Chapter 127: HE’S NOT YOURS

Chapter 129

LUMI

For a moment, Sienna simply stares at me. Then her lips curl.

"Careful, Lumi. You wouldn’t want to embarrass yourself in front of everyone."

I look at her, then at the young woman standing beside her. The girl hasn’t moved. She keeps her eyes lowered, her fingers wrapped tightly around the strap of her handbag.

And suddenly, I understand something.

Sienna hasn’t brought her here because she wants the truth to come out. She has brought her here because she thinks she can use another person to hurt me.

Again.

She has lost Callum, lost the custody application, and watched her lies fall apart in court. But even now, standing in front of me, she cannot simply walk away.

She needs to leave me with something. Something that will make me question everything all over again.

I look down at Theo. He’s still holding my fingers, his little face tilted upwards as he watches us.

"Mummy?" I immediately crouch in front of him.

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"Go home?" My throat tightens.

"Yes, baby. We’re going home." He nods and reaches for Ren, who takes his little hand.

"Come here, little man."

Theo moves closer to him, but his other hand remains stretched towards me. I kiss his forehead before standing.

Then I turn back to Sienna who isn’t even staring at Theo. How the fuck didn’t I notice this? She has never looked at him like he was her child.

Has she ever even loved him or was he just something she needed when she needed?

And to think just yesterday, I had been scared that she’d want to have a relationship with Theo.

Sienna doesn’t love anyone but herself.

"You’re going to explain everything," I tell her. "And you’re going to do it without involving my son in whatever sick game you’ve brought here."

Her eyebrows lift. "Your son?"

"Yes. My son."

She laughs. "You’re still saying that?"

I don’t answer immediately. I have spent too much of my life explaining myself to people who were determined not to understand me. I’m not doing it again, especially not with Sienna.

She knows exactly what she’s doing. She wants me angry. She wants me confused. She wants to watch me lose control while she stands there pretending to be the reasonable one. But I won’t give her that satisfaction.

"What’s your name?" I ask the young woman again.

She looks up, her eyeballs moving between me and Sienna. Never once has it stayed on Theo. How is she his mother?

"Chloe." She replies.

"Chloe," I repeat, giving her a small nod. "How old are you?"

"Twenty." If she’s twenty, that meant she gave birth when she was just seventeen. She was so young.

I glance at Ren. His expression hasn’t changed, but I can feel the tension coming off him.

"Did you give birth to Theo?" Chloe swallows.

"Yes."

"Did you give him to Sienna?" Her eyes move towards Sienna.

"Answer her," Sienna snaps.

Chloe flinches. I notice it. So does Ren.

His attention shifts from Sienna to the younger woman, and his expression becomes even colder.

"She asked you a question," he says. "You can answer it without looking at anyone for permission." Chloe takes a breath.

"I gave him to her." I feel something tighten in my chest.

"Why?" She looks down at her shoes.

"I was young. I didn’t know what to do."

"Did you know she was going to tell everyone that she was his biological mother?" Chloe doesn’t answer immediately.

Sienna lets out an impatient sigh. "Can we stop pretending this is an interrogation? She had a baby, I took him. That’s all."

"That’s all?" Ren repeats.

His voice is low. Sienna turns towards him.

"Yes. That’s all."

"Then why did you lie about being pregnant?" She rolls her eyes.

"Because I wanted Callum. How many times do you want me to repeat myself?" Ren takes one step towards her.

"You’re going to lower your voice."

"Or what?"

"Try me." The words are quiet, but something in his expression makes her stop smiling.

I look at him briefly, then return my attention to Sienna.

"You pretended to be pregnant for months."

"Yes."

"You sent Callum pictures of your stomach."

"Yes." Understanding dawn on me.

"You made him believe he was the father. That was why you travelled, claiming to take care of your mom. You didn’t disappear because you didn’t want me to find out you were pregnant, you did because you weren’t. Who would know you lied about the pregnancy if no one was physically present."

She gave a smile that looked like victory. "Yes, Lumi. You’ve finally caught up." I stare at her with a wide eyes.

There was a time when I would have struggled to reconcile this woman with the friend I thought she was.

I would have searched her face for some explanation, some sign that the person standing before me wasn’t the same woman who had sat beside me at lunch and listened to me talk about my marriage.

That woman is gone. Or perhaps she never existed.

"Did you ever carry Theo?" I ask.

"No."

"Did you ever give birth to him?"

"No."

"Then you deliberately took another woman’s baby, pretended he was yours and used him to deceive Callum." She shrugs.

