Page 15 of Desperate Temptations

I know he’s not talking about food anymore and I stare at him with raised eyebrows. “Well, you think you can tell me what you don’t want if the opportunity arises?”

His tongue sweeps across his lips and he nods. “Yeah, I think I could.”

“Okay then.”

“Okay.”

EIGHT

ETHAN

The meeting with the family lawyer, or I guess solicitor as he clarified, was brief because he needed to gather some information. Now we just have to wait. It could take up to a few weeks to get an emergency hearing, so Trent is spending the time looking into grabbing a temporary apartment. I pace the hotel room while tapping the phone in my hand, debating if I should call the one person who may have immediate answers.

Trent would tell me to leave it alone, but I’ve already spent years wasting my time on this family and I’m ready to cut ties if there’s nothing holding me to them.

“Fuck it,” I mutter, dialing and moving to watch the street below from the window.

“Ethan?” Greg’s voice is husky with sleep. “Everything okay?”

My anger flares at his disingenuous concern. Lyndsey’s father doesn’t give a shit about me. “I’m in London. Apparently I may have a daughter.”

He sucks in a sharp breath, audible over the phone. “Listen, Ethan. I’ll fly out first thing and we can discuss?—”

“Is she mine? Do you know?”

There’s a pause thick with silence.

“She didn’t know herself, did she?” I prod. There had been a slight uncertainty that Lyndsey wouldn’t want the evidence of the affair if she is his instead of mine.

Greg clears his throat. “No, she didn’t know.”

A twist in my chest brings a burning to the back of my eyes and I swallow down the ache growing in my throat.

“Why him? Why…” didn’t she choose me to raise the child. I don’t understand.

Her father sighs. “I don’t know, Ethan. I… There’s nothing I can say to help you.”

Shaking my head, I rub a hand down my face and let out a hollow laugh. “You can tell me why you helped Lyndsey hide her the whole time? Why you just let me live like a fool for years while my wife was cheating on me!”

“She’s my daughter!” Greg shouts back, then his voice softens, “and that child is my grandchild. In the scale of things, you don’t matter.”

I understand what he’s saying, but it doesn’t hurt any less. This is a man I’ve known since I was fifteen. He’s been a part of my world for nearly half my life. I’ve dedicated my whole career to him and his company, trying to provide for his family.

“Make sure the severance is one worth staying silent,” I say.

Right now, the people in the industry are sympathetic to our loss. But if Lyndsey’s adultery and news of a secret child got out,the company’s reputation would tank, especially with my swift departure.

“Wait, Ethan. We can still?—”

I hang up, not wanting to hear him try to persuade me I can still work for them. My chest rises and falls with heavy heaves before I turn and punch the bed with a shout.

Fuck them.

Fuck them.

I wish I had never met the fucking bitch. I could be poor as shit and it would have been better than feeling like this.

Clenching my teeth, I bang my curled fists against my forehead as I try to fight back the sounds of my sobs.

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