Daddy?

Five years was long enough to forget a man’s face. At least, that’s what I had told myself. I was wrong. The moment the elevator doors opened, I knew him.

Adrian Blackwood stepped into the lobby with three men behind him, his phone pressed to his ear and his attention fixed on whatever conversation was happening on the other end. He looked exactly the same.

No, that wasn’t true. He looked worse. Harder and even colder. The Adrian I remembered had always been intimidating, but there had once been something human behind his eyes when he looked at me. I couldn’t find it now.

I looked away before he could see me staring. My fingers tightened around the small hand in mine. Noah glanced up at me. Mommy? I’m fine. The lie came easily. I’d had five years of practice.

Beside him, Nate was studying the enormous lobby with open curiosity. He had my nose, my stubbornness and absolutely none of my ability to behave when curious. I should have taken them somewhere else. I should have waited. I should have remembered why I’d promised myself never to come back here. But my father’s old message was still sitting in my phone. The truth is inside Blackwood House. And beneath it, the words I’d read so many times they had started haunting my dreams. Trust no one except Adrian. I still didn’t understand why my father had written that. I didn’t know whether I could trust Adrian.

Five years ago, I had believed he wanted me dead. That belief had kept me alive. So I had come back for answers, not forgiveness, not love. And definitely not him.

The sound of footsteps approached. I looked up. Adrian had stopped. His phone was no longer against his ear. For several seconds, neither of us moved. His eyes found mine. I watched recognition hit him. It wasn’t gentle. His face went completely still.

The color seemed to drain from his expression before his jaw tightened. Elena… He didn’t say my name. He didn’t have to. I heard it anyway.

Five years vanished. I was back in our bedroom.

Back in the house I’d left in the middle of the night.

Back with a hand pressed against my stomach and two tiny lives growing inside me. Back believing the man I loved had ordered someone to make me disappear. I swallowed.

Adrian took one step toward me. I stepped back. His eyes dropped. First to my hand, then to Noah and then Nate. Something in his face changed. He looked at the boys again. This time around slowly, carefully. As if his mind couldn’t process what his eyes were telling him.

Nate stared right back. Children were brutally honest. Adults had manners. Nate had never learned them. He tugged my hand. Mommy, is that him? My heart stopped. Adrian’s eyes snapped to mine. Who? I knew exactly who he meant. I bent down quickly. Nate, come here. But he pulled away from me. He was still staring at Adrian. His little forehead wrinkled. Then his eyes widened.

Daddy? The word dropped into the lobby. Everything stopped. The conversation behind Adrian went silent. His assistant froze, I couldn’t breathe. Adrian didn’t move.

For one terrible second, I thought he hadn’t heard. Then his eyes slowly lowered to Nate. Something broke across his face. Shock, disbelief, pain. And beneath all of it, something I had spent five years trying desperately to forget. Love.

Adrian looked at me. His voice was barely more than a whisper. They’re mine? I opened my mouth. Words fail me, I had nothing to say at that moment. Because there were some questions you could answer with a lie. This wasn’t one of them.