CHAPTER 6: You Should Have Told Me
574 Words
Damon paced the length of his office like a lion denied blood.
Every part of him was shaking—rage, confusion, betrayal. It all blurred together into something lethal.
Ezra.
That name clung to his thoughts like smoke.
Arielle’s pale face. His mother’s poisonous smile. The dream. The missing year.
And suddenly, everything was wrong.
He picked up the tablet Arielle dropped and stared at the screen, but saw nothing.
He couldn’t focus.
Because now… the storm wasn’t outside.
It was inside him.
Arielle stood by the glass wall, arms folded across her chest, every muscle tense.
“Say something,” she whispered.
Damon turned, jaw clenched.
“I trusted you.”
“You didn’t even remember me,” she said, voice cracking.
He stepped toward her. “You should’ve told me.”
Her eyes burned. “Told you what? That I was pregnant when you were kissing another woman? That I cried myself to sleep while your mother threatened me with lawyers and silence?”
He froze.
“What are you talking about?” he asked, voice low.
She laughed bitterly. “You don’t know, do you?”
“Know what?”
Arielle stepped closer, tears shining. “Your mother came to me. After I left. She told me to disappear. She said if I ever came back, she’d make sure Ezra never had a future. That you didn’t want the baby. That you called me a mistake.”
Damon’s world cracked.
“You’re lying.”
“No. I was nineteen. Alone. Terrified. And she offered me money to go. I didn’t take it. I ran. I raised him alone. And not once—not once—did you try to find me.”
Damon’s throat closed. “I didn’t know. I swear to God, Arielle. I didn’t know.”
Tears fell down her cheeks now. “And if you had?”
“I would’ve burned the world to find you.”
Silence.
Tension.
Then, barely audible:
“His name is Ezra. Ezra Quinn Black.”
And just like that, Damon’s heart stopped.
He sank into the chair behind him, breath shattered.
“I have a son.”
Arielle nodded.
“I have a son,” he whispered again, like trying to believe it.
“You do.”
“Why does he have your last name?”
“Because yours came with threats and lies.”
Pain flashed in his eyes.
And then something… snapped.
He stood. “I want to see him.”
Arielle’s body stiffened.
“Tonight,” Damon growled. “Now.”
That Night...
Ezra’s apartment door opened slowly.
Arielle stood there in silence as Damon stepped inside.
Ezra looked up from his coloring book.
He blinked. “Mama, who’s that?”
Arielle’s voice trembled. “Ezra… this is Damon.”
Ezra tilted his head. “You look like me.”
Damon knelt slowly.
His eyes met the little boy’s.
And something cracked inside him.
He has my eyes.
“Hi, Ezra,” Damon whispered. “I’m your... I’m Damon.”
Ezra smiled. “Do you like dragons?”
Damon laughed—quiet, broken. “I do now.”
As father and son spoke for the first time, Arielle watched from the kitchen.
Her heart in her throat.
She had just told him the truth.
But the lies weren’t over yet.
Because Vivienne Black was already plotting.
And if Damon ever learned how deep her betrayal ran…
Someone wouldn’t survive.
- Writer
