Chapter 4

When Holly found the private room, it looked like a storm had hit it. Only Shane sat at the head of the table, waiting for her. He stubbed out the cigarette and walked toward her. "Shane, where's Aaron? What did you..." Before she could finish, Shane clamped a hand around her throat and slammed her against the wall. He clenched his teeth, his eyes bloodshot. "Holly, did you set me up? When did you figure out who I am? What do you want?" He felt like a stranger she had just met. Cold crept from her scalp to her toes. "Shane, I should be asking you that! Why did you come after me? Why did you lie to me?" She hated him. He had ruined her and Aaron. He was such a jerk! To trick her, he had even had someone forge a marriage certificate. It was fraud. He had pretended to be poor, then betrayed her while they were "married". But she had no power to stand toe-to-toe with him, and she didn't even dare question him. Shane let out a short, cold laugh and released her. "I'll pay you. Aaron stays with me. Just name your price." There was no apology or explanation. Only a flicker of pity in his eyes. Holly lifted her chin. "No! You never wanted me to keep Aaron in the first place! I won't hand him over!" In their second year of marriage, Shane hadn't seemed happy when Holly got pregnant. He smoked through the night in the living room. At dawn, he told her to terminate the pregnancy, coaxing and pressuring her. But she refused. "Aaron is a Lockwood. Can you afford to give him the life and education he deserves?" Holly knew she couldn't win a direct fight, so she softened her voice and pleaded, "Shane, even if you plan to take Aaron, give him time to adjust. He had food poisoning today and still has a fever. Can we sit down tomorrow and talk this through?" It worked. His eyes softened. He gave in and told the driver to take them to see Aaron. As she was leaving, he stopped her. "What Tess and I have isn't something you can break, if that's what you're thinking." Holly paused but didn't look back. On the way, she hired someone to dig into Shane and Tess' past. At his coming-of-age party, Shane was kidnapped. Tess risked her life to save him. Cornered and desperate, the kidnappers opened fire. Tess stepped in front of him, and because of that, she was torn apart by 99 pellets, destroying any chance she had of becoming a mother. It was devotion—no doubt about it. Holly stopped clinging to hopes that wouldn't come true. She decided to ask Wren to move quickly and take Hayley and Aaron away from this city. Shane had settled Aaron in a spacious apartment. Holly was surprised to see clear signs that Shane had been staying there, yet there wasn't a single trace of another woman. She wore a frown she couldn't hide. Aaron, by contrast, was delighted. That night, Aaron peeked out from under the covers. "Mom, does this mean we can live with Dad from now on?" Her throat tightened. "If not, will you be sad?" Aaron nodded, then quickly shook his head and hugged her tight. "I'm happy as long as I'm with you. But I'll be even happier if Dad is there." Holly kissed his forehead, the ache in her heart growing sharper. "Sorry, Aaron. I'm going to let you down," she thought. ... The next morning, Holly didn't see Hayley and assumed she had gone out for groceries. She didn't think much of it. Hayley, who couldn't swallow the humiliation, had gone to resign. She was going to tell Tess everything and demand justice for Holly. At Tessmont Manor, Hayley was still rehearsing what to say when she stopped outside the study. The door was shut. Soft sobs drifted out, mixed with the rhythm of skin meeting skin. "You jerk! How could you have a child with her?" "Tess, it was an accident. I was drunk when I touched her. I even got a vasectomy for you. I never thought she'd get pregnant." Shane's voice came in broken gasps, thick with restrained desire. Hayley's eyes went wide. She pressed a hand to her chest and stumbled back, but the voices kept ringing out. "I won't forgive you! Let's get divorced!" "You little devil, I knelt all night. Have mercy on me. You like Aaron, too, don't you? I'll bring him back. Don't worry. I'll take care of Holly and make sure she never shows up in front of you again." The sobs were swallowed by kissing, replaced by breathy sounds that flushed Hayley's face. "Does it feel good, Tess? I'm dying on you. That night, I only touched Holly because I thought she was you. "From now on, Aaron will be ours. You lost the chance to be a mother to save me. I'll make it up to you with a child, alright?" "It's not enough," Tess said as she panted. Shane chuckled hoarsely. "Where isn't enough? Here? Or here?" "You're awful!" "Alright, I'll give you another ten percent of Lockwood Corp. I'll give you all of me, too." Staring blankly, Hayley fumbled for her phone. She had to tell Holly what they were plotting. Suddenly, she couldn't breathe, and her vision blurred. The phone hit a step with a dull thud and clattered down the stairs. She stumbled after it, but her foot slipped, and she tumbled all the way to the bottom. Just then, her phone rang. It was Aaron's sweet voice singing a nursery tune. "I love to hug my grandma. She loves to hug me, too..." But she couldn't hear it anymore.