---- Chapter 18 Arthur POV: The file landed on my desk with a heavy thud. It was thin, but | knew its contents would be devastating. My assistant stood silently by the door, his face grim. "Leave me," | said, my voice a raw whisper. | stared at the plain manila folder for a long time before | had the courage to open it The first page was a printout of text messages. From Claudia to Jody. Vicious, taunting messages. Photos of her and me together, with cruel captions. And then the words that made my blood run cold: Don' t worry, Jody. Arthur will take care of us. A father should be with his child. It was a lie, a calculated, poisonous lie designed to inflict the maximum amount of pain. The next pages were worse. Security footage from the mall. A clear shot of Claudia, subtly maneuvering Jody into the direct path of the falling ornament. It hadn' t been an accident. It had been attempted murder. Then came the hospital records. Phone logs showing Claudia calling the hospital administrator-using my name and ---- authority-to place the VIP floor on lockdown, intentionally delaying Jody' s treatment. The final piece of evidence was a lab report. A blood test | had taken after a company party months ago, a night | barely remembered. | had thought | had the flu. The report showed high levels of a potent sedative in my system. The date of the test was exactly nine months before Claudia' s due date. She had drugged me. The baby... the baby was mine. A sound, something between a roar and a sob, tore from my throat. | stood up so fast my chair crashed against the wall The pain in my chest was a physical agony, a monstrous hand squeezing my heart until | thought it would burst. Every cruel word | had said to Jody, every time | had defended Claudia, every punishment | had inflicted... it all came rushing back, a tidal wave of shame and self-loathing. | had been Claudia' s weapon, the instrument of her vicious, obsessive jealousy. And | had let her use me to destroy the only woman | had ever truly loved. | stumbled out of my office, a cold, terrifying calm settling over the inferno of my rage. | knew what | had to do. | walked into the mansion and found all the maids and servants assembled in the living room, a command | had given my assistant from the car. | walked to the center of the room, my eyes scanning their terrified faces. "The day Ms. Sloan fell down the stairs," | said, my voice ---- dangerously quiet. "Tell me what really happened. The truth. Or | promise you, every single one of you will spend the rest of your lives regretting it."