Chapter 3

Autumn Lancaster POV

The moment the car started, I saw through the rearview mirror that Ethan was still standing in the doorway.

I didn't return to the Lancaster estate. The Lancaster mansion had long been seized by the bank.

I took Maya to an old apartment in Brooklyn-a small place I'd bought after college graduation.

Ethan had always found it too remote and desolate.

He said. "You're Mrs. Pierce now. You don't need to live in a place like this."

So in the eight years we were together, I never came back here.

Maya sat on the couch, hugging her stuffed rabbit, asking me quietly.

"Mommy, are we not keeping Daddy anymore?"

I crouched down to look at her. "Does Maya want Daddy?"

She lowered her head and thought for a long time, then shook her head.

"Daddy's been really mean lately."

My chest tightened.

Even a three-year-old could see it.

But it took me eight years.

The next day, Ethan called.

"Autumn." Ethan's voice was terribly hoarse. "Where are you?"

"Does it concern you?"

"Stop being stubborn, okay?" His voice was pressed low, as if he was holding back. "I can explain about Sylvia. Just come home first. Maya is still young. She can't be running around with you."

"Ethan." I interrupted him. "What's Sylvia's son's name again? Noah?"

Silence for several seconds on the other end.

"I checked. Five years old, leukemia, acute type. Over the past six months, you've taken him to every blood disease hospital across America, right?"

"Autumn..."

"You love him so much, why didn't you say so earlier?" I asked calmly. "If you'd told me five years ago you had this illegitimate child, I wouldn't have married you."

"He's not my son!" Ethan nearly shouted. "Noah isn't my child. He's Sylvia's with her ex-husband! I'm just helping her!"

I laughed.

"Ethan, do you even believe that yourself?"

He went silent.

"Do you know what I saw in that hidden social media account?" I said slowly. "Every message you sent Sylvia, every photo, every transfer."

"That necklace you picked for her? I looked at it three times in the boutique but couldn't bring myself to buy it."

"The day you celebrated her birthday, you told me the company had a business dinner."

"The day you took Noah to the aquarium, you told me you were on a business trip."

"Those were just..."

"You said whatever Maya has, Noah will have too." I asked softly. "Ethan, what does Noah want? Does he want my daughter's blood?"

A heavy breath came from the other end.

"I didn't mean it that way." Ethan's voice dropped. "The match was just a coincidence. I never thought about it."

"You never thought about it?" I stood up and walked to the door. "Then what were you doing these past two weeks, putting Maya through every medical test?"

"Forcing her to eat those blood-building supplements every day-what was that for?"

"You wouldn't even let her touch her favorite strawberries, saying it might affect her test results-what was that about?"

He didn't answer.

"Ethan," I said, "were you waiting for her to be well-nourished, fattened up, before taking her to extract her bone marrow?"

"Autumn!" Ethan roared. "What do you take me for? An animal?"

"Then tell me," I said, word by word, "what are you?"

Only heavy breathing remained on the other end.

I hung up.