Chapter 5. Steel Grey Eyes.

“She’s here.”

I stood at the boardroom window, peering down at the wide metropolis below, my jaw clenched as my assistant’s comments replayed through my thoughts.

Anna Carter.

Five years. Five awful years without a trace. And now she waltzed back into my building with the same fire in her eyes… behaving like I was just another CEO on her client list.

No. Not this time.

Flashback – Minutes Earlier

I strode into the boardroom, eyeing the HR staff dismissively before my sight fell on her.

She halted mid-breath, her hazel eyes widening, lips parting in disbelief. Her chest rose and fell swiftly beneath her navy-blue shirt, her hands quivering as she held the leather folder to her chest.

My entire body became motionless. The world became quiet.

Anna.

Her hair was longer, darker, curling over her shoulders in lovely waves. Her curves were larger, her face thinner… but those eyes… God, those eyes hadn’t altered.

A thousand memories crashed into me at once - her frantic cries, the way her claws bit into my shoulders as I thrust within her, the trembling whisper of my name on her lips as she broke apart in my arms.

I tightened my hands at my sides.

She departed. Without a word. Without a note. Without a darn farewell.

No lady had ever done it to me. Until her.

Back To Present

I observed her from across the table as she delivered her idea with strained calm, her voice barely breaking once when she uttered “infant emotional safety.”

Infant.

My eyes narrowed.

Why did her voice crack at that word?

I observed her face attentively, noting the heavy lines under her eyes, the tiredness buried under her immaculate professional façade.

She was concealing something. I felt it in my bones.

“Sir, your two o’clock is waiting,” my assistant stated over the intercom.

“Cancel it,” I snarled, sitting back in my chair, fingers steepled beneath my chin.

I brought up her file on my laptop, studying every aspect of her life since she fled.

Bachelor’s in Psychology. Masters in Child Development. Certifications in Play Therapy. Current workplace - Brooklyn Medical Centre.

But something was lacking. There were gaps. Months unaccounted for. And then… an address change. A hasty shift to a run-down suburb five years ago.

The very same month she departed from my life.

My stomach twisted. My chest burned with something terrible and primitive.

I slammed my laptop shut and stood suddenly.

“Get my car,” I said, marching out of my office.

An Hour Later — Outside Anna’s Apartment

I sat in the backseat, eyeing her building from across the street, rubbing my thumb on my thigh anxiously.

Then I spotted her.

She strolled out of the entryway, clutching the hand of a tiny child with unruly dark hair and steel-grey eyes that mirrored mine completely.

My air fled my lungs in a powerful rush.

The lad turned, chuckling at something she said, and the sound traveled faintly across the street.

My eyesight got crimson.

My son.

I held the door handle so tightly my knuckles turned white.

She lied to me.

She withheld him from me.

I flung the vehicle door open and stormed across the street, my pulse thumping with killing determination.

“Anna.”

She halted mid-step, her shoulders tightening as she turned slowly to face me.

Her eyes widened, terror lighting across her gorgeous face as she held the kid to her side protectively.

“A-Alexander,” she stuttered. “What are you doing here?”

I disregarded her query, my attention sliding to the youngster peering up at me with hesitant interest.

“How old is he?” I asked gently, though my voice felt like shattered glass in my throat.

She swallowed hard, her hand tightening over his shoulder. “Don’t do this.”

“How. Old. Is. He?” I repeated, each syllable low and deadly quiet.

She blinked hurriedly, tears filling in her eyes. “Four… almost five.”

My knees almost buckled. Rage, betrayal, and something perilously near to hope crashed into me all at once.

Five years.

I dropped my glance to the kid again. He peered back at me with the same steel-grey eyes I saw in the mirror every morning.

My son.

Our kid.

I stepped nearer, my voice so low she flinched.

“Whose child is that, Anna?”

Her lips shook as silent tears trickled down her cheeks.

But I already knew the answer.

“Answer me, Anna.”

My voice came out harder than I wanted, but I couldn’t stop it. Rage and betrayal rushed through my veins, burning everything peaceful inside me to ash.

She flinched, holding the kid tightly against her leg. “Alexander… please… not here.”

“Not here?” I took a step forward, my shadow falling over both of them. “You kept my son from me for five years, and you want to dictate where I confront you?”

Tears welled up in her beautiful eyes, making them sparkle in the fading sunshine. “He’s just a child. Don’t… don’t scare him.”

I stared down at the kid – at Noah – my chest squeezing terribly. He peered up at me, wide-eyed and mute, hanging to his mother’s scrubs.

He looked so much like me it was like going back in time at my own childhood images.

“Go inside,” she murmured to him, her voice quivering. “Go watch cartoons. Mommy will be there soon.”

“But Mommy…”

“Please, Noah,” she implored quietly.

He nodded slowly, moving past me with apprehensive glances before vanishing into the building.

The instant he was gone, I went forward, grabbed her wrist. Her gasp brought a surge of memories rushing my senses - her passionate gasps, the way her body arched against mine, the taste of her tears and kisses.

I put those memories away, lowering down until my face was inches from hers.

“How could you hide him from me?”

Her lips shook as tears streamed down her face. “I did what I had to do.”

“No,” I snarled, my hands tightening. “You did what was easy. You ran. You lied. You stopped my son from knowing who he is.”

Her eyes hardened through her tears. “I protected him.”

“From me?” My voice cracked on the words. “You think I’d hurt him? You think I’d forsake him?”

“I don’t know what you’d do!” she said passionately.

“You said love was a weakness!. You stated feelings made individuals susceptible. What was I meant to think, Alexander? That you’d accept fatherhood with open arms?”

I gazed at her, breathing raggedly, my chest feeling like it was being crushed from the inside out.

I had spent years thinking about her. Wondering why she left. Wondering if I broke her so deeply she couldn’t stand to look at me again.

But a son?

A son I never knew existed?

Rage blazed like lightning across my eyes.

I drew closer, my voice falling to a lethal whisper.

“You took five years from me, Anna. Now I’m taking everything back.”

Her eyes widened in fear as I released her wrist and turned aside, pulling out my phone.

“Prepare a custody suit,” I screamed at my lawyer before heading into the darkening street, leaving her stuck in scared stillness behind me