Claiming His Heir

Chapter 5: Echoes in The Ailes

Sadie's POV

The coffee shop where we met looked exactly as I recalled it: exposed brick walls, the scent of coffee beans, the constant din of student chatter. Only now, the students seemed like children to me.

Sarah Miller hadn’t changed much. She was still the same bubbly person, her hands gesturing animatedly as she spoke, but a diamond solitaire now rested on her left hand, and dark circles under her eyes spoke to the reality of grading papers rather than the telltale signs of a hangover.

"And then he just... proposed! Right there in the lecture hall," Sarah gushed, taking a sip of her coffee. She looked at Lily, who was quietly coloring her menu with the crayons the waitress provided. "She's beautiful, Sadie. She looks just like you."

"Minus the temper," I joked, though my heart was in knots as I worried about being here, in the open, like walking through a minefield blindfolded.

"You know," Sarah said, moving in closer, her voice changing to business mode. "I'm not just here for the gossip. I'm teaching the advanced botany course now at Ashford. Professor Halloway retired last year. We're short-staffed, and I remember your thesis. It was brilliant, Sadie. Top of the class."

I stared at her in shock. "I... I haven't been in a lab in six years."

"But you're a natural," Sarah continued, undeterred. "We need a substitute professor for the semester. Just undergrad basics. It pays well, and it's flexible enough for you to be with Lily. Think about it, Sadie. You always belonged in academia."

It was a lifeline, a chance to stop scrubbing flower buckets and start using my brain again. "I'd love that, Sarah. Thank you."

Sarah smiled, but it was short-lived, and she lowered her voice to a whisper. "So... I have to ask. Did you ever hear from Taylor Blackwood?"

The name was like a punch to the gut, but I kept my expression neutral, stirring my coffee slowly. "Taylor? No. Why would I?"

"Well, you two were... close, before you left. I just thought maybe you kept in touch." Sarah shrugged, looking uncomfortable. "He's the big CEO now. Blackwood Estates is practically running the whole valley. He took over after his father passed."

"I didn't know his father passed," I murmured. I felt a pang of guilt; despite everything, I hadn't wished ill on the old man.

"Yeah. It was sudden. Heart attack, they said, though rumors fly around here like crazy." Sarah leaned in closer, her voice dropping to a whisper. "But here's the tea. You know Chloe, right? The VP's daughter? The one who was always hanging around him?"

I tensed. "I remember her."

"They got together right after you left. It was all over the news - "The Power Couple.' Everyone thought they’d marry and merge the family businesses. But then, barely six months later, he broke it off. Completely cut ties. No explanation. He's been single ever since."

Single.

I shouldn't have cared. I shouldn't have felt that tiny, treacherous flicker of relief in my chest. He'd chosen her. Or at least, he'd chosen the life she represented. The appropriate choice. But knowing he hadn't stayed with her. Knowing he hadn't married her... it altered the way the pain felt in ways I didn't want to look at.

"He's probably just married to his work," I said, my voice tight. "He's always been ambitious."

"Yeah. I guess. But he's scary now, Sadie. He has this... look. Like a shark in a suit. I saw him at a gala last year. He didn't smile once. But anyway. Enough about him. Tell me about Oakhaven."

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Later that afternoon, Lily and I moved into a small rental house on the quiet side of town. It was a fixer-upper, the paint was peeling, and the back door was drafty, but it had a yard, and most importantly, it was not near the rich estates or the university party scene.

“We need food, monkey,” I said, looking into the empty kitchen cabinets.

I took Lily to the nearest supermarket. It was a big store with lights that hummed overhead. I put Lily in the seat in front of the cart, and she kicked her legs happily, chattering about the cartoon show she had watched the morning before.

We moved through the aisles quickly. Cereal. Milk. Bread. Essentials. I was reaching for a peanut butter jar when my phone buzzed. A text from Sarah containing the contact information for the HR representative at the university job.

"Mommy, look! The shark gummies!"

She was pointing at a shelf.

"Not today, Lil. We need to get the healthy foods first," I replied, still distracted by the text. I looked at my phone for a brief second to save the information. "I’m going to get some eggs. Stay right here, okay? Don’t move."

"Okay, Mommy," she sang.

I walked to the refrigerated section, ten feet away.

The cart was empty.

"Lily?"

I looked to the left; the aisle was empty. Then to the right; an elderly lady was pushing a cart.

“Lily?” I said louder this time. A cold fear stabbed at my heart.

I gave up on my cart and ran back to the peanut butter section. She wasn’t there. I turned around again, this time checking the top of the shelves for any sign of her dark hair and red sneakers.

“Lily?” I said again.

My heart pounded in my chest. Six years of vigilance. Six years of hiding her. I let my guard down for one minute in a grocery store and I lose my daughter? I ran towards the front of the store. My eyes were blurring with tears.

“Excuse me! Excuse me! Have you seen a little girl? Blue dress, red shoes?” I grabbed a stock boy by the arm.

“I didn’t see anyone, ma'am.”

I took off running towards the front doors. If she goes outside... the parking lot... the traffic...

I ran out of the grocery store. Cold air hit my face. I looked around frantically. I scanned the sidewalk. I scanned the parking lot.

And that’s when I saw her.

She wasn't running. She wasn't crying.

She was sitting on a wooden bench that was located just outside the sliding doors. She was kicking her legs. A man sat next to her.

The man was wearing a dark trench coat over a charcoal-colored suit. His back was to me. His posture seemed rigid. But his head was bent down so he could hear whatever my daughter might have been saying. He seemed huge and solid. He seemed to radiate that confident authority that made people go out of their way to steer around him.

I rushed over to my daughter. I was breathless. "Lily! You do not run away from Mommy like that! I was terrified!"

My daughter looked up at me. Her eyes sparkled. She pointed a small finger at the man sitting next to her.

"I didn't run, Mommy. I found him," she said, as if this were the most logical statement in the world.

The man slowly got up. He turned around.

I was frozen in place. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't think.

It was Taylor.

But it wasn't the young man I had known, the young man I had fallen in love with at 19 years old. This was a different man, a man who was hardened, a man who was colder.

His jaw was sharper, his shoulders broader. His hair was slicked back against his head, and his electric blue eyes, the same shade as Lily's, bored into mine like a drill.

He looked at me, and then at Lily, and back at me again. His expression was one of shock, but it was quickly replaced by a mask of ice.

He was a man who had just seen something he thought he would never see again.

“Mommy,” Lily said, smiling brightly at the most powerful businessman in the city, “can he be my new daddy?”

The silence was deafening.

Taylor didn't look at Lily. He didn't take his eyes off mine, and his voice was rough as he spoke.

“Hello, Sadie.”

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