Chapter 7 - The Lie They Told My Son
By the time we reached home, Noah had locked himself inside the old nursery.
He wouldn’t open the door.
“Noah?”
I knocked softly.
Nothing.
Naomi stood beside me.
Her face was white.
“Baby, it’s me.”
Silence.
She touched the door.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
His voice finally came through.
“They said you’re taking me.”
Naomi closed her eyes.
“No.”
“They said Daddy has to give me to you because you’re my real mommy.”
My chest tightened.
I sat on the floor outside the door.
“Buddy, listen to me.”
“Are you mad at her?”
“No.”
“Are you going to court?”
“Yes.”
He started crying.
“Then they were right.”
“Noah.”
Naomi knelt beside me.
She pressed her forehead to the door.
“I need you to hear something.”
He sniffled.
“I don’t want to choose.”
Her face crumpled.
I looked at her.
Noah continued.
“I chose you at the party.”
Naomi cried silently.
“But I didn’t know choosing you meant losing Daddy.”
“It doesn’t.”
She said it immediately.
“It will never mean that.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I’m not asking anyone to take you from your father.”
A pause.
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
I added, “And I’m not asking anyone to take you from Naomi.”
The lock clicked.
The door opened an inch.
Noah’s wet face appeared.
“You both stay?”
I nodded.
“We both stay.”
He opened the door.
Naomi hugged him first.
Then he pulled me into it.
The three of us sat on the nursery floor holding each other.
That was when I realized something.
All the adults around Noah had spent years deciding what family should look like.
My mother.
Doctors.
Lawyers.
Society.
Even me.
Noah had understood it better than all of us.
He didn’t need someone to replace Isabella.
He needed people who stayed.
Later that afternoon, we discovered how the reporter entered.
Celeste Whitmore had given him an old staff access code.
When Grant told me, I called her immediately.
She answered on the first ring.
“I didn’t know he would speak to Noah.”
“You gave a tabloid reporter access to my property.”
“My father threatened me.”
“Stop blaming other people.”
She went silent.
I continued.
“You helped my mother.”
“I helped arrange the event.”
“You knew the marriage was a business deal.”
“Yes.”
“You knew she wanted Naomi removed.”
Celeste hesitated.
“Yes.”
Naomi stood across my office listening.
I looked at her.
“How much did you know about Noah’s birth?”
Celeste whispered, “Nothing until the ballroom.”
I believed that part.
But it didn’t erase the rest.
“Why the reporter?”
“My father wants pressure on you before the board vote.”
There it was.
The company.
Again.
Always the company.
“What board vote?”
Celeste sounded surprised.
“You don’t know?”
My stomach tightened.
“Know what?”
“Victoria still controls fourteen percent of Hale Holdings through family trusts.”
I knew that.
“She called an emergency board meeting for tomorrow.”
My jaw clenched.
“From jail?”
“She was released pending arraignment on some of the initial charges.”
I cursed.
Naomi’s eyes widened.
Celeste continued.
“She wants you removed as CEO.”
I almost laughed.
“On what grounds?”
“Instability.”
“Of course.”
“She’s claiming your relationship with Naomi compromises your judgment.”
Naomi flinched.
I stood.
“What relationship?”
Celeste gave a bitter laugh.
“Mason, half the internet thinks you’re in love with her.”
I looked at Naomi.
She looked away.
My heartbeat changed.
I ignored it.
“For the record,” I said, “my judgment was compromised when I trusted my mother.”
Celeste sighed.
“I’m sorry.”
“Then testify.”
Silence.
“Against Victoria,” I said.
“My father will destroy me.”
“Your father doesn’t own you.”
“You don’t understand.”
I looked at Naomi again.
Actually, I did understand.
Fear had controlled too many people already.
“Celeste.”
“What?”
“You stood aside and let Noah run yesterday.”
She became quiet.
“That was the first decent thing I’ve ever seen you do when your family was watching.”
Her voice shook.
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying you can decide what kind of person you are next.”
I ended the call.
Naomi watched me.
“You think she’ll help?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you forgive her?”
“No.”
She nodded slowly.
“Good.”
I almost smiled.
Then her expression became serious.
“Mason.”
“Yes?”
“We need to talk.”
Those words terrified me more than board votes.
She sat.
“I’m filing for legal recognition as Noah’s mother.”
I knew it was coming.
Still, something tightened inside me.
“Okay.”
Her eyebrows lifted.
“That’s it?”
“What do you want me to say?”
“I expected a fight.”
“I already told Noah nobody is taking you from him.”
“Mason, legal recognition changes things.”
“It should.”
“You could lose control over decisions.”
“He’s not a company.”
She stared at me.
I leaned forward.
“I am terrified.”
Her face softened.
“I’m terrified you’ll take him and realize you don’t need me.”
“I would never—”
“I know.”
I swallowed.
“But fear doesn’t disappear because truth shows up.”
Naomi nodded.
“No.”
“So I’ll deal with it.”
She looked down at her hands.
“I’m afraid too.”
“Of what?”
“That he’ll love Isabella more.”
I stared at her.
Naomi wiped a tear away.
“I know that sounds stupid.”
“It doesn’t.”
“I missed five years. She had two.”
“She loved him.”
“I know.”
“And you’re his mother.”
Naomi looked at me.
“Both things can be true?”
“Yes.”
For the first time, she smiled.
Small.
Broken.
Beautiful.
Then my office doors opened.
Grant entered.
Behind him stood Celeste.
Her makeup was gone.
Her eyes were red.
She carried a thick folder.
“My father threw me out.”
I stood.
“Why are you here?”
She placed the folder on my desk.
“Because you were right.”
She looked at Naomi.
Then me.
“I’m done being afraid.”
I opened the folder.
Board communications.
Payments.
Messages from Victoria.
One message made my blood run cold.
IF MASON WILL NOT COOPERATE, USE THE TRUST.
I looked at Celeste.
“What trust?”
She swallowed.
“Noah’s inheritance trust.”
Naomi stood.
May you like
Celeste continued.
“Victoria has been moving money out of it for three years.”
