Bought by Midnight.

Chapter4

Some realities just hit you without noticing, wearing your face.

Eva held Elijah’s hand very tight, he complained.

“Mommy, you’re squeezing me,” he whispered as they stepped off the elevator into the private clinic.

“Sorry, baby,” she murmured, brushing his curly hair back. “We’re just going to meet someone very important today.”

Elijah looked up. “Who? Is it a doctor?”

“No,” she said softly. “It’s… it’s someone who looks a little like you.”

Maxwell stood behind the one-way glass, gazing into the waiting room where Eva sat with the boy.

His boy.

He didn’t need the blood test anymore. The evidence was in every angle of Elijah’s body. The stubborn tilt of his chin. The way he tapped the floor when he was nervous, just like Maxwell did when he was five.

His entire body went cold.

Five years. A child. And he never knew.

A doctor entered behind him. “He’s a strong one. Minor arrhythmia, but manageable if treated soon.”

Maxwell nodded.

Then walked into the room.

Eva looked up as he entered.

Elijah stared at him.

Maxwell stopped a few steps away. His breath caught.

The boy tilted his head.

“You’re the rich man,” Elijah said.

Maxwell blinked. “Excuse me?”

Elijah pointed at his suit. “Mommy said you were rich and fierce.”

Eva gasped. “Elijah!”

But Maxwell laughed.

For the first time in years.

“I am rich,” Maxwell said, crouching to the boy’s height. And sometimes scary. But definitely not to you.”

Elijah squinted. “You look like me.”

“I noticed,” Maxwell said, voice thick. “Do you like lions?”

Elijah nodded quickly. “They’re my favorite.”

Maxwell reached into his pocket. Pulled out a keychain, a gold lion pendant. “Then this is for you.”

Elijah took it, wide-eyed. “Thanks, mister.”

Eva’s chest burned.

Maxwell looked at her. His eyes were indescribable.

“You didn’t tell him.”

She shook her head. “He just knows you as ‘Mommy’s friend.’”

Maxwell stood slowly.

“Let’s fix that.”

Back at the penthouse, Eva tucked Elijah into the guest suite, exhausted from the visit.

When she returned to the living room, Maxwell was standing by the fireplace, drink untouched in his hand.

“I want custody,” he said without turning.

Eva froze. “What?”

He faced her. “Shared custody. Temporary, for now. If I’m paying for his life, then I deserve to be in it.”

Her heart stung. “He’s not a possession.”

“No. But he’s mine.”

“You don’t know how to be a father.”

“You didn’t give me the chance to find out.”

That made her quiet.

Maxwell’s voice dropped. “He’s smart. Brave. Funny. He deserves everything. I can give it to him.”

Eva’s eyes filled. “So can I.”

Maxwell softened. Just a little. “Then prove it. Stay here. Let him get to know me. Let me make up for five years.”

Eva swallowed hard.

And nodded.

But in her chest, a knot formed.

Because if Maxwell ever found out what she did to protect Elijah, what secret she was still hiding, he might take more than custody.

He might just take everything.