Page 51 of Daddy's Accidental Babies

It had been a few days since I left her house in the middle of the night, since I held her while she fell asleep and promised myself I’d figure out a way forward. None of it felt settled though. Nothing had been said out loud, but at least the silence between us wasn’t painful anymore.

I shut the car door and leaned back against the seat as I stared up at the building. I was parked a few blocks from the Raven & Rhodes headquarters, close enough to see the corner of the building’s upper floors from where I sat. I’d pulled into the city early, planning to get ahead on meetings, but instead, I found myself circling the block near headquarters. I hadn’t meant to end up here like this, sitting in the car, too restless to go inside. But once I was close, I couldn’t make myself keep driving.

My hands rested on the wheel as I tried to decide how to handle Vanessa and her push for the publicity measures. She was backed by my board, who had no idea the hornet’s nest the press had kicked up. Protecting Savannah was my number one priority, and not because David had insisted on it. I had decided that before he came to my office to begin with.

I stared at the dash, the lights blinking quietly back at me. I knew what I wanted for the first time in my life. I wanted her; I wanted the boys. I wanted this impossible mess to go away. But every road forward felt rigged to detonate what little peace she’d carved out for herself, including the secret I kept, which I knew David was hiding from her.

And then there was the board. Their names played on a loop in my head. Each one tied to a vote. Each one capable of cutting the cord if it suited them. The news of Savannah’s secret getting back to them might very well be career-ending for her if the merger fell through, but what sort of damage would my secret about that night in Montauk do to shareholder confidence, especially if it piggybacked on the paternity scandal? I needed help with this, and I knew who to call.

I picked up my phone, thumb hovering over the screen before I tapped the contact. The words I was about to say hadn’t formed on my tongue yet, but the call was already ringing.

Graham picked up on the second ring. “Boss.” He always answered the same way—calm, steady, like nothing ever surprised him. I could hear papers shifting faintly in the background, like he’d already been working this morning, and I didn’t pull any punches.

“I need you to dig deeper into this mess,” I told him. “Whoever started the paternity scandal hasn’t backed off. Someone’s pushing behind the scenes on this, and I want Savannah’s name out of the press—now. We need to find out who’s stirring it up and shut it down before it reaches the boardroom.” My jaw clenched as I watched a pedestrian cross the sidewalk up ahead, and I waited for him to give me any sign of hope’s existence.

My eyes locked on a leaf as it tumbled across the hood of my car. It twisted and jerked in the wind like it couldn’t decide where to land, tugged this way and that by forces it couldn’t see.I knew the feeling. It was the same sensation I had been stuck in for days now, and I wanted relief.

“It’s too late, Dominic. The board has already seen the headlines,” he said. “We have to bring the truth out and make this spin our direction.” A pen clicked on the other end, and I pictured him sitting at that ugly gray desk, already halfway through a cup of black coffee while attempting to change the narrative. My fixer didn’t seem to want to fix this my way.

“Christ,” I grunted, rubbing the bridge of my nose. The longer this stretched out, the worse it got. David had already made it clear to me that if Savannah’s name got dragged through the mud it would cost him dearly in the polls, and I knew he’d end up taking that out on her. It was a horrible thing to think, but I knew the man too well. Protecting his image was more important to him than anything.

I didn’t hang up, but my thumb hovered over the screen again ready to end the call in anger. I turned on speaker mode and huffed. “Fine, I’ll handle that. But I have one more thing,” I added, and the words caught somewhere in the middle of my throat. Saying them felt like pulling teeth slowly with no anesthetic. I had kept my past out of my present for so long it became ancient history, but if David was digging, it meant someone else might too.

It was only a matter of time before my secret hit the newsstands and decimated my public image. Shareholders would bounce; board members would call a vote, and I’d be out of my own company. I had to know the truth now, some twenty years later, before it was exposed and destroyed me.

“Yeah?” Graham’s voice was quieter now, not cautious, but tuned in. The tone he used when things got personal.

I ran a hand down my face. “I need you to look into me.” I turned toward the window, eyes tracking the condensation thatclung to the glass. “I need you to look into a situation that happened in my past.

I shifted in my seat making the leather creak and braced myself for his response.

There was a pause on the other end. “You want to be more specific?” His tone stayed neutral, but I knew he was already questioning what I was saying to him.

“Montauk, New York,” I said. “Almost twenty years ago, something happened. I need to know if there’s anything still out there. Any threads someone could pull. Any record, mention, hint of what happened.” My chest tightened as I said it, like simply stating the fact that I suspected something happening made me guilty of it. I told him everything, the drinking, how David insisted I drive, the way my car slammed into something or someone…And when I was done, I felt exposed.

I watched my breath fog slightly against the glass, then fade. The memory tasted bitter on my tongue, like bile rising in the back of my throat, and I paused again to collect myself so I didn’t break down and punch something.

Another pause. Longer this time. “You want to tell me what I’m looking for?” I could hear him tapping keys, already starting the work despite the silence.

I flexed my hand and stared at my reflection in the rearview mirror. My face looked older than it had this morning.

“A body…I don’t know.” My fingers tapped the steering wheel as I continued. “I can’t let this come back on me now, Graham.” I let out a slow breath, watching my reflection shift with the movement.

I adjusted the rearview mirror by a fraction, needing something to do with my hands. It wasn’t crooked. I just couldn’t sit still. Graham exhaled slowly. “I’ll handle it.” There was no hesitation. Only the rustle of movement on his end as he got to work.

I ended the call and let the phone fall to the passenger seat. The screen blinked before going dark. The air inside the car felt thinner, and the feeling of someone watching me lingered against the back of my neck.

Time passed slowly as I sat in the car watching the building, willing myself to go in. Ten minutes passed. Maybe more. I watched as the lot filled one car at a time but none of them were Savannah. I wasn’t specifically waiting for her, but walking in with her felt like the right thing given the mess I’d made of things.

Then Savannah arrived. Her car turned in slowly and she climbed out with her head high, keys in hand. Reaching for the door, I opened it, but a moment later, David’s car pulled in. He stepped out, adjusted his cufflinks, and fell into step beside her. His suit looked sharp, but the smugness in his gait soured it.

David started talking to her, and the glare on his face told me what I needed to know. I stood, shutting the door, but when Savannah’s eyes popped up to meet mine across the parking lot, she shook her head almost imperceptibly. She didn’t want me to intervene, though I would have. I’d have marched right up to him and told him off.

Instead, I watched. David said something else, and she nodded once before turning away from him. She walked into the building without another glance, but I didn’t move. My fists curled at my sides, useless. The fact that he was still getting to her, still pulling strings and applying pressure, made my jaw lock tight. He wasn’t done—not by a long shot.

27

SAVANNAH

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