Chapter 16 - The Heir They Wanted
Willow agreed to meet Lucas the next morning.
Not because she trusted him.
Because Richard’s obsession with an heir had haunted their marriage for years.
Lucas placed a sealed medical folder on the table.
Willow recognized the fertility clinic logo.
Her stomach turned.
“How did you get this?”
“My father kept copies.”
“You let him access my records?”
Lucas closed his eyes.
“At first, no.”
“Later.”
He struggled with the confession.
“I knew he had them.”
Willow felt disgust rise inside her.
Lucas continued.
“Richard wasn’t worried because you couldn’t have children.”
Willow frowned.
“He was worried because you could.”
Lucas pushed a document toward her.
It contained a legal analysis of the Samuel Hale Trust.
One clause had been highlighted.
If Willow died, ownership passed to her surviving biological descendants.
If no descendants existed, control transferred to a charitable foundation named by Samuel Hale.
Willow understood slowly.
Richard had needed her alive because her death without children would send the Hale assets somewhere he could not control.
But if Willow had a child with Lucas Sterling, Richard believed the Sterling bloodline could eventually claim the trust through that child.
Her face went cold.
“That’s why they wanted an heir.”
Lucas nodded.
“Our marriage was useful to him.”
Willow stared.
“Was that why you married me?”
“No.”
She held his gaze.
Lucas’s eyes filled with shame.
“No.”
“I loved you before I knew any of this.”
“Then you found out.”
“Yes.”
“And stayed silent.”
“Yes.”
“And every time your father humiliated me about having a baby, you knew there was money behind it.”
Lucas looked down.
“Yes.”
Willow stood.
Lucas spoke quickly.
“I know sorry means nothing.”
“You’re right.”
“I know I became him.”
Willow paused.
“No.”
Lucas looked up.
“You became yourself.”
The words landed harder.
“You had choices.”
“My father influenced you.”
“He manipulated you.”
“He frightened you.”
“But your hand was your hand.”
Lucas nodded through tears he did not wipe away.
Willow removed her wedding ring.
She placed it on the table.
“I am filing for divorce today.”
Lucas stared at the ring.
“I won’t fight it.”
“That is the first decent decision you’ve made for me in years.”
She walked away.
Outside, Michael waited beside the black Ford.
Willow climbed inside.
She looked back once.
Lucas remained behind the café window.
May you like
For the first time since meeting him, Willow did not wonder whether he would follow her.
She hoped he would not.
