Chapter 4 - THE SCANDAL OUTSIDE THE HOSPITAL
By the second day, the press found them.
Nobody knew who leaked the information.
Julien had theories.
His mother.
A board member.
Someone at the pharmacy.
Someone at the hospital.
It hardly mattered.
At 6:30 a.m., three photographers were outside the hospital entrance.
By eight, there were twelve.
By nine, an entertainment website published a photograph of Julien carrying Emma from the emergency entrance the previous night.
The headline read:
PARIS BILLIONAIRE’S SECRET CHILD? EX-WIFE RETURNS WITH MYSTERY TODDLER
Claire saw it on a nurse’s phone.
Her face went white.
“No.”
Julien took the phone.
The article called her “financially struggling.”
It mentioned the pharmacy.
The unpaid medication.
It suggested she had “recently reestablished contact” with Julien after three years apart.
The implication was obvious.
A poor ex-wife.
A billionaire.
A sick child.
Money.
Claire stood.
“I’m taking her home.”
“No.”
She spun toward him.
“Don’t start.”
“She is still receiving IV antibiotics.”
“I mean when they discharge her.”
“Good.”
“You’re not coming.”
“Claire.”
“I knew this would happen.”
“I didn’t.”
“You always think you can control the room.”
“I can control this.”
She laughed bitterly.
“There it is.”
Julien stopped.
Claire gathered Emma’s clothes angrily.
“You think because you know editors and politicians and lawyers that nothing can touch you.”
“This isn’t about me.”
“That’s exactly the problem. It’s never about you when you hurt someone.”
The accusation struck.
She lowered her voice.
“When we were married, your name swallowed everything. My job. My friends. Our dinners. Our holidays. Every time you entered somewhere, I became ‘Julien Delorme’s wife.’”
Her eyes filled.
“I finally built a life that belonged to me.”
Julien looked around the hospital room.
Secondhand overnight bag.
A child’s worn rabbit.
Claire’s coat drying beside the radiator.
“And now my name is swallowing it again.”
He could not argue.
Emma stirred.
“Mommy?”
Claire immediately softened.
“I’m here, sweetheart.”
Julien stepped into the hallway and called his communications director.
“I want a statement.”
“What are we confirming?”
“Nothing about Emma’s medical condition.”
“And paternity?”
Julien paused.
That was not his decision alone.
“Wait.”
He returned inside.
“Claire.”
She looked exhausted.
“The press is going to keep asking.”
“I know.”
“I want to acknowledge Emma publicly.”
Claire stared.
“No.”
“I’m not ashamed of her.”
“That isn’t what I’m worried about.”
“What are you worried about?”
“She is two.”
“Almost three,” Emma corrected sleepily.
Both adults looked at her.
Claire smiled despite herself.
“Yes. Almost three.”
Then her gaze returned to Julien.
“She doesn’t understand cameras. Headlines. People following her.”
“I can protect her.”
“She shouldn’t need protection from your world.”
Julien said nothing.
Claire sat beside Emma.
“You want to announce that you found a daughter. You know what the world hears?”
He waited.
“Romance. Scandal. Billionaire secret baby.”
Her expression broke.
“You know what I hear?”
“What?”
“The beginning of Emma belonging to everyone except herself.”
Julien understood.
Slowly.
Painfully.
“Then we say nothing.”
Claire blinked.
“What?”
“No confirmation.”
“The board will hate that.”
“I don’t care.”
“The company will—”
“I don’t care.”
She stared.
He almost smiled.
“Apparently I’m developing a new vocabulary.”
Claire’s mouth twitched.
The moment vanished when Julien’s lawyer entered.
“Julien, we have a problem.”
He handed him a tablet.
A financial blog had published documents.
Claire’s old bank statements.
Rent arrears.
Medical bills.
An application she had made for government assistance after Emma was born.
Private information.
Claire looked physically ill.
“Where did they get this?”
Julien’s face went cold.
His lawyer answered.
“We’re investigating.”
