All Chapters of His Heir, Her Secret: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

LucienStanding here, in this kitchen—our kitchen—feeling Isla’s hand in mine, I realized how much had changed. And how much still needed to. It was surreal, like waking from a long nightmare to find the person you feared lost forever still there, fragile but real.She was smaller than I remembered, but no less fierce. Maybe fiercer. The kind of woman who fought battles in silence and still stood tall. I admired her for it, though I hadn’t told her that enough, not when it mattered.I squeezed her hand gently. The warmth in that touch grounded me, pulling me back from the edge of every regret and fear that had haunted me since the moment I left.“I don’t want to mess this up,” I said quietly, voice rougher than I intended. “But I’m terrified I already have.”Her eyes softened in that way that made my heart twist. “We both have scars, Lucien. The question isn’t whether we’ve messed up—it’s about what we do next.”Her words settled over me like a balm. I’d been so obsessed with the past

LucienI didn’t sleep that night. Not really.I lay on Isla’s couch, staring up at the ceiling in the dim light, listening to the soft rhythm of the house—the creak of floorboards, the occasional hum of wind brushing against the windows, the distant sound of Leo’s even breathing through the baby monitor Isla had left plugged in.It was humbling.In all my years of running billion-dollar ventures and making calculated decisions with cold precision, I had never felt this small. Not in a powerless way—but in a way that made me realize how enormous love could be when it finally hit you in the chest. Quiet. Fierce. Undeniable.Leo had reached for my hand.That single gesture had unraveled something inside me I hadn’t known was tangled. I couldn’t stop replaying it—his sleepy eyes, the unfiltered trust in his tiny voice. And then the question that had damn near shattered me:“Will you be here when I wake up?”I had never made a more serious promise in my life.The irony wasn’t lost on me—ho

LucienI’ve stood in boardrooms where billions were on the line. I’ve sat across from men who would sell their own blood for a seat at my table. I’ve faced press ambushes, hostile takeovers, and global market crashes without blinking.But this?This was different.Claiming Leo publicly meant peeling back layers I’d carefully built over a decade. It meant showing the world something real—something vulnerable. And it meant putting Isla, the woman I failed once, in the crosshairs of a ruthless media circus.But after Caroline’s surprise visit, I realized something with unshakable clarity.I couldn’t keep pretending we were a secret. I wouldn’t let my son be hidden to protect an empire I no longer cared about preserving in the same way.So I made the call.First, to Richard, my PR head.“Lucien,” he answered with a groan. “It’s seven in the morning in London. What—”“I want to hold a press conference.”A pause. “Okay… What’s the announcement?”“My son. Leo Hart.”Another pause. Longer thi

Lucien Monday came like a knife through a silk curtain. One moment I was lying in bed with Isla curled into me, the early morning light playing gently across her hair, and the next I was facing the firestorm I’d lit the moment I stepped onto that stage and claimed Leo as mine. By 8 a.m., my inbox was a warzone. By 9, my assistant had already buzzed in twice—tight voice, clipped tone. By 9:05, my board of directors demanded an emergency meeting. I should’ve expected it. Vale International wasn’t just a business; it was a legacy. A billion-dollar machine with global reach, strategic partnerships, and investors who preferred scandal-free headlines. And I’d just painted a bullseye on the front page of every financial paper in the country. I stood in the sleek boardroom overlooking Manhattan’s glittering skyline, suit sharp, jaw clenched, heart beating with a mix of defiance and calculated calm. My general counsel, Miriam Pace, sat to my left—stoic, as always—but even she kept gla

IslaI didn’t sleep.Lucien had fallen asleep beside me sometime after two in the morning, one hand resting protectively on my hip, but my eyes stayed open, glued to the shadows dancing across the ceiling. Every creak of the floorboards, every hum of the building settling, had me flinching.I’d worked so hard to become someone else. Someone new. I’d buried the girl I used to be—the one who was naive enough to mistake manipulation for kindness, threats for attention, and silence for safety. And now, that girl was clawing her way back up to the surface, dragging all her ghosts with her.By sunrise, my skin felt too tight for my body.I slipped out of bed carefully, not wanting to wake Lucien. I tiptoed into Leo’s room. He was curled on his side, thumb halfway in his mouth, his lashes resting like little fans on his cheeks. He was safe. He was everything.I pressed a kiss to his forehead, breathing him in like air, and padded down to the kitchen.Coffee. Strong. Scalding. Anything to sho