Rise of the Abandoned Wife

5. A Clone

KAYDEN

It had been seven years since I divorced Sonia, but nothing had been the same. Six years since I was forced to marry Laila, but the said marriage was in name only and I had no idea how I felt about that. Or maybe I did.

Whatever it was I was feeling through, it gutted me that there was little to nothing I could do about it.

After Sonia’s betrayal, I hadn’t been able to give my heart to anyone again. Not to Laila, and not even to the countless women who tried. I had loved Sonia, God help me, I had loved her to bits, I would have given her the world and the entire solar system had she asked, but she had humiliated me in the worst possible way.

And even after her death, I couldn’t move on. Pathetic, right? I told myself it was anger. Anger at the fact that she hadn't stopped to consider the consequences of what she had done. I didn't feel any but if fried towards her, because grief implied she deserved to be mourned, and over my dead body would I do that.

With a sigh, I pushed the thoughts out of my head. I adjusted my cufflinks one last time before I walked downstairs. Laila stood in the foyer like she was about to attend her own coronation. A fitted designer gown hugged her figure, diamonds glittering at her throat. She turned when she heard my footsteps, lips curving into a practiced smile.

“About time,” she said lightly. “We can’t be late. The Hale summit is the event of the year.”

Lucan stood beside her, already dressed in a miniature tuxedo. He looked up at me with wide eyes one I could swear had the same shade as Sonia's.

“Dad, are there going to be robots?” he asked excitedly. “Are we going to see big and small ones?”

“It’s medical technology,” I replied dryly. “Not a circus.”

“Kayden, don't be such a prude.” Laila rolled her eyes, before pulling Lycan closer to her side. “You could at least pretend to be enthusiastic.”

“I’m going for networking,” I said flatly, not minding her tone or whatever the f**k she was trying to drive at. “Not entertainment.”

Something flashed on her face, but she didn't speak up again. Good.

The only reason I hadn’t divorced Laila yet was simple, she knew her place. She didn’t interfere in my business, she didn’t demand affection, and she played mother to my son and stayed out of my way.

That was enough.

In no time I whisked my wife and son into the waiting car outside. We drove in silence, the city lights streaking past the windows and casting light shadows inside the car.

Hale Corporations was launching some groundbreaking medical innovation tonight. While I had no interest in hospitals or research labs, summits like this gathered power, people from old money, and new money, and even people that had influence that spanned to places I could only ever dream of.

And that influence was what I needed.

For years, I had been in silent competition with my brother, Kint. I had worked alongside our father, built connections, and expanded the company’s reach. The inheritance should have naturally fallen to me.

Instead, my mother whispered in my father’s ear about how Kint had “vision.”

“Vision.” The thought of it made me scoff. “I had results, viable ones, yet they were choosing a mere thought over my hard work?”

I snapped out of it the minute we pulled into the large driveway. The presence of the luxurious cars and what not was the reminder I needed as I stepped out of the car and took Lucas’s hand.

“Stay close,” I told him firmly.

“I will,” he said, nodding seriously.

Inside, the building buzzed with elite conversation and polite laughter. Crystal chandeliers cast sharp light over polished floors, catching the faces of important men and women alike.

“Stay with your mother,” I told Lucan as I guided him toward Laila. “Behave.”

“I always behave,” he protested. “Don't I?”

“That’s debatable.”

“Kayden! Just the man I was looking for.” A business partner intercepted me before I could say anything else. “Come on, we have too much to discuss.”

I forced a smile and stepped aside to engage in meaningless pleasantries about investments and market expansions. I was already knee deep into the next step that would favor the market trends when I heard it.

A commotion.

Children’s voices raised followed next, just to be accompanied by a sharp intake of breath from nearby guests. Even though I'd sworn to myself to stay out of what didn't concern me, my body reacted before my mind did.

I excused myself and walked toward the noise. Lucan stood there at the center of it all and so did Noah, Kint’s adopted son, but there was someone else. There was another boy, that looked too identical to him.

My steps slowed as I took in the same eyes, same build, and exactly the same face as Noah. For a moment, the room felt distorted, so distorted I would have passed out if I happened to be the only one in the hall.

“What the hell…” someone muttered nearby. “Did Kint clone his son?”

A few nervous laughs rippled through the crowd, but then Kint appeared, looking equally startled.

“Well f**k me. I didn’t know he was a twin,” he said smoothy, his eyes lighting up with something i knew too well as mischief. “Adopted by a wealthy family too.”

His eyes flicked to mine and I could already get a hint of that kind of thoughts swirling in his head. He leaned closer, lowering his voice so only I could hear.

“Maybe it’s fate helping me, brother,” he murmured. “Imagine the leverage. Imagine what Father would do with a connection like that. I could climb the social ladder with this.”

I stiffened.

“You’re even more pathetic than I thought,” I said under my breath.

He only smirked faintly, before Kint crouched slightly in front of the boy.

“Hey, kiddo. What’s your name?” he asked pleasantly. “Don't tell me you came alone.”

“Oliver,” the boy replied confidently. “I’m here with my mummy. She’s over there.”

He pointed, my gaze followed his small finger, and my world stopped. She stood across the hall, dressed in an elegant cream gown that screamed understated wealth. Her hair fell in soft waves over her shoulders. She was smiling, actually smiling, as she spoke to a circle of upper class figures I only knew from a distance, but that wasn't what caught my eyes.

Not the dress nor the people she was conversing with. But her. For a second, I couldn’t breathe.

No. That wasn’t possible. It couldn't be. Sonia was dead. I had been told she passed away shortly after leaving, that the cancer took her.

I stared harder and imagine my shock when I realized it was her. She had the same eyes, the same posture and surprisingly enough, she was alive.

Oliver broke into a run toward her. She turned, laughing softly as she bent to catch him in her arms.

My chest tightened painfully.

Why would Sonia’s son look exactly like Kint’s adopted son? A cold thought crept in immediately.

Was the bastard she got pregnant with… his? What kind of twisted coincidence was this?

I took a step forward, but then someone shifted in front of me, and when my view cleared, she was gone.

The space where she’d stood was empty, and the little boy was gone too. My heart pounded violently. For a moment, I wondered if I had imagined her, but the whispers around me proved otherwise.

“Did you see that woman?”

“She looked familiar…”

“The resemblance between the boys is uncanny.”

“Dad,” Lucas tugged at my sleeve. “Who was that lady?”

I stared at the empty space, unable to fathom any words or answer his question. Sonia had been there, I knew it, and if she was alive, then everything I thought I knew, was a lie.