Chapter 8
Orion Sterling’s life was completely ruined.
He tried everything to find work, but doors slammed shut wherever he went. Even when he used fake names, someone always recognized him and he’d be thrown out on the spot.
Eventually, he gave up.
He wandered the streets, surviving on scraps, digging through garbage cans to stay alive.
As
for Seraphina Lane?
After signing the divorce papers, she vanished. Disappeared without a trace.
Her son, however, stayed behind–left in the care of Orion’s mother.
At first, she doted on the boy, treating him like a precious treasure.
But the longer they lived together, the more she realized; he was a nightmare.
A spoiled, volatile little brat.
And by the time she realized she couldn’t handle him, it was too late. She was stuck.
The two of them an old woman and a wild child–fought day and night.
Sometimes they shouted. Sometimes they hit each other.
More than once, the boy made her so angry she passed out on the spot.
Then, one night, while Orion was scavenging through a trash bin, he saw a sleek black car pull up nearby.
A woman stepped out in high heels, dressed in designer clothes, dripping with jewelry.
Seraphina!
She had become someone’s mistress. Again.
Orion’s eyes turned blood–red
He screamed, his voice cracking, “You did this to me! You ruined me!”
Then he snapped.
He charged at her like an animal, grabbed her by the hair, and slammed her head onto the pavement–again and again–until she
stopped moving.
When the police arrived, she was already dead.
Orion was arrested on the spot and charged with first–degree murder. He was sentenced to death.
The Sterling family collapsed.
All that remained was Orion’s mother and the boy–stumbling through life in a daze.
One afternoon, the boy threw a tantrum over a cellphone.
Orion’s mother scolded him. The fight escalated
He stormed into the kitchen, grabbed a fruit knife–and stabbed her.
She almost died.
With the last of her strength, she called for help and survived.
15.09%
The boy was taken into custody.
As part of protocol, police ran his DNA.
That’s when the truth came out.
He wasn’t Orion’s son.
No biological relation. None.
When Orion’s mother heard that, her mind snapped completely.
She stopped speaking clearly. Stopped making sense
Day after day, she sat in her run–down apartment, murmuring the same thing over and over, “If only he had married Delphine. If only he had married Delphine.”
Later, the boy escaped from juvenile detention.
He broke into the apartment, trying to steal money for a new phone.
She fought him.
In the scuffle, something knocked over the gas stove.
And then–fire.
The blaze swept through the building
By the time the fire department arrived, the place had burned to ashes
Both of them–gone.
The entire Sterling family, along with all the wreckage they caused–reduced to smoke and cinders.
I saw the news on TV, A fire downtown. Two dead
The name “Orion Sterling” flashed briefly on the screen.
I switched it off.
Onion Sterling… what a unfamiliar name.
It had only been a few months–but it felt like a lifetime ago.
I touched the slight curve of my belly and called out softly:
“Lucian, are you ready? It’s time for our prenatal appointment.”
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