Chapter 3 - The Bronx Basement
"Arthur," I said, turning away from my mother as if she no longer existed. "Where are they living?"
"The basement apartment on 142nd Street, sir," Arthur replied, his voice strong now that the truth was free. "I’ve been quietly using my own pension to pay their heating bill during the winter. I wanted to tell you, Mr. Sterling, but your mother threatened to cut off my wife's medical insurance if I ever spoke your name."
"You will never have to worry about a bill again, Arthur," I said. "Go to the car. We’re leaving."
"Alexander!" Victoria screamed as I turned my back on her. "If you walk out that door with that child, I will have the board strip you of your CEO title by midnight! You own nothing without me!"
I didn't even look back. "Keep the title, Mother. Tomorrow, I'm pulling my proprietary tech patents out of Sterling Global. Let's see what the board thinks of your title when the stock price hits zero."
Thirty minutes later, Arthur drove us through the pouring rain toward the Bronx. Sophia had fallen asleep in the back seat, her small head resting on my tailored jacket, her hand still gripping my thumb as if she feared I would vanish if she let go.
When the car finally pulled up to a dilapidated, crumbling brick tenement building, my heart shattered completely. Water was cascading down the rusted fire escapes, flooding the cracked pavement of the stairs leading down to the basement.
I carried Sophia down the dark, concrete steps. The door was warped from moisture, the paint peeling away in thick, gray flakes.
I knocked softly.
A moment later, the door creaked open. Standing in the dim light of a single, flickering bulb was Lauren.
She looked pale, her cheeks hollowed from months of skipping meals so her daughter could eat, her hands red and chapped from working long shifts at a local laundromat. She wore an old sweater of mine that I thought I had lost years ago.
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When her eyes met mine, she froze. The small plastic bowl she was holding slipped from her fingers, clattering onto the linoleum floor.
"Alexander?" she whispered, her voice breaking. "No... please. Your mother said if you ever found us, she'd ruin you. Why are you here?"