"Callum believed what he wanted to believe." I take a slow breath.

"And you let me believe it too."

"Well, that wasn’t my fault, was it? Who believes something like that without asking for a DNA." My fingers curl.

"That was my fault. I accept. But I also accept that all that was just for nothing because you lost everything. Everything."

"I did it because I wanted Callum! I wanted him to choose me, and I knew he would never leave you unless he had a reason. So I gave him one." I stare at her.

There it is. No apology. No shame. Not even an attempt to make it sound better.

Just the truth, delivered as casually as if she’d stolen a dress from my wardrobe.

"And what happened to Chloe?" I ask.

Sienna’s expression changes. "She’s fine."

I turn towards the young woman. "Is that true?"

Chloe shakes her head slightly. "I don’t know."

Sienna looks at her sharply. "What do you mean you don’t know?"

Chloe’s fingers tighten around her handbag.

"You told me you would help me."

"Have I not helped you?"

"You said..."

"Not now, Chloe."

I watch them carefully. Something is wrong here.

Sienna hasn’t brought Chloe because she suddenly feels guilty about what happened. She hasn’t brought her because she wants to reunite a mother with her child.

There’s another reason. And I intend to find out what it is.

"How long has it been since you last saw Theo?" I ask Chloe.

She looks at me. "I haven’t seen him since he was a baby."

My heart sinks. "How old was he?"

"About four months."

I glance at Sienna. "You took him when he was four months old?"

"I didn’t steal him," she snaps. "She gave him to me."

"Then why did you pretend to be pregnant?"

"Because I wanted a child with Callum. Is that difficult to understand?"

"No. What’s difficult to understand is how you could take a baby from someone, lie about his birth, and then watch another woman raise him under false pretences."

Her expression hardens. "You’re acting as though I forced you to love him."

I look at her for a long moment. Then I laugh.

Not because anything is funny, but because I genuinely cannot believe she has found another way to make herself the victim.

"You know what, Sienna? I don’t think there’s anything left to say between us."

I turn to Ren. "Call the police."

Sienna’s head snaps towards me. "What?"

"Call the police. I want this documented." She gives a disbelieving laugh.

"For what? Are you seriously going to call the police because I brought you his mother?"

"No. I’m calling them because you’ve just admitted to taking a baby from his birth mother, deceiving people about his identity and using him as part of a scheme to manipulate my former husband. I want every word recorded."

Her face tightens. "You can’t do that."

"Watch me."

Ren already has his phone out.

"Darren," he says, his eyes remaining on Sienna. "Get security to the entrance. Nobody leaves until the police arrive."

Darren, who has been standing a short distance away, immediately ends his call.

"Understood." Sienna looks between them.

"You can’t keep me here."

"No one is touching you," Ren replies. "But you’re going to answer questions about what you just admitted to."

She turns towards me. "You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?"

I look at her. "Enjoying what?"

"Having everyone run around for you. Having Ren protect you. Having people believe you’re some innocent little victim." I don’t reply.

She takes a step closer. "You think you’re better than me?"

"No."

"Then why do you keep looking at me like that?"

"Because I finally see you clearly." Her face twists.

"Don’t pretend you know anything about me."

"I know enough."

"No, you don’t!" she snaps. "You know nothing about what it was like growing up watching you get everything. You had a mother who loved you, money, a family, and everyone felt sorry for you whenever something went wrong. My mother had to struggle alone while yours enjoyed everything." I look at her steadily.

"Then take that up with the people who hurt your mother. Not me." She laughs bitterly.

"Of course you’d say that. You always have an answer."

"Because I won’t accept responsibility for something I didn’t do."

"Your mother took my father!"

"And I didn’t."

"You benefited from it!"

"I was a child, Sienna." Her mouth opens, but I continue.

"I didn’t choose who my father married. I didn’t choose to be born. I didn’t ask him to abandon you or your mother, and I certainly didn’t ask him to abandon me too. But you decided that I was responsible for everything you hated about your life." She looks at me with pure resentment.

"And you still got everything." I shake my head.

"No. I lost my mother. I lost my father long before I understood what it meant to have one. I lost seven years of my life with a man who deceived me, and you helped him do it." My voice remains steady.

"Don’t stand here and tell me I got everything." For a second, she says nothing.

Then her eyes drop to Theo.

"And now you have him." I move immediately, stepping closer to Ren so my body is between her and my son.

"Don’t look at him."

"Why? He’s the reason we’re all standing here."

"He’s a child."

"He’s my..."

"He’s not yours." The words leave my mouth before she can finish.

Her face changes.