Chapter 3 - Blood and Promises
The emergency room at St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital was brightly lit and smelled faintly of antiseptic. Nathan sat on a small plastic chair beside the hospital bed, refusing to leave Lily’s side even for a second while the nurses finished putting five neat stitches across her forehead.
Elena sat on the opposite side of the bed, a clean bandage wrapped around her own bruised wrist.
"The doctor said the cut won't leave a bad scar," Nathan said quietly, his thumb gently stroking the back of Lily’s small hand. "Thank God."
"She’s resilient, Mr. Hayes," Elena said softly. "Just like her mother was."
Nathan looked up at Elena, his expression filled with profound guilt. "All these years... you were living in my cottage, cleaning my floors, while my daughter was hiding in the next room? Why didn't you throw something at me? Why didn't you scream the truth at me in the middle of the street?"
"Because you didn't know Vanessa the way I did," Elena replied, her eyes filled with old shadows. "You saw the sweet, supportive wife. I saw the woman who came to the cottage every month to remind me that she owned the judge, the police chief, and the bank that held the mortgage on my mother’s house. She told me if I breathed a word, Lily would disappear into the foster system, and I would spend the rest of my life in prison for trespassing and fraud."
The heavy wooden door of the ER room swung open, and a sharp-suited woman with silver hair and keen, piercing eyes walked in carrying a leather briefcase.
It was Evelyn Vance—Nathan’s chief legal advisor and one of the most formidable litigation attorneys in the state.
"Nathan," Evelyn said, stepping up to the bed and glancing at Lily before turning her gaze to him. "I just came from the central precinct. Vanessa’s father, Harrison Montgomery, has already hired three high-powered defense attorneys. They are currently attempting to post her bail and file a motion to seal the police report."
Nathan stood up slowly, his posture rigid. "Harrison Montgomery thinks his money makes his daughter untouchable. He’s about to find out how wrong he is."
"I took the liberty of expediting an emergency DNA kit through a private lab I retain," Evelyn said, pulling a sealed envelope from her briefcase. "The swabs were taken twenty minutes ago while the nurses were dressing the wound. The results will be officially certified by noon tomorrow, but biologically? Look at her, Nathan. She’s your mirror image."
"I don't need a test to know she's mine, Evelyn," Nathan said, his voice tight with emotion. "What I need is to make sure Vanessa never takes another step outside a prison cell."
"It’s not going to be a simple domestic violence case," Evelyn warned, leaning against the bed frame. "Harrison Montgomery owns thirty percent of the development firm you manage. He’s going to use every corporate lever he has to crush you financially before this goes to trial. He will try to cut off your credit lines, freeze your company accounts, and drag Elena through the mud as an unfit caretaker."
Lily stirred in her sleep, letting out a small, soft sigh and curling her fingers around Nathan’s thumb.
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Nathan looked down at his daughter. For seven years, he had lived in a gilded cage, believing he was building an empire for a family that was built on a foundation of monstrous deceit. The money, the status, the corporate titles—none of it meant anything anymore.
"Let Harrison try," Nathan said, his eyes burning with an intense, unshakeable fire. "He spent thirty years crushing people with his fortune. He’s never fought a father who has nothing left to lose."
