Chapter 5 - EYES LIKE MINE
The silence was deafening. Cole took a step forward, his chest heaving, his gaze locked on my face. Then, slowly, inevitably, his eyes drifted downward.
He saw Finn. Then he saw Theo.
I watched the exact moment the billionaire's universe collapsed. He saw his own face, his own hair, his own unmistakable, piercing gray eyes staring back at him from two six-year-old boys.
Cole practically tore through the crowd, ignoring the gasps and murmurs. He stopped three feet away from us, his hands trembling violently.
“Norah...” his voice was a broken, raspy whisper. “What... who...”
“They’re your sons, Cole,” I whispered, the words slicing through the heavy air.
Before Cole could reach out, Eleanor Hartwell pushed her way through the crowd. Her face was ashen, her eyes wide with panic. “Cole! Don't listen to her, she’s a grifter, she’s trying to extort us—”
Finn, who had always been the fiercely protective one, let go of my hand. He took one step forward, looking dead at Eleanor.
“You’re the mean lady from the hospital picture,” Finn said clearly, his childish voice carrying perfectly across the silent ballroom. “The one who paid the doctors to tell Mom she was crazy. You're not our grandmother. You're a monster.”
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Eleanor staggered backward. The crystal champagne flute slipped from her manicured fingers, shattering on the floor, mingling with Cole’s spilled bourbon.
Cole slowly turned to his mother. The look of vulnerability vanished, replaced by a terrifying, lethal fury. “What did he just say?”
