Page 46 of Daddy's Accidental Babies

“Thanks for telling me.” I reached over and gave her hand a quick squeeze, grounding myself in the one person I still trusted, and I didn’t want to let go.

I scarfed down the rest of my noodles in a rush, barely tasting anything as my mind spun through worst-case scenarios. Thea watched me from the corner of her eye, but didn’t comment, probably sensing I needed to finish quickly. I wiped my mouth, shoved the container back into the bag, and reached for the door, already rehearsing excuses for why I was late getting back upstairs.

Before walking away, I leaned into the backseat one last time to kiss the boys’ foreheads. Leo giggled, still distracted by his juice box, and Cal held up his book proudly. I whispered goodbye before scanning the garage again like Dominic might appear out of thin air. I didn’t want to risk him seeing them until we’d had a chance to talk. It would be bad enough to do it planned; I didn’t need a jump scare to make my fight-or-flight response kick in.

Thea frowned at me as she said, “Work hard, Momma. We’ll be waiting.” She adjusted her seatbelt with a jerky motion and put the car in gear. As she backed out of the space, she offered a small wave. I didn’t wave back. My stomach had already twisted into a knot.

That conversation was just another brick in the wall I was building between myself and my father that would be horribly painful to tear down. All I’d ever wanted was his approval, but the instant I found out I was pregnant, I felt like I would never get it.

Back upstairs, I had barely sat down at my desk when my door burst open. Vanessa stood in the doorway, her phone held out in front of her like a smoking gun. Her expression was set, no trace of her usual sarcasm or sunshine. “You’ve seen this?” she blurted out as she stalked toward me.

Her heels clicked across the floor with purpose as she closed the distance between us. The tension she carried with her sucked the air from the room faster than Thea’s announcement about my father’s call.

She thrust the screen in my direction. I didn’t have to ask what it was because I recognized the photo immediately. It was the one from weeks ago, when I had been holding Cal outside Thea’s building, waiting for a cab. Only now, it was juxtaposed with a photo of Dominic. The headline above them screamed in all caps:

DOMINIC KNIGHT’S SECRET CHILDREN? PR DIRECTOR TIED TO SHOCKING PATERNITY RUMOR

My breath caught. My chest tightened with panic, and I felt the blood rush from my face. I felt like I was going to be sick as I stared at it, then a third image below, much smaller but definitely no less shocking. It was me at the park with Cal and Leo, posed for a picture Thea had taken and shared on her social media, which I felt was safe enough.

“Is it true?” Vanessa snipped harshly. I’d never seen her like this, but the possibility that she could be a harpy vulture never escaped me. She had the personality of a shark, which was probably why Dominic hired her to begin with.

She leaned in slightly, eyes narrowed in expectation. Her jaw tightened, waiting.

I swallowed hard. “No.” The lie marched right off my tongue, and I let it. I’d been lying for the past six years. What else was I going to say?

My hands stayed folded in my lap, muscles clenched tightly as I held her stare. Every instinct told me not to flinch, though I had no real reason to keep hiding this. But it really was none of her business at all. My private life was being screamed from the mountain tops, and all because of her stupid PR stunt I wanted nothing to do with from the beginning.

She narrowed her eyes, but she didn’t argue. “You need to get ahead of this before the board sees it. If this blows up and it looks like Dominic is the father, you’re not going to survive it. They’ll call for your resignation.” She adjusted her blazer as she turned on her heel, already moving for the door. “No wonder he wants to end the fake dating.” She paused at the door with her hand on the handle.

My mouth opened but then shut without speaking because what was I going to say to her in my own defense when what she said was true. “If you knew this would happen, why did you let us go forward?”

I sat frozen, my pulse hammering in my ears. Vanessa turned and walked out, and the door clicked shut behind her, sealing me into my tomb of guilt and shame. I stared at my computer screen glowing on my desk, my reflection barely visible in the glare.

If this story reached the board before I could spin it, I was finished. My career, my reputation, maybe even my ability to get a decent job in Seattle. Tanking the merger would be blamed on me, not Marla or my dad’s shenanigans. And Dominic…he hadn’t even said a word since I told him. Any chance I ever had with him was nothing but a prayer whispered in a hurricane.

I reached for my phone with trembling fingers and opened the browser. The article had already been picked up by three other outlets. The photo of Cal looked smaller each time, but the implication loomed larger.

There wasn’t time to hope this blew over.

I had to do something. Fast.

24

DOMINIC

The office was quiet, the way it’d been all day. So many times I wanted to get up out of my chair and walk down to Savannah’s office to have our little chat, but I made myself stay put. She would come to me when she was ready. I knew that.

I’d been staring out at the skyline, the glass of whiskey on my desk untouched, the burn of it still in my throat from the previous two glasses I’d had already since seven, when I officially finished work. The headlines, the silence from Savannah, the way the entire building seemed to buzz with gossip now—I felt all of it crawling under my skin.

David Bennett barged in with the same arrogance he always embodied—his suit jacket rumpled, expression tight with restrained fury, jaw grinding like he was chewing concrete. I spun around but didn’t invite him to sit or offer him a drink the way I would’ve under other more friendly circumstances. I stayed behind my desk, arms crossed, every muscle coiled and waiting.

He slammed the door behind him. “What do you think you’re doing with my daughter?” His voice came tight and flat, like hewas forcing control he didn’t have. There was no softness, no diplomacy left.

I looked up, meeting his glare without blinking, my own anger barely contained. “You don’t get to walk in here and talk to me like that, David. This is my office.”

“The hell I don’t,” he said, crossing the room in three sharp strides. “You’re using her to make yourself look better, and she’s paying for it. You’re smearing her name through the mud. She’s off-limits!”

I stepped out from behind the desk, squaring my shoulders. “She’s not property, David. She’s not yours to control.”

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