Chapter 6 - What He Should Have Known

Ethan Blackwood hated unanswered questions.

They lingered, scratched at the back of his mind, disrupted his focus. And for the first time in years, he found himself distracted by something that had nothing to do with profit margins or hostile takeovers.

Serena Blake. She had looked at him like he was a stranger. Worse like he was irrelevant.

Ethan sat in his office long after the sun dipped below the skyline, city lights flickering to life below. His fingers drummed slowly against the desk as his assistant stood silently across from him.

“Tell me again,” Ethan said, his voice controlled. “Everything you found.”

His assistant swallowed. “Ms. Blake left the country five years ago. There are gaps in the record, deliberate ones. She reappeared two years later with strong financial backing. No clear benefactor.”

“People don’t rise that fast without help,” Ethan said coldly.

“No,” the assistant agreed. “But whoever supported her made sure their tracks were erased.”

That irritated him.

Ethan leaned back. “What about her personal life?”

The assistant hesitated. “She’s very careful. No public relationships. No scandals. No...”

“Say it,” Ethan snapped.

“No registered spouse. But…” He paused. “There is a child.”

The room went very still.

“A child?” Ethan repeated.

“Yes. A boy. About five years old.”

Five. The number hit him like a blow to the chest.

“Name,” Ethan said.

“Leo Blake.”

Blake. Not Blackwood.

Ethan’s jaw tightened. “Mother confirmed?”

“Yes.”

“And the father?”

“There’s no record.”

Silence swallowed the office.

Five years ago, Serena had vanished, he had divorced her without looking back.

“Get me everything,” Ethan said quietly. “School records. Medical. Anything legal.”

“Sir, that may be...”

“Now,” Ethan said sharply.

The assistant nodded and left.

Ethan stood abruptly and walked to the window. A child. Serena had a child.

His mind raced through memories he had buried, late nights, half-hearted intimacy, moments he hadn’t considered important enough to remember.

No. He shook his head. Serena would have told him, wouldn’t she?

Across the city, Serena felt it before she understood it. A subtle shift.

The air tightening around her carefully built life. She noticed the unfamiliar car near Leo’s school the following afternoon. Not parked too close. Not obvious. Just… watching.

Her grip tightened on the steering wheel. She didn’t panic. She adjusted.

That night, she called her lawyer.

“I want additional privacy measures,” Serena said calmly. “Immediately.”

“Has something happened?” the lawyer asked.

“Something is about to,” Serena replied.

The next morning, Ethan arrived at Leo’s school under the guise of a donation meeting. He told himself he was just confirming facts, nothing more.

The principal smiled politely as they spoke, praising the school’s values, its academic excellence. Ethan nodded absently, his attention drawn elsewhere.

Through the glass window, he saw him. A small boy sat at a table, dark hair falling into intelligent eyes as he concentrated on a worksheet. He frowned slightly in focus, a familiar expression.

Ethan’s breath caught. The resemblance was subtle but undeniable.

The way the boy tilted his head. The sharpness in his gaze. The quiet confidence was too familiar.

“Is that Leo Blake?” Ethan asked casually.

“Yes,” the principal said warmly. “Very bright child. His mother is very involved.”

His mother. Serena.

Ethan felt something twist painfully in his chest.

“How old is he?” he asked, though he already knew.

“Five. Nearly six.”

Five. The number echoed again.

That evening, Serena arrived early to pick Leo up. She spotted Ethan immediately standing too close watching too intently.

Her heartbeat quickened, but her face remained calm.

Leo ran toward her as usual. “Mom!”

She crouched and hugged him, deliberately placing herself between him and Ethan.

“Did you have a good day?” she asked softly.

“Yes!” Leo said, then frowned. “Mom… that man keeps staring.”

Ethan froze as Serena stood slowly.

Her gaze lifted to Ethan’s sharp, warning, protective.

“This ends now,” she said quietly.

“I just wanted to talk,” Ethan replied.

“About what?” she asked. “My child?”

His silence was answer enough.

“You don’t get to look at him,” Serena said, her voice low and controlled. “You don’t get to question him. And you don’t get to stand anywhere near him.”

Ethan swallowed. “Is he...”

“No,” Serena cut in sharply. “You don’t get to finish that sentence.”

Parents passed by, unaware of the war being drawn in invisible lines.

“You walked away once,” Serena continued. “You don’t get to walk back in now just because curiosity caught up with you.”

Her eyes burned, not with tears, but with resolve.

Leo tugged her sleeve. “Mom?”

She knelt and smiled gently at him. “Get in the car, sweetheart.”

He obeyed.

Serena straightened and met Ethan’s gaze one last time.

“Stay away from us,” she said. “This is your only warning.”

She drove away.

Ethan stood there long after the car disappeared.

For the first time in his life, the truth loomed close enough to terrify him.

If he was right… Then the greatest mistake he had ever made wasn’t losing Serena Blake. It was never realizing what she had carried away with her.