are moving into the penthouse. Tonight."

"I will not let you take him from me!" Elara screamed, her heart hammering.

"I’m not taking him from you," Julian growled, leaning down until their noses almost touched. "I’m taking both of you. You wanted a job, Elara? Congratulations. Your new role is 'Mother of the Sterling Heir.' And since the press will have a field day with a 'secret baby,' we’re going to give them a story they’ll believe."

He pulled a velvet box from his desk drawer—one he had bought years ago and never had the chance to use. He snapped it open to reveal a diamond the size of a marble.

"You’re going to wear this ring. You’re going to move into my home. And you’re going to pretend we’ve been deeply in love this entire time."

"And if I say no?" Elara challenged, her chin trembling.

Julian leaned in closer, his voice a dark promise. "Then I’ll have my lawyers at your door by sunrise. I have more money than you have heartbeats, Elara. I will tie you up in court until you’re gray and old. You’ll lose your job, your home, and eventually... you’ll lose him. Or, you can come with me, and Leo gets the best doctors, the best schools, and the father he deserves."

Elara looked at the blue toy car on the floor. She thought of Leo’s surgery. She thought of the way Julian had looked at that photo—not with corporate greed, but with a hunger she didn't understand.

She reached out and took the ring.

"I’ll do it," she whispered. "But don't think for a second this makes us a family."

Julian’s lips pulled into a grim, victorious smile. He reached out, his hand lingering on her waist, pulling her flush against him. "We aren't a family yet, Elara. But you’re a Sterling now. And Sterlings always get what they want."