Chapter 3 — A Son Learns the Truth
Chapter 3 — A Son Learns the Truth
Three weeks later...
The demolition permits were still unsigned.
Construction crews waited behind locked gates while reporters crowded outside the old apartment building.
The story had spread across the country.
"The Billionaire Who Stole His Son's Mother."
Grant had disappeared from public view.
Not to escape the scandal.
To learn the woman he had never known.
Every morning he visited Apartment 3B.
Even after everyone else had moved out.
Maria sat beside the old sewing machine she had insisted on keeping.
She showed him baby clothes she had stitched but never delivered.
Tiny shoes.
Little sweaters.
Birthday cards still sealed inside their envelopes.
Grant opened them one by one.
At age six...
I hope you're smiling today.
At age twelve...
I wonder if you still like blueberry pie.
At age eighteen...
Wherever you are, please grow into a kind man.
Grant broke down each time.
"I thought nobody wanted me," he whispered one afternoon.
Maria smiled through wet eyes.
"I wanted you every single day."
He finally reached for her hand.
This time...
She let him hold it.
Sophie often visited with homemade meals.
Their baby was due in only two months.
One evening she quietly placed the blue baby blanket across her lap.
"I'd like our son to use this."
Maria's hands covered her mouth.
She nodded without speaking.
Across town...
Harrison Holloway sat alone inside his enormous mansion.
Lawyers came.
Board members resigned.
Business partners withdrew investments.
For decades he believed wealth solved every problem.
Now he had more money than ever...
and nowhere left to spend it.
Because the only thing he truly wanted—
May you like
his son's forgiveness—
could not be bought.
