Chapter 8 - Ivy’s Real Name
Richard refused to speak after his arrest.
He did not need to.
The ledger did.
Federal agents recovered it from a Cross Meridian storage facility after Elias Cross was rescued from a private medical compound in West Virginia.
Elias was alive.
Thin.
Weak.
But alive.
Simone stood with Ivy behind the observation glass at the hospital.
Elias saw his daughter.
His knees buckled.
Ivy hid behind Simone.
Nathaniel crouched beside her.
“You don't have to go in until you're ready.”
“Is he my daddy?”
“Yes.”
“Like Uncle Mikey?”
Nathaniel smiled sadly.
“Different kind of daddy.”
Ivy considered that.
Then took Nathaniel’s hand.
“You come too.”
So Nathaniel entered with her.
Elias cried before Ivy reached the bed.
He did not grab her.
He simply held out his hand.
Ivy studied it.
Then placed her tiny fingers in his.
“Hi.”
Elias laughed through his tears.
“Hi, Ivy.”
“My name is Ivy.”
“I know.”
“You look funny.”
Simone covered her face.
Nathaniel laughed.
Elias laughed harder.
For the first time, healing entered the room without permission.
But Richard’s final claim still needed explaining.
Elias provided it.
Ivy had been born Isabella Rebecca Cross.
After Rebecca’s murder, Elias changed her identity.
Sarah called her Ivy because Rebecca loved ivy vines.
Simone had unknowingly preserved the nickname.
There was no darker bloodline.
No secret billionaire parentage.
The secret was simpler and more painful.
Ivy was the granddaughter of the man who had spent years trying to erase her existence.
And the daughter of the man who had sacrificed his freedom to keep her alive.
Simone worried Elias would take her.
He did not.
“You're her mother,” he said.
Simone stared at him.
“I'm not—”
“You stayed.”
His voice broke.
“When every biological relative she had either died, disappeared, or failed her, you stayed.”
He looked toward Ivy, who was drawing beside Nathaniel.
“I want to be her father if she'll let me. But I will never take her mother away.”
Simone cried.
Nathaniel watched her.
Something settled inside him.
For years, he had believed family was what remained after loss.
Now he understood it could also be what people chose after survival.
Vanessa visited the next day.
She and Nathaniel walked through the hospital garden.
“I loved you,” she said.
“I know.”
“Not at first.”
“I know that too.”
She smiled sadly.
“You're infuriating.”
“So I've been told.”
She returned the engagement ring.
Nathaniel closed her fingers around it.
“Keep it.”
“I can't.”
“Sell it.”
Her eyebrows rose.
“That's romantic.”
“Donate the money.”
“To Michael’s foundation?”
“No.”
Nathaniel looked through the window where Simone sat with Ivy.
“Something for single parents who shouldn't have to hide their children in hallways because childcare fell through.”
Vanessa smiled.
“That sounds suspiciously specific.”
“It is.”
They parted without hatred.
Three weeks later, Richard Cross was indicted alongside Arthur Bell and six former Cross Meridian executives.
The newspapers devoured the scandal.
Nathaniel hated every headline.
Ivy loved one photograph.
The gala picture.
Nathaniel kneeling.
Ivy’s arms around his neck.
She kept it beside her bed.
One evening, Nathaniel found her studying it.
“That's when you came back.”
Nathaniel sat beside her.
“I wasn't actually coming back, bug.”
“You were.”
“I'd never met you.”
She frowned as if he were being deliberately stupid.
“You came back anyway.”
Nathaniel had no answer.
Ivy leaned against him.
“Mommy likes you.”
Nathaniel nearly choked.
“Does she?”
“She smiles when you leave.”
“That sounds backward.”
“She smiles after.”
Nathaniel laughed.
Then Ivy whispered:
“Do you like Mommy?”
He looked toward the doorway.
Simone was standing there.
She had heard everything.
Nathaniel met her eyes.
“Yes.”
Simone’s expression softened.
Ivy grinned.
“Good.”
Then she jumped off the bed.
“I want pancakes.”
And just like that, the most important confession Nathaniel Hail had made in years was apparently over.
Simone followed him into the hall.
“You like me?”
He turned.
“Apparently I've been exposed.”
“By a three-year-old.”
“My toughest adversary.”
Simone smiled.
May you like
Nathaniel reached for her hand.
This time, she didn't pull away.
