Chapter 4 - EVELYN’S REAL PLAN “You put him there.”
Julian spoke slowly.
Not because he was calm.
Because if he allowed himself to feel everything at once, he wasn’t sure what he would do.
Evelyn shook her head desperately.
“I was going to release him.”
“When?”
“After the party.”
Julian stared at her.
“The party ends at midnight.”
“I didn’t know the ventilation was sealed!”
Toby whimpered against Julian.
That sound destroyed whatever sympathy remained inside him.
“Why?”
Evelyn looked around.
Cameras.
Investors.
Friends.
Enemies.
Everything she valued was watching.
“Not here.”
Julian almost laughed.
“You locked our child inside a wall, and you’re worried about privacy?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Then simplify it.”
Evelyn’s shoulders dropped.
“You were leaving me.”
Several guests exchanged glances.
Julian said nothing.
Three weeks earlier, he had secretly met with a divorce attorney.
Their marriage had deteriorated for years.
Evelyn had become obsessed with appearances, money, social standing.
Julian had become increasingly worried about how that obsession affected Toby.
But he hadn’t filed anything.
“How did you know?”
Evelyn laughed bitterly.
“You think I don’t know what happens inside my own marriage?”
Julian’s expression darkened.
“What does divorce have to do with Toby?”
“Everything.”
Evelyn’s eyes filled with desperate anger.
“Your father’s trust.”
Julian froze.
Mercer family assets were complicated.
Under his father’s estate plan, significant voting control in Mercer Properties would eventually pass through Toby.
If Julian obtained sole custody during divorce proceedings, Evelyn could lose access to the family fortune.
“You wanted custody.”
“I wanted security!”
“You wanted money.”
“I sacrificed ten years for this family!”
Julian stared at her.
“Sacrificed?”
Evelyn’s voice cracked.
“You were going to walk away and leave me with nothing.”
“You have millions.”
“It isn’t about millions!”
She immediately realized what she had said.
The room erupted into whispers.
Julian finally understood.
It wasn’t survival.
It was control.
“What was the plan?”
Evelyn looked away.
Julian stepped closer.
“What were you going to do with Toby?”
“I just needed everyone to believe you weren’t watching him.”
Julian’s blood chilled.
“What?”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
“The press already thinks you work too much.”
Pieces began falling together.
The enormous party.
The cameras.
The carefully selected guests.
Toby’s disappearance.
“You wanted him reported missing.”
Evelyn didn’t answer.
Julian continued.
“Then you would find him.”
Still silence.
“You’d become the terrified mother who saved her neglected child.”
Elena covered her mouth.
Julian’s voice dropped.
“And I’d become the father who lost him.”
Evelyn whispered:
“It would have helped my custody case.”
Julian stared at her in disbelief.
“You risked his life for leverage in a divorce?”
“I didn’t think he was in danger!”
“He couldn’t breathe!”
“I didn’t know!”
“That is your defense?”
Evelyn began crying.
For the first time, she no longer looked glamorous.
She looked small.
Terrified.
Cornered.
But Julian felt no victory.
Only grief.
Because the woman standing before him was still Toby’s mother.
And somehow, somewhere along the road between ambition and fear, she had decided her own child was acceptable collateral.
Sirens suddenly echoed outside.
Evelyn looked toward the windows.
Red and blue light flashed across the ceiling.
Her eyes widened.
“You called the police?”
Julian looked at her.
“No, Evelyn.”
May you like
He held Toby closer.
“I called them for my son.”
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