Chapter 5 : The Ultimate Sacrifice
The next morning, the pressure on Nathaniel was unbearable. The stocks of Harrington Hotels were dropping. The board was calling for an emergency meeting, and Victoria's lawyers were already serving papers.
Claire sat in her room, packing her small suitcase. She could hear Nathaniel arguing on the phone down the hall, trying to fight the board and the lawyers at the same time. He was exhausting himself, tearing his life apart just to protect her.
She couldn't let him lose his son. She couldn't be the reason Oliver was torn away from his father.
Claire walked into the study where Nathaniel was burying his head in his hands.
"Nathaniel," she said softly.
He looked up, his eyes bloodshot. "Claire, don't worry. My lawyers are finding a loophole. I won't let my mother win. I won't let her take you away."
Claire walked over and gently knelt beside his chair, placing her hands over his. "Nathaniel, look at me."
He looked at her, seeing a heartbreaking serenity in her eyes.
"You have to let me go," she whispered.
"No!" he said fiercely. "I just found you. Oliver just found you."
"If I stay, Victoria will use me to prove you are unstable. She will take Oliver away to a cold boarding school just to spite you. You know she has the power to do it," Claire said, tears streaming down her face. "But if I leave, she has no leverage. The board will back down. You will keep your company, and more importantly, you will keep your son."
"I love you, Claire," Nathaniel said, his voice breaking—a sound he hadn't made since his wife died. "I can't lose you too."
"You aren't losing me," Claire smiled through her tears, kissing the palms of his hands. "Love isn't about possession. It's about protecting the people we care about. Let me protect you both. Take care of our little knight."
Before Nathaniel could stop her, Claire stood up, took her suitcase, and walked out of the mansion.
When Oliver woke up and found Claire gone, he didn't cry. Instead, he locked himself in his room and refused to speak. Nathaniel felt a profound darkness return to the house. But this time, he wasn't going to sink into grief. He was angry. He was determined.
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Nathaniel spent the next three weeks working twenty hours a day. But he wasn't working on hotel contracts. He was digging into his mother's past, into the financial records of the Harrington Foundation, and into the board members' private dealings.
If they wanted to play dirty to separate his family, he was going to show them why he was the billionaire king of the industry. He was going to dismantle their trap piece by piece.
