PART 7 — The Woman Who Wanted My Children
PART 7 — The Woman Who Wanted My Children
The second Marcus said those words…
Everything inside me stopped.
“They’re heading toward the babies.”
No.
Not again.
Not my sons.
I didn’t think.
I didn’t plan.
I just moved.
The hallway blurred as I ran.
Behind me, security rushed forward.
Marcus shouted instructions.
“Lock down the east wing!”
“Move the medical team!”
But all I heard was the sound of my own heartbeat.
Louder.
Louder.
Louder.
Because ten minutes ago, my babies were sleeping peacefully.
And now someone was walking toward them.
Someone who had already shown me what they were capable of.
I reached the nursery door.
Two security guards were already there.
One shook his head.
“Ms. Vance, stay back.”
I looked at him.
My voice was cold.
“Move.”
He hesitated.
Only for a second.
Because he saw my face.
I wasn’t a CEO.
I wasn’t a billionaire.
I wasn’t the woman who controlled a corporation.
I was a mother.
And nobody was getting between me and my children.
The door opened.
The nursery was quiet.
Too quiet.
The lights were dim.
My sons were still asleep.
For one terrifying second, I thought everything was fine.
Then I saw the window.
Open.
The curtain moving.
Cold air entered the room.
Marcus stepped inside.
“Clear.”
The team searched.
Nothing.
No person.
No weapon.
No intruder.
My hands shook.
“Where are they?”
Marcus looked around.
Then he noticed something.
On the floor beside the crib.
A small envelope.
My name.
Written by hand.
I froze.
“No.”
Marcus picked it up carefully.
“Ms. Vance…”
“Give it to me.”
He hesitated.
“There could be—”
“Give it to me.”
Slowly, he handed it over.
I opened it.
Inside was a single photograph.
My sons.
Sleeping.
Taken tonight.
My blood turned cold.
Because the photo had been taken from inside the nursery.
Someone had been here.
Watching them.
A note was attached.
Three words.
LIKE MOTHER, LIKE DAUGHTER.
My fingers tightened around the paper.
I knew immediately.
Eleanor.
She wanted me afraid.
She wanted me desperate.
She wanted me to react.
But she made one mistake.
She threatened my children.
And a mother with nothing left to lose was dangerous.
“Find her.”
Marcus looked at me.
“Ms. Vance?”
I looked at the picture.
“Find Eleanor Mercer.”
Thirty minutes later, every available resource was searching.
Private security.
Corporate investigators.
Legal teams.
Every connection I had built over years.
The same world that once existed because of my business now moved because I demanded answers.
But Eleanor was smarter than I expected.
She disappeared.
Her phone was off.
Her accounts were frozen.
Her house was empty.
Julian’s mansion…
The place where he had thrown me out…
Was abandoned.
I stood in the security room watching screens.
Then I saw something.
A camera recording.
From the mansion.
The night before.
Julian.
Eleanor.
Talking.
I paused the footage.
“Play it.”
Marcus started the video.
The image appeared.
Julian was pacing.
Angry.
Eleanor sat calmly.
“You said this would work.”
Julian’s voice.
“This was supposed to be easy.”
Eleanor poured herself a drink.
“Patience.”
“I don’t understand.”
She looked at him.
“That woman thinks she can hide behind money.”
Julian laughed.
“She has more money than we thought.”
Eleanor’s expression darkened.
“She always did.”
My stomach tightened.
She knew.
She knew who I was.
Before tonight.
The video continued.
Julian said:
“Then why did you let me marry her?”
The room became silent.
Eleanor answered:
“Because you were the only way in.”
My breath caught.
The only way in.
Marcus looked at me.
The footage continued.
Julian lowered his voice.
“And the children?”
Eleanor didn’t answer immediately.
That pause.
That horrible pause.
Made my skin crawl.
Then she said:
“The children change everything.”
Julian looked confused.
“How?”
Eleanor leaned forward.
“Blood.”
One word.
Nothing else.
But it terrified me.
Julian frowned.
“You mean…”
She nodded.
“Our family loses everything if Audrey’s children inherit.”
My heart dropped.
Inherit?
What was she talking about?
The recording continued.
Julian said:
“She doesn’t know.”
Eleanor smiled.
“She doesn’t know anything.”
A pause.
“She thinks she built her empire alone.”
My hands clenched.
What did that mean?
Eleanor continued:
“But your father knew.”
Julian froze.
“My grandfather?”
“Yes.”
“And he made a mistake.”
“What mistake?”
Eleanor looked directly at him.
“He trusted Audrey’s mother.”
The screen froze.
I stared.
My mother again.
Always my mother.
Always the missing piece.
I turned to Marcus.
“Find out what she means.”
He nodded.
Already working.
Then another alert appeared.
Everyone turned.
A message.
Incoming.
From an unknown sender.
Only four words.
COME TO THE OLD HOUSE.
Attached:
A location.
The same mansion.
The one I had just left.
The one where everything started.
My phone rang.
I answered.
No one spoke.
Then a child’s voice played.
A recording.
A baby crying.
My blood froze.
Because it sounded exactly like my son.
I looked at Marcus.
“That’s impossible.”
The recording continued.
A woman whispered:
“Audrey…”
Eleanor’s voice.
“Come alone.”
The line went silent.
I grabbed my coat.
Marcus stepped forward.
“No.”
I looked at him.
“I have to.”
“It’s a trap.”
“Yes.”
A pause.
“But my children are involved.”
He shook his head.
“We go together.”
I wanted to argue.
But then I remembered something.
My mother’s letter.
Choose your children.
Always.
I nodded.
“Fine.”
The security team prepared.
But as we left…
I noticed something.
A small detail.
A tiny mistake.
The recording.
The baby crying.
It sounded real.
But something was wrong.
I stopped.
Marcus looked back.
“What?”
I replayed the audio.
Again.
And again.
Then I realized.
The crying.
The background noise.
The echo.
It wasn’t recorded in the mansion.
It was recorded somewhere else.
Someone was trying to make me believe my sons were there.
I looked at Marcus.
“She doesn’t have them.”
His eyes narrowed.
“What?”
I held the phone.
“That recording is fake.”
A pause.
“Eleanor doesn’t have my babies.”
For the first time that night…
I smiled.
Because the woman who had spent years manipulating everyone…
Had finally made a mistake.
She underestimated me.
The same way everyone did.
Then Marcus received a new alert.
He looked at the screen.
His face changed.
“What?”
He turned the phone toward me.
A security camera image.
Outside my private residence.
A black car.
And standing beside it…
Was Julian.
Holding a folder.
Waiting.
My husband.
The man who betrayed me.
The man who claimed he never loved me.
Had returned.
May you like
And this time…
He wasn’t alone.
