“That Boy Actually Lives With Me,” She Told the Millionaire — Her Next Words Shattered Everything He Thought He Knew
«Oh God, it is him. It has to be him.» The girl didn’t fully understand the magnitude of his realization, but she watched him with curiosity and a certain affection. There was something in her eyes he hadn’t seen in anyone before: absolute faith.
As they walked, Henry tried to contain the overwhelming urge to run. «And how did your mom find him?» he asked in a hesitant tone. Amelia thought for a bit.
«Mom said he showed up alone one rainy day. She brought him home because he was cold and hungry.» The childish voice was pure, but each word resonated heavily in the man’s memory.
He clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white, imagining his son lost, soaked to the bone, begging for help. «And she never tried to find his parents?» he insisted. The girl shook her head.
«He said he didn’t have anyone anymore. That God sent him to us.»
Henry looked away, biting his lip to hold back a sob. God? Or fate? He thought with a mix of gratitude and dark suspicion. The path narrowed further, the streets becoming darker and more oppressive. At every corner, Henry’s stomach tightened in knots.
He looked around, trying to memorize every detail, as if the surroundings could give him clues. The girl pointed to a little house with peeling blue window frames that looked like they hadn’t been painted in decades. «It’s there,» she said innocently.
Henry stopped for a moment and took a deep breath. His legs trembled violently, and the air seemed scarce. His heart pounded in his throat, threatening to choke him.
«Lucas, if it’s you…» he murmured to the wind. Amelia, noticing his intense nervousness, reached out and took his hand. «Everything is going to be okay, sir, I promise.»
That simple gesture, born from a child’s heart, held him by a thread. When Amelia pushed the gate, the sharp creak cut through the alley’s silence like a scream. Claire, the mother, was sitting in the living room, visible through the screen door.
Her gaze met Henry’s, and for a second, the world seemed to freeze in place. The woman’s eyes widened, and her forced, polite smile betrayed a deep, primal fear. «Good afternoon,» Henry said with a controlled, almost cold voice. «I think my son might be here.»
Claire stood still, paralyzed, then she let out a nervous, high-pitched laugh. «Your son here? You are mistaken, sir.»
Amelia, confused by the sudden, thick tension, intervened. «But Mom, it is the boy.» Before she could finish, her mother turned sharply with a look that chilled the little one’s blood.
«Amelia, go inside now.»
Henry took a step forward, his presence filling the small room. «Please, I just want to see. I just need to look him in the eyes. If I am wrong, I will leave.»
Claire crossed her arms, breathing deeply, her chest heaving. «There is no boy here, leave.» The tension grew thicker with every word. The girl, on the verge of tears, looked at both adults without understanding.
«Mom, I’m not lying. The boy lives here, I swear.»
Claire pushed her toward the hallway forcefully, shouting, «Shut up, Amelia!»
The voice echoed through the whole house. Henry stood still, dominated by indignation and pain. In that instant, he recognized in her eyes the look of someone hiding something—a heavy, dark secret that she was desperate to keep buried.
«Why are you lying?» he asked, his eyes wet with emotion. «What are you hiding?»
Claire kept her tone firm, but beads of sweat ran down her forehead. «Don’t make up stories, sir. Go take care of your own life.»
Henry took a step back, his throat tight. The girl cried behind the half-open door, whispering, «Sorry, sir, sorry.»
Before he could say anything else, Claire advanced and slammed the door shut, the bang echoing through the alley. Henry stood there, motionless, staring at the closed wood in front of him. His chest rose and fell desperately, and he murmured to himself, «She is lying. She is hiding my son.»
With eyes full of tears and a shattered heart, Henry stepped back, still hearing the girl’s sobs on the other side of the door. The wind blew hard, and the poster he held escaped his grip, flying down the narrow street. He caught it with difficulty, and when he looked at Lucas’s photo again, he felt a vow born within him.
«I will come back, even if it costs me my life.»
On the other side of the door, Amelia, trembling, held the same poster he had dropped earlier. Her eyes, full of tears, reflected something new. For the first time, she began to doubt her own mother.
The sound of the door closing still echoed in Amelia’s head as she ran up the stairs, her heart racing. Tears blurred her face, and her breathing came in gasps. She pushed open the bedroom door, and inside, the silence was too heavy.
Dimness covered the small space. The only light came from a broken window where the wind made the tattered curtains dance. That was when she saw him. Lucas, sitting in a corner with a notebook on his lap and scared eyes, looked up.
The boy seemed fragile, thin, with messy hair and pencil-stained hands. «Amelia?» he murmured doubtfully, as if fearing discovery.
«Lucas!» she exclaimed in a loud whisper, running toward him. The hug was instant, desperate.
«It’s all okay. I swear,» the boy said, trying to console her without understanding the tears streaming down her face.
«Mom got mad at that man downstairs,» Amelia replied, sobbing into his shoulder. Lucas lowered his head, pressing the notebook tightly to his chest.
«I heard him shout my name, and then she told me to come here and not make a sound.» The fear in his voice cut the air like a knife.
«But Lucas, that man knows you. He said he is your dad.»
The boy’s eyes opened wide, and for a second, the silence seemed to swallow the room whole. «My dad?» he repeated with a trembling voice. «I dreamed about him last night. I dreamed he was calling me and saying he was coming for me.»
A chill ran down Amelia’s back. «Then it was true,» she thought aloud, taking his hands. Lucas shook his head, confused.
«Mom said my dad died, that no one else would want me.»
The words hurt, though he didn’t fully understand them. Amelia pressed her lips together, trying to distinguish lie from truth. «She lies sometimes,» she said quietly, looking at the door. «But why lie about that?»
The question floated in the air like a ghost no one wanted to face. The sound of Claire’s footsteps climbing the stairs made them look at each other, terrified. «Quick, lie down,» whispered Amelia, pulling Lucas toward the bed.
He covered himself, pretending to sleep. The knob turned slowly, and the woman entered with a forced smile. «My loves, what was all that crying?» Her voice sounded too sweet to be sincere.
Amelia wiped her face with the back of her hand. «Nothing, Mom, just a nightmare.»
Claire approached, stroked her daughter’s hair, and glanced at Lucas. «Everything okay, dear?» she asked in a theatrical tone. The boy pretended to wake, murmuring a «yes, Mom,» almost inaudible.
«Good,» she replied, forcing a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. «I don’t want any more problems, understood? That man is dangerous. Promise me you won’t talk to him.»
Amelia felt her heart tighten. But he seemed nice. «Mom, he was really crying.»
Claire knelt and held the girl’s face firmly. «There are things you don’t understand yet, my love. The world is cruel. Sometimes people pretend to be good.»
Her eyes shone, but not with emotion—with fear. It was as if she carried a secret capable of destroying everything. «Now sleep. Yes, tomorrow will be a new day.»
When Claire left and closed the door, the silence returned, dense and suffocating. Amelia turned to Lucas, her gaze fixed on the shadow covering half his face.
«Do you believe what she said?» the boy asked.
She hesitated, drawing something in the air with her finger. «She saved me, but she also hid me. I don’t know what’s right.» The girl took a deep breath, holding back tears.
«I think she’s lying, Lucas. I feel it in here.» And she touched her chest. There was something pure in that gesture, a childish intuition stronger than a thousand proofs.
For the first time, Amelia didn’t recognize the woman she called Mom. The night fell heavy over the small room, and the distant sound of sirens mixed with the contained cries of the two children. Amelia stayed awake, watching Lucas sleep, trying to understand why someone would hide a child like that.
