Chapter 1The System’s Puppet

Nathan Lynch fell in love with a scholarship student.

Someone even more broken, more pitiful, than I had been.

And the love he gave her was grander, more dazzling, than anything he had ever given me.

So I gave birth to our child, took enough money to live comfortably for the rest of my life, and walked away.

Seven years later.

A small boy, caked in mud and with a bloody scratch on his cheek, knocked on my door.

“They said I’m a bastard,” he whispered. “Can you tell them I’m not?”

* * *

Just one look.

That’s all it took to recognize him as my son, mine and Nathan’s. His face was a perfect, sculpted blend of our features.

Seven years.

It had been exactly seven years since I had given birth to him, taken the money, and left.

We should have been strangers.

I knelt to his level.

“Do you know who I am?”

He nodded slightly, his voice as soft as a whisper.

“Mom.”

I froze.

Nathan had actually told him about me?

After a moment of silence, I stood up.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t help you with that.”

I had no interest in helping a stranger prove he wasn’t a bastard.

He looked at me, no tears, no tantrums. He just nodded again, his small fists clenching the hem of his shirt.

I closed the door.

Through the security camera, I saw him curl into a ball in the corner of the hallway, hugging his knees. He looked so small, like a crumpled-up piece of paper.

Footsteps echoed down the hall.

He shrank further into the corner, burying his face in his knees.

I stared at the screen for three minutes.

Then I opened the door.

“Come in.”