Mom, Don't Cry! Here comes a new Daddy! novel Chapter 15

Chapter 131

Clam

Chapter 13-1

(Ethan’s POV)

The city sprawls beneath my office, a cacophony of car horns and chaos.

I lean back against the cool leather of my chair, my phone propped up on the polished walnut desk. The screen shows a child’s face-Jake, the young micro-influencer-smiling brightly at the camera.

Now, don’t ask why I have the picture of a child that isn’t even mine as my phone’s screen

saver.

It’s something I did on impulse. And after returning to my senses, I felt it beneath my character to be indecisive, so Jake’s picture remained as my phone’s screen saver.

I glance at my phone-I shouldn’t, the CFO is mid-presentation-and see that Jake has posted

a new video. I’ve been following the kid’s account for months now, ever since one of his livestreams showed up in my recommended feed.

I was late on a flight and scrolling through social media, a habit I rarely indulge, when I stumbled upon a silly video of him drawing his famous T-Rexes.

But then the camera shifted.

And the stream caught his mother in the background, sitting at an easel.

She was recreating a piece by the renowned painter, Evenly.

Now, my mother’s artwork is sacred. It is protected by trusts and museums, and no one, no one, has ever been able to accurately capture the soul of her final, incomplete piece, Coastal Memory. It’s a painting of a fractured, stormy coast, but with a single, inexplicable spot of water damage near the bottom corner-a flaw that has baffled critics for decades.

I watched, mesmerized, as Sabrina, with a flick of her wrist and a quiet intensity in her eyes, perfectly rendered the painting, including the spot of the water damage. She understood it. She saw my mother in a way no one else had in thirty years.

At that second, I had felt a violent, possessive surge of emotion.

This woman, a creative director at a mid-level ad agency, a woman married to a man named Dustin-a name I immediately researched and filed away as utterly forgettable-held a key to a part of my heart I thought was locked forever.

She wasn’t just talented; she was aligned with the deepest, most gentle part of me, the

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Chapter 171

memory of my mother that I guard with an iron fist.

Claim

Since then, I’ve had my secretary, Freya, keep an eye on Jake’s public feed. Not for the child, but for Sabrina, hoping to catch another glimpse of her. Hoping to understand how she could recreate something so personal, so intimate, without ever having known the artist.

In the process, I learned about her professionalism, her quiet competence, the genuine adoration in her son’s eyes. I saw her beautiful, vibrant life with a man who, I already knew,

didn’t deserve her.

And now this.

A cold, exhilarating clarity washes over me. The field is clear. The garbage has taken itself out. Dustin and Jessica-I already knew their names, their salaries, their recent client losses -are predictable, self-serving insects. They have made her vulnerable, and they have, in doing so, cleared a path for me.

My hands, usually steady as marble, tighten into fists on the desk.

I excuse myself from the meeting, ignoring the CFO’s irritated glance, and step into the hallway to watch Jake’s video.

“Help Jake find a new dad!”

Something in my chest tightens.

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