Chapter 3

Jake froze for a second, his casual arrogance wiped from his face. It was replaced by a flash of disbelief, which quickly hardened into blazing anger.

"Are you sick?" he spat, his voice low and menacing. "You'd lie about your own child's death just to help him avoid taking responsibility?"

Chloe didn't flinch. She just stared at him, her silence a more powerful accusation than any scream. Her calmness seemed to unnerve him more than tears would have.

He whipped out his phone and immediately dialed his mother' s house. "Send Leo back here right now," he barked into the phone without even a greeting.

The housekeeper' s voice on the other end was heavy with sorrow. "Mr. Hayes, Mrs. Hayes already took the young master..."

Jake didn't let her finish. He hung up and roared at Chloe, his face contorted with rage. "Chloe Miller! You think you can threaten me by hiding him? If you're so brave, hide him for life! Let him live in the shadows like a rat, just like you, the illegitimate daughter you are!"

A small, bitter smile touched Chloe' s lips. She didn't bother to correct him, to expose the tangled, ugly truth of his words.

"What? Nothing to say?" he sneered, mistaking her silence for submission. He scrolled through his phone, found a video, and shoved the screen in her face. "Now that Chloe Davis is back, it's time you knew you're nothing!"

The video was from five years ago. It showed him, younger and impossibly charming, coaxing her-the confused, amnesiac woman he called Ava Miller-into signing the organ donation agreement. His voice was a seductive poison, promising to love her forever, even as an "illegitimate daughter." The scene then cut to him at the real Ava Miller's hospital bedside, his face etched with devotion as he swore he would sacrifice his own happiness to save her.

"Did you see that clearly?" he snarled, pulling the phone back. "Chloe Miller, I only married you out of necessity! For the past five years, I've had to constantly remind myself that you donated that kidney as atonement, just to stomach continuing this charade of a loving marriage with you. I hope you remember that you and your mother were at fault, and donating that kidney was you paying your debt!"

His words were so outrageously twisted, so far from the truth, that Chloe found them ridiculous. The illegitimate daughter he scorned was the very woman he claimed to love. The pure absurdity of it made her scoff, a small, sharp sound of contempt.

Her reaction enraged him. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a credit card, and threw it at her. It clattered on the floor at her feet.

"Take this money and go fix that face," he spat. "The sight of you, looking so much like Chloe Davis, makes me sick!"

He used to whisper how much he loved this face when they were intimate. He was looking at her, but seeing someone else. Chloe' s gaze flickered to the imposter, Ava, who was watching with a triumphant, provocative smirk. She didn't even try to hide her pleasure.

Jake seemed to expect her to break down, to beg for forgiveness. When she didn't, a flicker of something-unease, perhaps-crossed his face. But it was quickly replaced by more anger. He stormed to the kitchen, yanked a cake box from the fridge, and slammed it on the coffee table.

"Leo begged me to buy this birthday cake," he announced. "You'd better be sensible and bring him out here to apologize. Or else, don't expect me to celebrate his birthday ever again!"

It was the first time Jake had ever bought Leo a birthday cake. The force of him slamming it down had crushed the box, and the white frosting was smeared with the bright orange of mango puree.

Leo was deathly allergic to mangoes.

Tears of laughter, sharp and painful, welled in Chloe's eyes. She gently stroked the cool ceramic of the urn in her arms.

"As you wish," she said, her voice catching. She looked up at him, her eyes clear and unwavering. "Leo is dead. He can't have birthdays anymore."

Jake's face darkened, his jaw tightening. Ava Miller, ever the actress, gasped and rushed to his side, feigning distress.

"Sister, I already said I forgive Leo, isn't that enough? I understand you don't want him to apologize, but you shouldn't curse your own son like that, should you?"

"Curse him?" The words were a raw wound in Chloe's throat. Fueled by Ava's poisonous words, Jake's rage exploded. He lunged forward and slapped the urn out of Chloe's hands.

"Chloe Davis, can't you recognize your place?" he roared, his slip of the tongue revealing the truth he'd tried so hard to bury. "Don't think giving birth to my son means you've succeeded in climbing the social ladder!"

The urn hit the hardwood floor with a sickening crack. Chloe screamed, scrambling to the floor, frantically trying to scoop the fine grey ash back into the shattered vessel.

"Jake Hayes!" she cried, her voice breaking with a pain that went beyond words. "You've already helped her steal everything from me! Why did you have to kill Leo too?"

He froze, realizing he'd called her by her real name. A flush of panic crossed his face as he tried to backpedal. "I... I was just angry..."

But Chloe was done with his lies. She looked up, her face streaked with tears and ash. "It's over, Jake. Ava Miller is the mistress you despise so much. And so is her mother!"

Seeing that the charade was finally, irrevocably over, Jake' s face turned ashen. He kicked the broken pieces of the urn, scattering the last of the ash. "Enough!" he yelled, his voice ragged. "In love, the one who isn't loved is the third wheel! Since you know I love her, you shouldn't have conspired with my mother to marry me! And now you bring an urn into my house to bring bad luck? You're just as despicable as your mother, clinging on despite not being loved!"

The ashes mixed with the dust on the floor. Chloe knelt there, her fingers trembling as she tried to gather the specks of what was once her son. "Leo... Leo..." she sobbed, her body shaking.

Jake watched her, his expression cold and hard. "I'll give you a month," he said, his voice like ice, delivering his ultimatum. "Get plastic surgery. Don't let me see that face again. Considering our past, as long as you and your son behave, I'll visit you once a month."

He finished, turning to brush the dust from his clothes. As he walked away, Ava Miller stepped forward. She deliberately ground her high heel onto Chloe' s hand as she reached for a fragment of the urn.

"Chloe Davis," Ava sneered, leaning down. "I thought your mother's death would have taught you a lesson. Trying to steal my man? You deserve to lose your son. My mother and I, we never fail to get what we want."

In that instant, Chloe was certain. The car accident that killed her mother was no accident. A white-hot fury, powerful and pure, surged through her. She scrambled to her feet and slapped Ava Miller across the face with all the strength she had.

The sound echoed in the silent room.

Jake, hearing the commotion, rushed back out. He saw Chloe, wild-eyed and furious, trying to launch herself at Ava again. Without a second's hesitation, he kicked Chloe hard in the stomach.

"Chloe Davis! You're asking for death!"

The force of the kick sent her flying backwards. She curled up on the floor, gasping for breath, a wave of nausea rising in her throat. She pushed herself up on one elbow, her eyes locking onto his.

"You're the ones," she said, each word a struggle, "who should die."

As she spoke, a mouthful of blood sprayed from her lips, splattering on the pristine floor. She ignored the coppery taste, ignored the searing pain, and started crawling again, trying to gather the last of Leo's ashes.

Jake, enraged beyond reason, grabbed the birthday cake and smashed it down on the floor right where she was crawling. The mango-laced cream and sponge cake completely submerged the scattered ashes.

Her Leo. Her sweet boy. He shouldn't have died. And he certainly shouldn't be treated like this. Looking at the pathetic, sticky mess on the floor, Chloe's eyes went bloodshot. Another gush of blood poured from her mouth.

Jake was stunned for a moment, seeing the blood. A sharp, inexplicable pain shot through his own chest, and he instinctively started to crouch down to check on her.

But in the next second, his phone buzzed. A new message.

He glanced at it.

"Mr. Hayes, we've unexpectedly discovered that young master Leo is not your biological son."