Chapter 4
When Sierra finally found the private dining room, it was in complete disarray.
Only Magnus remained, sitting in the head chair waiting for her.
He stubbed out his half-finished cigarette and walked toward her with measured steps.
“Magnus, where’s Eli? What did you do to him—”
Before she could finish, Magnus’s hand shot out to grip her throat, slamming her hard against the wall.
His teeth were clenched, eyes bloodshot. “Sierra! Was this all planned? When did you figure out who I was? What do you want?”
The man in front of her was a complete stranger. She felt cold from head to toe.
“Magnus! I should be asking you that! Why did you come after me? Why did you lie to me?”
She hated this man. He’d destroyed her and destroyed Eli too. He was rotten to the core!
To deceive her, he’d even had someone forge a marriage certificate!
This was fraud! Pretending to be poor to trick her into marriage, then cheating on her!
But she had no power to fight Magnus, so she didn’t even have the courage to demand answers.
He let out a cold laugh and released his grip. “I’ll give you money. Eli stays with me. Name your price.”
No apology, no explanation. All she saw in his eyes was pity and condescension.
She lifted her chin defiantly. “No way! You never even wanted me to have Eli in the first place. I’ll never give him to you!”
In their second year of marriage, when she got pregnant, Magnus hadn’t looked happy. Instead, he’d smoked in the living room all night.
Come morning, he’d told her to get rid of the baby, trying every gentle and harsh approach to convince her. She’d refused.
“Eli is an Everhart. Can you give him the quality of life and education he deserves?”
Sierra knew she couldn’t go head-to-head with Magnus, so she softened her voice, pleading.
“Magnus, even if you’re taking Eli away from me, you have to give him time to adjust. He had food poisoning today and still has a fever. Can’t we sit down tomorrow and talk this through properly?”
The tactic worked. Magnus’s expression softened and he relented, having his driver take her to see Eli.
As she was leaving, he suddenly called out.
“What I have with Odessa isn’t something you can destroy. Don’t even think about trying.”
Sierra’s steps faltered, but she didn’t turn around.
On the drive back, she had someone investigate Magnus and Odessa’s history.
At Magnus’s eighteenth birthday party, he’d been kidnapped.
Odessa had risked her life to save him from the kidnappers. When they were cornered, the kidnappers had fired at Magnus in rage.
Chapter 4
Odessa had taken the bullet-a shot that cost her the ability to ever become a mother.
Their bond truly ran deep.
Sierra gave up any foolish hopes. She contacted Thane to speed up their departure-she needed to get her mother and Eli out of this mess as soon as possible.
Magnus had set Eli up in a spacious penthouse.
What surprised Sierra was that while the place showed signs of Magnus living there, there were no traces of any woman.
She looked miserable, but Eli was thrilled.
That night, Eli poked his little head out. “Mommy, does this mean we get to live with Daddy now?”
Sierra’s throat tightened. “What if we don’t? Would Eli be sad?”
Eli nodded, then quickly shook his head and hugged her tight.
“As long as I’m with Mommy, Eli is happy. Having Daddy too would make me even happier.”
Sierra pressed a bitter kiss to Eli’s forehead.
I’m sorry, Eli. I’m going to disappoint you.
The next day, Sierra didn’t see her mother and assumed she’d gone grocery shopping. She didn’t think much of it.
Actually, Marion had gone to quit her job. She couldn’t swallow this humiliation-she was going to tell Odessa the whole truth and get justice for her daughter.
At Love Dessa Estate.
Marion was rehearsing what she’d say when strange sounds from the study stopped her in her tracks.
The door was shut tight, but she could hear muffled crying and other mysterious wet sounds.
“You bastard! How could you have a child with her?”
“Dessa, it was an accident. I was drunk when I touched her. I got that vasectomy for you-I really never thought she’d get pregnant…”
Magnus’s voice was broken, tinged with barely restrained desire.
Marion’s eyes widened as she clutched her chest and backed away, but the voices continued.
“I don’t want to forgive you! Let’s get divorced!”
“You little tease, I’ve been on my knees all night begging. Give me a break. You like Eli too, don’t you? I’ll bring the kid back, don’t worry! I’ll handle Sierra cleanly-she’ll never appear in front of you again!”
The sobbing was swallowed by kissing sounds, replaced by embarrassingly intimate moans.
“Feel good? Dessa, you’re driving me insane… That night I touched Sierra, I was pretending she was you…”
“From now on, Eli will be our child. You lost the right to be a mother saving me, so I’ll give you a child to make up for it, okay?”
Odessa gasped that it wasn’t enough. Magnus chuckled hoarsely. “What’s not enough? Here? Or here?”
“You’re so bad…”
“Fine, how about I give you another 10% of Everhart Industries shares? I’ll give you all of me, okay?”
Marion stared blankly, hands shaking as she pulled out her phone. She had to tell her daughter about these people’s conspiracy.
But suddenly she couldn’t breathe, and her vision grew blurrier.
Thud. Her phone tumbled down the stairs.
She stumbled after it, lost her footing, and tumbled down the staircase.
The phone rang with Eli’s sweet voice singing a lullaby.
“Hush, little baby, don’t say a word, Mama’s gonna buy you a mockingbird…”
But she would never hear it again.
