Page 47 of Adonis: The Cost of a Billionaire's Heart
“Bullshit! The fact that you knew this long and looked in my eyes that many times tells me that every time you were around me, you knew. You deliberately chose to withhold the information from me. You’re colder than ice, Sim. Colder than me,” I said, torn between rage and something that felt dangerously close to heartache.
She swung her head back and forth repeatedly. “No. I swear it wasn’t like that! By the time I put two and two together about your father and what Jadarius did, I’d already signed the preliminary contract for our arrangement. I felt guilty every time I looked at you. I didn’t think the secret would claw its way out of my past like this.”
“You didn’t think,” I repeated with a scoff. “You damn right you didn’t fucking think. I bet you were never even going to tell me.”
“I wasn’t,” she admitted. “I didn’t think I’d have to.”
My brows heightened in surprise. “Wow.”
“It was either your feelings or my son’s future, and I chose Mason. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t feel like shit for not telling you, especially after we . . .”
I swung my head. I was done talking about it. “Doesn’t matter now,” I said, cutting her off as I ran my hand down my nape. “The press is running with their own narratives.”
“Hold up. The press? He went to the press about this? About Mason?”
“Yes, essentially blowing up our lives in the process. He’s saying he wants Mason.”
Her mouth fell open in shock. “No! Absolutely not! He has no fucking right to my son! He’s not Mason’s family. You’ve been more family to him in the past seven days than he could ever be.”
Sim’s words hit home, but it wasn’t enough to stop the doubt from chewing at my insides. In the blink of an eye, Mason had become my joy personified. He was the most innocent one of us all. He didn’t bear the sins of his father. But could I ever truly love the son of the man who took my father’s life?
“Had you told me the truth when you first realized, we could’ve gotten ahead of this, but now the blogs are running with whatever narrative he’s saying.”
“What is he saying about me? Whatever it is isn’t true!” she defended, so breathless she was almost hyperventilating.
An exasperated sigh eased through my flared nostrils as my facial muscles went idle. “I don’t have all the details. Right now, all I know is he contacted a blogger with his paternity story, and they published it no questions asked. I swear people will do anything for fucking clickbait and content these days.”
I didn’t tell her the rest—that Jadarius and I had history. That the internet sleuths were dissecting every old photo they could find, looking for resemblances between Mason and Jadarius. That social media threads were spiraling into one conspiracy theory after the next about Jadarius’s criminal past and Simora’s true intentions, calling her a gold-digger with intimate connections to my opp. That there were multiple trending hashtags about us, including #BillionaireBabyDaddy, #JaVsAdonis, and #PrisonBDExposed. That my stock was already dropping. That my board was calling for an emergency meeting.
I couldn’t fix my mouth to tell her now. Things between us had already taken root, bloomed, and died within a week. Maybe in our case, some things were better left unsaid.
Simora wiped her tears. “God! I can’t believe this is happening, Adonis. I’m sorry. I don’t know what else to say.”
“There’s nothing else left to say.”
“How can you even say that? This is my life! My son’s life!”
“What the fuck else do you want me to say right now, Simora?” I barked, feeling myself on the brink of snapping.
“That you don’t hate me for keeping the most destructive chapter of my past a secret,” she confessed, her voice laced with vulnerability.
My blood boiled, but I couldn’t bring myself to raise my voice at her anymore. I probably could never hate her, but I didn’t want to test that theory. In my heart, I knew she was a good person. Her baby father was a fuckin’ bamma, but we all made mistakes.
“Has he always known about Mason?” I probed.
Her brows snapped together. “Hell no! And because our pictures have been on every social feed from here to Tokyo, he now knows that the few greasy ass hundred bucks he gave me all those years ago to get an abortion actually went to formula and diapers!” she asserted.
My brows dipped low, taking offense, which was something I didn’t easily do. “So, it’s all my fault now? We both agreed to this shit, Simora! I’ve bent over backward trying to make sure you had all the protections you needed. Don’t blame me because your skeletons came spilling out of the fucking closet.”
“I know that! And I’m not putting all the blame on you. It’s just . . . I haven’t spoken to that man in years. I hate that he’s doing this now. I wish he’d die already,” she vented.
“Is this why you didn’t want Mason’s photo getting taken?”
“Yes,” she confessed. “Jadarius and I were already broken up when I found out that I was pregnant. When I told him the news, he didn’t hesitate to tell me to abort it—like I said, he gave me the money and everything. I never told him I didn’t go throughwith it. I just cut all ties with him—changed my number, deleted his photos from my phone and social media—and put my focus into becoming the best mother I could be. I don’t see why he’s doing this now over a child he never wanted me to keep in the fucking first place. You don’t think he’ll try to come for him, do you?”
“He’s not making it out of prison,” I stated, more so as a promise than a general statement. “He just wants a quick payday. I’m sure of it.”
“What makes you so sure?” she inquired, her brows cinched together.
