The Billionaire’s Secret Baby

3

Just like that day.

The day she stood before her father, terrified…when he found out she was pregnant, now she was back again.

Only this time… with the child he had once condemned, the same child he had forced her to get rid of.

Funny how fate worked. It always found a way to bring her back to where everything began. “Dad…” she called softly, her voice trembling as she looked at him through tear-filled eyes.

He had aged.

Not too much…but enough for her to notice. Time had touched him, though wealth still clung to him like armor, preserving the sharpness of his presence.

“I told you never to come back here with that child.”

His voice broke the silence without warning.

He didn’t even look at her at first. His gaze remained on the book in his hand, as if she were nothing more than a disturbance. Only after a moment did his eyes lift. Not to her.

But to the child standing beside her, and they stayed there longer than they should have. She noticed.

Her breath caught as something flickered in his expression, something unfamiliar, and she couldn’t quite name it.

She followed his gaze, her heart tightening as she looked at Owen. Raven stared back at her through that child’s face. It was really cruel, how perfectly he had been recreated.

Those same eyes. That same face.

For years, those features had haunted her, reminding her of the man she had lied to the man she had left behind and had broken, all in the name of survival.

All to protect his child and herself from the shame of being an eighteen-year-old mother. “That child…” her father murmured, closing his book slowly. “He carries too much of him.”

There was no missing what he meant, her fingers curled slightly at her sides. “What exactly were you thinking?” he continued, “Walking back into my house with evidence like this?”

He finally looked at her.

“What are you going to do when Karina finds out?” he went on rising to his feet. “Do you think she’ll allow her bloodline to wander around with a woman she already despises? After everything you did? You think she will spare you this time?”

He sighed deeply, closing the book in his hand, she swallowed hard. No matter how much she wanted to hate him, she knew he was right, and he was still the only one who could protect Owen.

And so, she did the only thing she had left, she dropped to her knees. “What are you doing?” her father demanded quickly.

“Please…” Her voice broke. “Please help me. I’ll do anything you ask. I won’t make any mistakes this time, I swear.” Her pride meant nothing now, not when Owen could be taken from her. What if Raven finds out and demands the child’s custody? No.

Before he could respond, the little boy slipped from her side and ran toward him, his tiny feet pattering softly against the floor. “Grandpa?” he said innocently.

The man stiffened, for a moment…his carefully controlled expression faltered. The child looked up at him with wide, curious eyes, completely unaware of the weight of the situation, unaware of the history standing before him.

It would take a truly heartless man not to be moved.

“Stand up,” her father said at last, she hesitated, surprised. “I’d rather not have the boy grow up seeing me as his enemy.”

Her eyes widened slightly.

Was this… softness? Or something else entirely? Either way, it was more mercy than she had ever expected from him.