His Daughter

POV: Caedric

​I could not take my eyes off the little girl sitting on the couch, and every single time she blinked or smiled, it felt like I was looking into a mirror from my own childhood.

​"Vaela, look at me," I said, stepping closer to the desk while my heart hammered against my ribs, "look at her face and tell me the truth right now."

​Vaela moved faster than I expected, stepping directly into my line of sight to block the girl from my view, and her voice was completely devoid of any emotion.

​"Her name is Nyra, and she is my daughter, which means her presence here has nothing to do with you or this business contract," Vaela said, grabbing the little girl’s jacket from the back of the chair, "we are done with the security briefing for today, so we will be leaving."

​"You are not going anywhere until you answer me," I said, reaching out to touch her arm, but she flinched away before my fingers could even graze her sleeve.

​"Do not touch me, Alpha Caedric," she snapped, her eyes flashing with a cold warning that made my chest ache, "you hired my company to protect your border and investigate a murder, not to interrogate my child."

​She scooped Nyra up into her arms, and before I could say another word, she walked straight out of the boardroom and headed down the long hallway toward the private exit. I did not care that my guards were watching or that my council members were staring through the glass windows, because I followed her right out into the corridor, keeping my pace fast enough to match her hurried steps.

​"Vaela, stop walking and talk to me," I called out, closing the distance between us until I was standing right beside her near the elevator doors.

​"I have nothing to say to you," she said, keeping her face turned away while she pressed the button for the ground floor, "my life outside of Voss Dominion is private, and I suggest you respect that boundary if you want my team to stay."

​"I do not give a damn about the security contract right now," I said, standing directly in front of her so she could not step into the elevator when the doors slid open, "look at her dimples, Vaela, look at the shape of her eyes and the color of her hair and tell me who her father is."

​Vaela let out a harsh, bitter laugh, but she held the little girl tighter against her chest, and her posture remained completely rigid.

​"Her father is not part of this equation," Vaela said, her voice dropping into a sharp whisper so the girl would not hear the anger behind her words, "he is a man from my past who does not exist in our lives anymore, and he never will."

​"You lied to me for seven years," I said, feeling the anger and grief mixing together until I could barely breathe properly, "you let me believe you died in that ravine, you let me live through hell thinking I lost you forever, and now you walk back in here with a child who looks just like me and tell me her father does not matter?"

​"You lost the right to ask about my life the night you let your family put me in chains," she said, her eyes burning with a deep, silent rage that hit me harder than any physical strike, "my daughter's father has no place in our lives, he never fought for us then, and he certainly does not get to ask questions now."

​I took a step closer, ready to beg her to just give me a straight answer, but before the words could leave my mouth, the little girl shifted in Vaela's arms. Nyra leaned her head over her mother's shoulder, tilting her face to look directly at me, and the innocence in her gaze completely froze me in my tracks.

​"Mommy, why are you yelling at the nice man?" Nyra asked, her small voice echoing softly in the quiet hallway while she pointed one tiny finger toward my face.

​Vaela softened her tone instantly, adjusting the girl on her hip while trying to turn her body away from me.

​"I am not yelling, sweetheart," Vaela murmured, her voice shaking just a little bit despite her best efforts to stay composed, "we are just talking about work, but we need to go to the car now because Maya is waiting for us."

​"But Mommy, look at him," Nyra insisted, reaching out with her little hand toward my face while her small brow furrowed in confusion, "why do his eyes look exactly like mine?"

​The entire hallway went dead silent, and my breath caught right in my throat as I looked from the child's glowing golden eyes straight into Vaela's terrified, pale face.