Page 33 of Daddy's Accidental Babies

I turned to the IT lead, who shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He was a stout man with thick eyebrows and a southern drawl. “How long before I get names?” I asked, but he scowled at me.

He scratched at the edge of his jaw like the answer itched. “We’re combing through packet logs and geo-tags now. Might take a day or two. If they accessed the server through a VPN and TOR, we’ll never find out. We don’t have that kind of computing power.”

“You have until the end of today,” I clipped but stayed calm. I picked up a pen from my desk, clicked it once, and pointed with it. “And I want the entire security stack replaced before then. The infrastructure needs to be torn out and rebuilt from the ground up with a new firewall and revised access permissions. Every piece of legacy code should be removed, and no one receives exemptions, including the executive team.”

“Understood.” He nodded once and began tapping something into the tablet which he pulled from under his arm. If someone had coerced Marla, we could go at this more gently, but if she was involved, I planned to bring the hammer down. This merger meant me having controlling interest in R & R, which meant authority over personnel to a certain extent, buteven the acting CEO would have no other course of action but to terminate anyone involved. That included Marla.

Graham handed me a folder and motioned toward a highlighted section. “These are the latest blog updates. Public engagement metrics show a significant spike, and clickthrough rates have increased by over forty percent compared to last week.”

I flipped through the pages without acknowledging the data until a particular image stopped me. There on the fourth page was a candid shot of Savannah, her head tipped toward a laughing child who clutched her hand tightly, the scene captured in a way that suggested something intimate.

I tapped the photo, my pulse tightening. “Who is that?” I asked, keeping my voice neutral as I looked up to first Graham, who stood where he’d been the whole meeting, and then Vanessa, who was staring at her phone, ignoring me. She tensed as she looked up and met my gaze.

Graham stepped closer and adjusted the angle of the photo. “Which one?”

“The kid.” I turned my eyes back to the page and squinted. He looked familiar, but I couldn’t place the face.

Vanessa leaned over the folder with a casual glance, now suddenly interested in the meeting. Her brow furrowed as she studied the image. “I think that photo was taken near her building. I assumed it was her roommate’s child.”

I turned toward her. “Does her roommate have kids?” Snapping my fingers, I looked up at the IT guy and barked, “Get me a name. What’s the roommate’s name?”

Vanessa lifted a shoulder in a casual, noncommittal shrug. “Maybe. Savannah never said anything. I thought she was just helping out.” The dumbfounded expression on their faces told me not a single one of them had done any background. Here they were shoving me into press opportunities with her and theyknew nothing about her. It was all her pretty face, and nothing about her life.

I studied the image for another beat before sliding it back into the folder. The edges felt sharp in my hands. There was a tightness in my chest that I didn’t want to acknowledge. If Savannah had a child, it could explain the gap in her resume, though not why she hadn’t told me. Then again, it was entirely possible that they were right and her roommate was the mother. I could see Savannah as the helpful type.

Besides, David had never said a thing to me about being a grandfather. Not once had there been a splash of publicity on his press campaigns as he bolstered support for votes or to draw funds. He’d have told me, wouldn’t he?

“Leave it,” I said as I closed the folder. “Graham, stay. Vanessa, check in with legal. I want revised NDAs circulated by the end of the day. And someone get me a cup of coffee.” I had to push it away. I knew if I sat and lingered on it for too long, it would start to eat away at me. And with the crap being shoveled around this place lately, I didn’t need another thing to stress me out. Everything would come out in the end, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

Vanessa hesitated a few seconds before gathering her things and leaving. I knew she understood what hell would break loose for us publicly if that kid really was Savannah’s. The optics could be skewed to go a few different directions, and whileDoting Stepdadmight sound like a good headline, there were a few that I knew might not look as great.

Once the door clicked shut behind her, Graham spoke again, and I didn’t like what he had to say. “There’s a theory going around. I’ve heard a few of our techs whispering about it.”

I leaned forward and rested my forearms on the edge of the desk. “What theory?”

He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, clearly uneasy. “That someone who has it in for you might be manipulating Marla…Dom, it’s something we have to think about.”

My brain scrambled to my personal life and why anyone would try to attack me like this. The only thing that came up was David Bennett, but he wouldn’t dare do something so brazen, not when he knew it would affect his daughter too. And I’d lived a mostly clean life, though shame crept in like a bad cold and gave me a chill as I remembered the dark secret I carried, one that my old pal David helped me cover up. But that had been buried in my past.

“Speculation,” I said, though the line of my jaw tightened with the word. None of this made sense to me. It was just a business transaction between two companies, that would be good for both companies, the market, the consumer, and my pocketbook. Unless someone wanted me to suffer financially, there was no other logical reason for the leaks.

“Yes, but the theory fits.” He cocked his head and the tech guy glanced up at him, then back to his tablet.

“Keep digging quietly. I want a full picture. If there’s someone on the board or someone outside trying to kill this deal, I want names and motives.” I stood as I said it, signaling the conversation was over. My chest was too tight to carry any more today.

Graham gave a short nod and nudged the tech. The two of them walked out, and for a long moment I stayed where I was. The folder was closed in front of me, but the image of Savannah and that child still burned in my mind. It rolled around like a fireball I had to try to stamp out before it set me ablaze.

After a string of check-ins and a lunch I barely tasted, I left my office and headed toward the rooftop break area for some fresh air. The usual noise filled the air—phones ringing, printershumming, voices in passing—all of which I had grown deaf to. I needed a moment away from my desk.

As I turned the corner near the east elevators, Savannah stepped out of one, distracted and slightly off-kilter. Her blouse was untucked at one side and her gaze distant, as if she had been somewhere far more personal than a boardroom.

“Savannah.” I slowed my pace, watching her carefully.

She blinked and straightened, posture stiffening as if caught off guard. “Oh. Hey.” Her smile didn’t reach her eyes, but neither did she shy away from me as I approached.

“Are you alright?” I moved closer, not touching her, but near enough to see the flush on her cheeks.

She gave a quick, unconvincing smile and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I’m fine. Just tired. It’s been a long morning.” There was no lie in her eyes. Now closer, I could see the way her eyes were slightly puffy, the way tiny crow’s-feet walked across her cheekbones.

---