“I’ll let you handle your business.” Danielle moves toward the door, but I catch her arm gently.
“We’re not finished with our conversation.”
She looks at me with something like fear in her eyes. “Of course.” She says it with a marked lack of conviction though.
Before I can respond, she slips past Andrei and out of the office, leaving me standing there with my second-in-command and a dozen unfinished thoughts.
“The reports?” Andrei’s voice is carefully neutral, but there’s a question underneath.
“What did you find?” I move back to my desk, trying to regain composure despite still tasting Danielle on my lips.
“There’s definitely no trace of a father connected to Leo in any official capacity.” He consults his tablet, apparently deciding to ignore whatever he might have interrupted. “There are no child support payments, no custody arrangements, and no acknowledgment of paternity from anyone.”
I let out an anxious sigh, wanting so badly for there to be no other man in the picture. I don’t expect there to be, but I want to be sure. “And the medical records?”
“Annie’s guy got them finally.” He looks up from his screen. “Leo was born six weeks premature. The delivery was complicated enough that both mother and child spent extra time in the hospital.”
The information settles into place, bringing clarity and confidence. Six weeks premature puts his conception right at the time of our night together four years ago. Combined with the physical resemblance and Danielle’s behavior, there’s no doubt left in my mind.
“Sir?” Andrei’s voice seems to come from far away. “Are you all right?”
I don’t answer immediately. I’m calculating timeline and implications, thinking about the conversation I just had with my son about his absent father. Leo believes I’m gone, but I would have loved him if I could have stayed.
He’s now wrong about me being gone, but he’s right about everything else. “Double the security on both of them.” I look up at Andrei, knowing my expression probably reveals more than I intended. “Effective immediately.”
“Both of them?”
“Danielle and Leo. I want protection on them twenty-four hours a day, whether they’re aware of it or not.”
Andrei studies my face for a long moment. “Is that wise? Putting that level of security on them might actually draw Luca’s attention rather than deflect it. Right now, they’re just a maid and her son. Heavy surveillance could make them targets.”
I consider his point. There’s logic in keeping them invisible and letting them blend into the background of ordinary people who don’t matter to men like Luca. Protection that’s too obvious could backfire, painting targets on their backs instead of keeping them safe.
“He might already know Danielle matters to me.” I turn toward the window, watching fog roll across the grounds. “She left the estate unusually late the night Volkov broke in. If Luca’s been watching, he’s already drawn his own conclusions about her importance.”
“That’s possible.” Andrei makes a note on his tablet. “Still, increasing security now confirms whatever suspicions he might have.”
“Leaving her unprotected is worse than the risk of appearing on his radar.” I face him again, knowing my expression probably reveals more than I intended. “I won’t gamble with their safety to maintain appearances.”
He nods slowly, understanding passing between us without words. “I’ll make sure the protection is subtle. No one will notice unless they’re specifically looking for it.”
“Good.” After he leaves, I remain at my desk, staring at the spot where Danielle was sitting just minutes ago. The scent of her skin still lingers in the air.
She used sex to avoid talking about Leo, and I let her because the pull between us is stronger than my need for answers that I already was ninety percent sure I had. The connection we share isn’t just physical, though the chemistry between us could power small cities. It’s recognition and the sense we belong together in ways that have nothing to do with logic or convenience.
Leo is my son. The certainty of it sits in my chest like a weight and a gift combined. For three and a half years, I’ve unknowingly had a child, a boy who dreams about dinosaurs and thinks his father would have loved him if circumstances had been different.
Now, I have to figure out how to become the father he deserves without destroying the life Danielle has built for them both. Walking away isn’t an option. I want them both—my son and the woman who’s been protecting him all these years. I understand her fear, but I can’t let her run away or deny me this chance to claim my family.
They’re both mine, and I’m going to be sure they both know and accept that.
19
Danielle
Friday afternoon arrives with the kind of crisp October air that makes everything feel sharper. I finish my half day at the estate and drive directly to Dr. Martinez’s office for my fourteen-week appointment, wearing the loose cardigan over my polo shirt that has become part of my uniform for hiding the changes in my body.
The waiting room smells like disinfectant and is filled with women in various stages of pregnancy reading magazines or scrolling through their phones. I check in with the receptionist and settle into a chair, trying to calm my nerves about what I might learn today.
