Chapter 21

ETHAN’S POV

The updated surveillance report lands on my desk just after nine in the morning. I open the file looked into it and a bomb goes of in my head.

Inside the file are clear photographs of two small children. A boy with dark hair and a serious expression and a girl with soft curls and a bright smile. Both of them are approximately two years old. The timestamps show them leaving the house with Isabella in the mornings. One image captures the boy holding a toy truck. Another shows the girl clutching a stuffed bear.

I stare at the photos for a long time while checking my timeline. The timeline almost matches perfectly. Two years and a few months. Exactly the right age. But I can't be sure.

I do not call her or drive to her house. Rather I give some new instructions to my security team.

“I need some DNA samples. Get it discreetly From both children. Use whatever access that is necessary  school, daycare, discarded items. I want results as fast as possible. Priority processing.”

My team begins to move quickly. And within forty-eight hours, samples are obtained from items the children left behind at their preschool. I rush the lab for the tests. Money removes every obstacle as I have come to understand.

The results arrive the following afternoon.

The Paternity of the kids are confirmed with near-absolute certainty.

I can't believe what I am seeing, even after sitting alone in my office for nearly an hour after reading the report. The numbers on the page do not change. Liam and Lila are my son and daughter. Raised without my knowledge for over two years.

A dark and possessive feeling settles in my chest. I am done waiting. I am done asking. I am done being shut out.

ISABELLA’S POV

The morning starts like any other. I dress the twins, pack their small bags, and drive them to preschool. Liam talks the entire way about a new “invention” he plans to build. Lila sings softly to her bear in the back seat. I kiss both of them at the drop-off, watch them walk inside hand in hand, and drive to a short meeting across town.

I have no reason to feel uneasy as the day is ordinary.

Until my phone lights up with a message from an unknown number that I somehow already know belongs to Ethan.

**I have the children. They are safe. They are at my house. Come alone.**

My blood immediately turns to ice.

I read the message three times and my hands start shaking so hard I almost drop the phone. I call the preschool with trembling fingers. The teacher’s confused voice confirms it, a man matching Ethan’s description, with proper identification and authorization paperwork that somehow cleared their system, picked the children up twenty minutes ago. We couldn't stop him

I do not remember the drive to his penthouse. I only remember the fear roaring in my ears and the single thought that is repeating over and over in my head: *He knows.*

ETHAN’S POV

The children are quieter than I expected once we reach the penthouse. Liam studies the large living room with serious eyes, though he is still holding his toy truck. Lila stays close to her brother, with her bear clutched tightly under one arm. They did not cry which that itself is surprising. They simply watch me with cautious curiosity.

I crouch down to their level, while keeping my voice calm.

“My name is Ethan,” I tell them. “You’re going to stay with me for a little while. Your mother is coming soon.”

Liam tilts his head. “Are you Mommy’s friend?”

The question hits me harder than it should. “Something like that.”

I give them water and a plate of simple food. Lila eventually climbs onto the couch and starts showing her bear the view from the window. Liam remains standing, examining everything with quiet intensity. The resemblance is undeniable now that I see them up close. The boy’s eyes. The set of his mouth. The girl’s soft features mixed with something familiar.

My phone stays silent for twenty minutes. Then the private elevator chimes.

ISABELLA’S POV

I step into the penthouse with my heart slamming against my ribs. The moment I see them...Liam standing near the couch, and Lila sitting with her bear...relief hits me so hard my knees nearly buckle. They look unharmed and calm.

Then I look up only to see Ethan.

He stands a few feet away from us, with his sleeves rolled up, and his expression unreadable. The air between us is thick with everything that has led to this moment.

“You had no right,” I say, voice shaking with fury and fear. “You can’t just take them.”

“They’re mine,” he answers quietly. “The tests confirmed it. Both of them.”

The words land like a blow to me. I had known this day might come, but hearing him say it out loud still steals the breath from my lungs.

Liam looks between us. “Mommy?”

I force a steady smile for the children. “It’s okay, babies. Mommy’s here.”

I walk over and pull both of them close, kissing the tops of their heads, breathing in their familiar scent. Lila wraps her arms around my neck, while Liam leans against my side, still watching Ethan with cautious interest.

When I look up again, Ethan’s eyes are fixed on the three of us. Something complicated moves across his face ...it is shock, anger, hunger, and something that looks almost like pain.

“We need to talk,” he says.

“Not in front of them.”

He nods once. “There’s a guest room ready. They can rest there while we speak.”

I hesitate, then guide the twins down the hallway. I settle them on the large bed with their toys, promise I will be right back, and close the door most of the way. Before I return to the living room, where Ethan is waiting.

This confrontation that has been building for weeks has finally arrives.

“You hid my children from me for over two years,” he says, his voice low and controlled.

“I protected them,” I answer. “From a man who treated their mother like a temporary convenience. From a man who hid the truth about his life. Moreover you were the one who suggested a morning-after pill the first night we were together.”

His jaw tightens. “That doesn’t give you the right to erase me from their lives.”

“You erased yourself long before they were born. There was no indication you wanted a child from me."

Silence stretches between us, heavy and sharp. .

Ethan looks toward the hallway where the twins wait, then back at me.

“They’re not leaving and you are not leaving too,” he says quietly. “Not until we figure this out.”

I meet his gaze without flinching.