Then Claire saw another headline.
DID DELORME’S EX-WIFE HIDE CHILD FOR FINANCIAL LEVERAGE?
“What?”
Julien took the tablet.
The article claimed Claire had recently contacted Delorme Holdings seeking five million euros.
A document was attached.
Her supposed signature appeared at the bottom.
Claire stared.
“I never signed that.”
“I know.”
“How?”
Julien looked at her.
“Because you wouldn’t ask me for five euros.”
Despite everything, she let out a small laugh.
Then she covered her mouth.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.”
He looked at the document.
Someone was manufacturing a narrative.
Claire as an opportunist.
Julien as unstable.
Emma as leverage.
His mind moved quickly.
“Who benefits?”
His lawyer lowered his voice.
“The board votes tomorrow on whether to suspend your executive authority until the acquisition closes.”
Claire stared.
“This is about your company?”
“Partly.”
“Someone is using Emma to remove you?”
“Yes.”
Claire turned toward the window.
“I told you.”
“What?”
“Your world is poison.”
The words should have angered him.
They didn’t.
Because she was not entirely wrong.
That afternoon, Emma’s hematology results came back.
Thalassemia trait.
Manageable.
Not the devastating diagnosis Claire had feared.
Her anemia had worsened because of infection and poor nutrition during several difficult months.
Claire cried when the doctor explained Emma would be fine with proper follow-up.
Julien closed his eyes.
For one moment, nothing else mattered.
Not the board.
Not the press.
Not the forged document.
His daughter would be fine.
Emma looked between them.
“Can I go home?”
“Tomorrow,” Claire said.
“With Mommy?”
“Yes.”
Emma looked at Julien.
“And him?”
Claire froze.
Julien did not answer.
Emma’s face fell.
“Did I say something bad?”
“No,” Julien said immediately.
He crouched beside her.
“You never have to worry about that.”
“Are you coming?”
Julien looked at Claire.
She looked trapped.
He hated that.
So he answered first.
“Not unless your mommy says yes.”
Emma considered this.
Then looked at Claire.
“Can he?”
Claire closed her eyes.
“Emma.”
“He makes the medicine less yucky.”
Julien whispered, “That is the strongest endorsement I have ever received.”
Claire glared.
He stopped smiling.
Finally she said, “He can visit.”
Emma brightened.
Julien felt absurdly grateful.
The next morning, dozens of journalists waited outside.
Hospital security offered to move Claire and Emma through a private exit.
Julien had an armored sedan waiting underground.
Claire stopped.
“No.”
He looked at her.
“We’re not using the front.”
“Yes, we are.”
“Claire.”
“I spent three years refusing to live like someone who should be ashamed.”
She lifted Emma into her arms.
“I am not sneaking out because somebody forged a document.”
Julien stared.
Then removed his jacket and handed it to his security chief.
“What are you doing?”
“Walking with you.”
She looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because you shouldn’t walk through that alone.”
The hospital doors opened.
Camera flashes exploded.
Questions flew.
“Claire, did you hide Mr. Delorme’s child?”
“Julien, are you paying her?”
“Is the girl yours?”
“Claire, did you demand five million euros?”
Emma buried her face against Claire’s shoulder.
Julien moved beside them.
One reporter shouted, “Is your ex-wife using the child to regain access to your fortune?”
Julien stopped.
Claire whispered, “Don’t.”
He looked at the reporter.
His voice stayed quiet.
“Claire Delorme has never asked me for a cent.”
The crowd fell still.
“Any document claiming otherwise is fraudulent.”
Another reporter shouted, “Is Emma your daughter?”
Julien looked at Claire.
Then at Emma.
And made the only answer that belonged to him.
“That question concerns a child’s privacy. You will respect it.”
He turned away.
For once, the most powerful man in the crowd did not feed them a headline.
He simply walked beside Claire.
And when Emma reached one small hand toward him, Julien took it.
Not because anyone was watching.
May you like
Because she had asked.
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