Chapter 2

Arthur pushed the paternity test request across the table as calmly as if he were signing a business contract.

“Emily pointed out that the timing of your pregnancy overlaps with your business trip to Miami. Take the paternity test, and your medical expenses will be approved immediately.”

Emily stood beside him wearing his coat, a VIP patient wristband around her wrist.

“If the results are fine, it’ll clear your name too.”

I stared at her.

“Why should I have to prove myself to you?”

“Not to me. To the Sterling family.”

The doctor arrived and immediately rejected Arthur’s request.

“She’s still bleeding. I won’t subject her to unnecessary testing. Mr. Sterling, she needs rest, not an interrogation.”

Emily hurried to smooth things over, then pulled out my itemized bill.

“The private room, nutritional infusions, and imported medication can all be removed. There’s no reason to put unnecessary financial pressure on the family.”

Every item she crossed out was something the doctor had recommended keeping.

“Who gave you permission to look at my medical records?”

“Victoria sent them to me. She said I understand budgeting.”

Arthur took the list.

“Cancel anything unnecessary.”

The doctor’s expression hardened.

“The medical team decides what’s necessary. Her contractions haven’t stabilized, and she cannot be transferred to a standard room yet.”

Arthur looked at me instead.

“You were awfully concerned about Emily’s fifty-five-thousand-dollar recovery expenses. But when it’s your turn, suddenly only the most expensive treatment will do.”

“She had a stomachache and got a VIP suite. I’m trying not to lose our baby, and I can’t even have a private room?”

“She never used a baby to manipulate anyone.”

The room fell silent.

Arthur reached over to straighten my blanket.

“Claire, just cooperate. Once you’re stable, I’ll take you home.”

I pushed his hand away.

There had been a time when the slightest discomfort had been enough for him to drive me to the hospital in the middle of the night.

Now our baby had become leverage to force me into obedience.

“I’m not taking a paternity test.”

“Then you’re moving to a basic room.”

“Fine.”

He stared at me for a moment before handing the paperwork to Mark.

“Arrange the transfer.”

As the nurse removed my IV, Emily suddenly said, “The ThermoBaby launch is Friday. You have to attend.”

The ThermoBaby line had been my project before I joined Sterling Group.

My mother and I had tested the first piece of temperature-regulating fabric more than two hundred times.

After we married, Arthur forced me out of R&D.

I surrendered management of the project, but I kept the core patent.

Emily pulled up the launch poster.

Her name was listed first under the creative team.

Mine had been changed from Lead Developer to Sterling Family Product Consultant.

“Who changed this?”

“I did,” Arthur said. “Emily has marketing experience. She’s better suited to represent the product publicly.”

“I developed it. Why are you putting someone else in my place?”

“Because you haven’t participated in company management for two years.”

“Because you revoked my building access, took my computer, and told everyone a pregnant woman should stay home and rest.”

“I was protecting you.”

“Making me get three approvals to spend thirty dollars is protection?”

Arthur said nothing.

In three years of marriage, the most expensive thing I had bought was a five-hundred-dollar massage device for Victoria.

That request had sat pending for eleven days.

The final note read:

Unnecessary ingratiating expense. Do not repeat.

Emily spoke softly.

“Arthur controls the money because he’s afraid you’ll end up like your father.”

My head snapped up.

My father’s failed investments, his debts, his suicide—

That was the one wound I never wanted touched.

“Who told her?”

Emily moved behind Arthur.

He shielded her.

“I did. Emily handles the family’s financial risk assessments. She needs to understand the source of potential risks.”

I looked at the man I had shared a bed with for three years.

Then I laughed.

He had handed my deepest wound to another woman and let her use it to decide whether I deserved to spend money.

The nurse brought over a wheelchair.

Arthur reached for me.

I pushed his hand away.

“I’m not going to Friday’s launch.”

“You will.”

His voice was calm.

“After the launch, the company will settle the first three years of profits from the ThermoBaby project. If you don’t attend and sign the family financial supervision agreement, your share will be withheld.”

“That money belongs to me.”

“You signed a family financial authorization. Your distributions can legally be withheld.”

The elevator doors opened.

I turned back to him.

“Authorization isn’t ownership. I still have rights.”

As the wheelchair rolled into the elevator, his cold voice followed me.

“But I have final approval over the account.”

“You don’t get to refuse.”