2: Tristan’s POV (Who are you?)

The photograph burned in my hand.

How....I don't understand. How could this be happening? Why now? Why at this moment?

The picture. It had been taken when I was nineteen---when I was not sure of just what I was. In it was Kaylie, smiling in my arms, radiant as if the world had belonged to us.

But that was so many lifetimes ago. I was in a dark place, we both were but we had found temporary relief in each other.

I was still struggling with my sexuality back then but that was so long ago.

We had that photo taken a few hours before we had sex for the first time. Who would have thought that almost two decades later it would come back to bite me in the ass.

Could that be? Was this girl be the product of that day? No. It was not possible.

This girl.

This young woman with defiant eyes, eyes that resembled mine and trembling hands… she claimed to be mine.

And what was worse was deep down, I feared that she may be right.

The crowd blurred. The ring box in my fell from my hand, Alex's hand slipped from my arm, and the murmurs spreading like wildfire in my living room all became background noise.

My body moved on instinc and I grabbed her arm, my voice hoarse as I managed,

“Not here. We’re not doing this here. Come with me.”

I didn’t wait for agreement. I needed walls. A door. Privacy. I dragged the girl all the way to my private study and I knew that Alex was following me.

Alex's expression was tight, this was not how things were supposed to go. We should be celebrating tonight. This was meant to be a blissful moment and yet....

Fuck.

Inside the study, the silence pressed against us. The door clicked shut, muffling the buzz of gossip outside. But the silence was louder.

I turned to Eloise, and my voice was harsher than I intended.

“Do you realize what you’ve just done?''

''Tell you the truth'' She responded not breaking eye contact.

''Do you know what you’re saying? You can't just come here and just....”

Her chin lifted.

“I know exactly what I’m saying.” She was trying to hold steady, but her fingers twisted in her sleeve, betraying the storm inside. “My mother told me the truth before she died. I came here because you deserved to know. Because I deserved to be heard.”

My heart lurched at the mention of Kaylie, her name ringing in my ears like a ghost had spoken it.

There was no way that Kaylie had given birth to a daughter and for me?

She would have said something. This was obviously a sick joke.

But before I could find the words to challenge this stranger, Alex stepped forward.

“Wait.” His voice cracked but stayed sharp. His eyes darted between Eloise and me, wide, frantic. “Are you saying—” He swallowed hard, his jaw trembling. “Are you saying she’s your daughter?”

He looked up at me, his eyes pleading for me to deny. To be certain that it wasn't true.

But I had no words and in that moment, I knew that something had shattered something between us.

Eloise’s gaze softened, not for me, but for Alex. She turned to him, steady now.

“I’ll take a DNA test if that’s what it takes. I’m not here to lie or ruin your lives.”

You're not here to ruin our lives?A little too late for that, Kid.

She sighed, pulled a folded slip of paper from her pocket and placed it on my desk.

Her number. Was she this certain? If she was so sure then did that mean that maybe....

“Call me when you’re ready,” she whispered. Then she turned, her shoulders rigid, and walked out. The door closed gently behind her, but it may as well have slammed.

Silence swallowed the room whole.

Alex didn’t move. He stood frozen, his chest rising and falling too quickly, his fists trembling at his sides. His eyes—God, his eyes—were glassy, wounded.

Finally, he turned to me. And the look there gutted me deeper than Eloise’s words ever could.

“Tell me this isn’t real,” he whispered. “Tell me she’s lying.”

“I—” My throat locked. The image of the photograph still weighed on my mind.

Alex’s breath shuddered out. He shook his head, backing away like he couldn’t stand the sight of me.

“All this time, Tristan… all this time, and you never told me.”

Fear crushed me. Fear of the past. Fear of what this meant for us. Fear of losing him.

“Alex—” I reached for him, but he flinched back.

"Don't!''

"I don't know that girl! She's lying"

“Oh really?” By now tears had begun falling down his face and it broke me.

“Yes!!! How can I have a child out there and not tell you about it?”

“Tristan…..babe,” he took in a shaky breath, “Is there a remote chance that, that kid might be telling the truth?”

“Alex…..”

“Did you ever have sex with her mother?”

“I…..yes… but…”

Alex buried his face in his hands and groaned in either anger or frustration or both.

“She can’t be my daughter!!”

"SHE LOOKS LIKE YOU GOD DAMN IT!"

He flung a book against the wall and let out a heartbroken yell.

I didn't move, didn't speak. He had never acted this way before but I could not fault him. I just stood there with my head bowed.

What had I done? How could I have been so reckless? If this girl really was my daughter then what did that mean for Alex and I?

Did that mean that I was going to have to choose between the man that I love and a child that I never knew existed.

The silence stretched, unbearable. And then his voice broke through it, low and raw, cutting me open.

''Tristan, What do we do now?”