Chapter 6 - The Baby Everyone Suddenly Wanted
By breakfast the next morning, Sophie Morales was worth more money than I could comprehend.
That sentence made me physically ill.
Not happy.
Not relieved.
Ill.
Money was not safety anymore.
It was a target.
Michael Callahan’s estate structure was complicated enough that three attorneys argued about it for six hours.
Eventually, they agreed on the basic facts.
Michael’s original shares had been concealed through trusts.
Patrick illegally absorbed some after Michael’s death.
Others remained dormant because no legally recognized heir ever appeared.
The will named me.
The codicil created an additional generational trust for my first biological child.
Sophie.
At twenty-one, she would receive control over a significant ownership stake.
Until then, I would act as guardian of her interests.
Ethan sat across from me in a private conference room.
“You can refuse direct involvement.”
“Can I make Sophie refuse?”
“No.”
“Then this isn’t a choice.”
“You can place everything into an independent trust.”
“Do that.”
“Rachel.”
“Do it.”
“You should understand what you’re deciding.”
“I understand enough.”
“You just found out your daughter inherited—”
“I do not care.”
The room went silent.
Three attorneys looked at me.
I stood.
“I spent the last six months checking my bank balance before buying formula. You think hearing that my baby owns part of a shipping company suddenly makes me excited?”
“No one said excited.”
“I want her safe.”
Ethan nodded.
“Then independent trust.”
“Yes.”
“No Callahan control.”
“Yes.”
“No Morales control.”
“Yes.”
“No Dominic.”
Dominic looked offended.
I continued.
“No you.”
Ethan’s eyebrows rose.
“Especially you.”
He smiled.
“Smart.”
I hated that answer.
The trust was structured.
Professionals appointed.
Assets locked down.
Public disclosure minimized.
But secrets involving hundreds of millions never stay secret.
By afternoon, journalists appeared outside Ethan’s estate.
By evening, my name was everywhere.
WAITRESS REVEALED AS SECRET CALLAHAN HEIR.
MYSTERY BABY MAY CONTROL CHICAGO FORTUNE.
KING OF CHICAGO’S SECRET RELATIVE EMERGES.
One headline called Sophie Ethan’s daughter.
I nearly threw my phone.
Ethan took it away.
“Stop reading.”
“Give it back.”
“No.”
“You’re not my father.”
“Thank God.”
“Cousin.”
He grimaced.
“I liked it better before.”
“So did the internet.”
He handed the phone back.
“I’m serious. Don’t read comments.”
“I’ve worked customer service for fifteen years. Internet strangers cannot hurt me.”
Five minutes later, I found a comment calling me a gold digger who had intentionally seduced Ethan.
I threw the phone onto the couch.
Ethan said nothing.
I pointed.
“Not one word.”
He lifted both hands.
Sophie laughed from her play mat.
We both looked at her.
She had discovered her feet.
Apparently global crime-family drama could not compete with toes.
I sat beside her.
“What am I supposed to do?”
Ethan lowered himself into the chair across from me.
“Go home eventually.”
“To Los Angeles?”
“If you want.”
“Can I?”
“Yes.”
“Safe?”
His pause answered.
“No.”
I closed my eyes.
“We can secure your apartment.”
“I live above a laundromat.”
“We can secure it.”
“My front door sticks in humidity.”
“We can replace it.”
“My landlord charges fifteen dollars if you lose a mailbox key.”
Ethan leaned back.
“I can buy the building.”
“No.”
“Just solving the problem.”
“That is why people hate rich men.”
“Most people like rich men when roofs leak.”
I almost smiled.
Then Elena entered.
She looked tired.
Bruise near her cheek.
Dominic behind her.
I stood.
We had barely spoken since the rescue.
“You knew.”
She nodded.
“Five years.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Mom asked me not to.”
“That’s convenient.”
“I know.”
“Did she tell you why?”
Elena sat.
“She thought you would go back to Chicago.”
I stared.
“Why?”
“To find answers.”
“She was right.”
“She thought answers would get you killed.”
“And telling you was safe?”
“I found documents while helping her move.”
“So she had to explain.”
“Yes.”
I looked away.
The anger was still there.
But underneath it lived grief.
Mom had been afraid.
Fear made our entire family dishonest.
“Did you know Carlos wasn’t my biological father?”
“Yes.”
“Was he yours?”
Elena nodded.
That surprised me.
“So we’re half-sisters.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“You’re my sister.”
“I know.”
“Don’t say half like it changes anything.”
My anger cracked.
I hugged her.
We both cried.
Then Sophie started crying because apparently she disliked being excluded.
Elena laughed.
I handed her over.
“You wanted to be family.”
“I regret everything.”
Sophie grabbed her hair.
“Definitely.”
Dominic smiled.
The wedding had been postponed.
Not canceled.
Elena refused to let Vale or family secrets decide whether she married Dominic.
I understood that.
For the next two weeks, I stayed at Ethan’s estate.
Not because he ordered it.
Because I agreed it was safer.
That distinction became important.
He gave me an entire wing.
I used one bedroom.
He arranged childcare.
I refused most of it.
He put security around Sophie.
I accepted that.
We argued daily.
Usually about boundaries.
“You cannot run background checks on everyone I text.”
“I didn’t.”
“You ran one on Brenda.”
“She sounded suspicious.”
“She is a waitress.”
“She tips fourteen percent?”
“She receives fourteen percent.”
“Unacceptable.”
“You are insane.”
“Reputed.”
I laughed too much around him.
That bothered me.
Not because I disliked him.
Because I was beginning to understand Ethan beneath the reputation.
He was funny.
Patient with Sophie.
Obsessive about security.
Terrible at relaxing.
He slept maybe four hours a night.
He visited his mother every Sunday.
He quietly paid for medical treatments for children of his employees.
He also ran a criminal organization.
I never forgot that part.
One evening, I found him in the library.
He was staring at an old photograph.
Michael.
My biological father.
Young.
Smiling.
Beside him stood Patrick and June.
“You look like him,” Ethan said.
I sat across from him.
“I don’t know how I feel about that.”
“Neither do I.”
“Did you love him?”
“I barely remember him.”
“Your father erased him.”
“Yes.”
“Are you angry?”
“Yes.”
“At me?”
His head snapped up.
“No.”
“I inherited part of your company.”
“It was never entirely mine.”
“That sounds mature.”
“Don’t spread rumors.”
I smiled.
Then he said, “I would have given it back.”
“What?”
“If Michael’s shares had come directly from me, I would’ve returned them.”
“Why?”
“Because my father stole them.”
Simple.
I studied him.
“You are not what people say.”
His expression closed slightly.
“Don’t make that mistake.”
“What mistake?”
“Thinking kindness in one room erases what a man does in another.”
The honesty chilled me.
“You’ve killed people?”
He looked at me.
Did not answer.
That was an answer.
I looked away.
“I appreciate you not lying.”
“I told you before. In my world, specifics matter.”
Sophie cried upstairs.
I stood.
Ethan followed automatically.
I looked back.
“You know I can handle my baby?”
“Yes.”
“You follow me every time she cries.”
He stopped.
“I do not.”
“You absolutely do.”
He looked genuinely offended.
“I am usually going in the same direction.”
“The nursery is at the end of a dead hallway.”
Silence.
I smiled.
“You like her.”
“I tolerate her.”
Sophie shrieked.
“Your favorite person is calling.”
He muttered something.
But he followed.
Three weeks after Vale’s arrest, a woman arrived at the estate.
Tall.
Blonde.
Elegant.
Beautiful enough to make me suddenly aware I was wearing sweatpants with formula on my shirt.
Ethan went still when he saw her.
“Claire.”
She looked at him.
Then at me.
Then Sophie.
Her face drained of color.
“So it’s true.”
I frowned.
“What’s true?”
Claire laughed bitterly.
“That Ethan suddenly has a woman and baby living in his house.”
I nearly choked.
“No.”
Ethan said, “Claire.”
She ignored him.
“I disappear for one year and you finally decide you want a family?”
Ethan’s jaw hardened.
“Rachel is my cousin.”
Claire froze.
Then turned toward me.
“Your what?”
I raised my hand.
“New information for everyone.”
Claire looked mortified.
“I’m so sorry.”
“I’ve survived worse this month.”
Ethan did not smile.
His attention remained on Claire.
Something existed between them.
Something deep.
Painful.
Unfinished.
And for the first time, I realized the terrifying man beside me might have his own broken love story.
Claire looked at Sophie.
Then whispered, “She looks like Michael.”
Ethan’s eyes narrowed.
“How would you know?”
Claire went pale.
And suddenly everyone understood.
She knew Michael.
That was impossible.
May you like
He died before she could have been old enough to remember him.
Unless Michael Callahan had survived longer than everyone believed.
