“Is everything okay?” I asked.
He nodded, his face a blank mask. “Everything’s fine. I was just wondering if you’d like to get dinner tonight.”
“I can’t. I have plans.”
He frowned. “With who?”
“That’s none of your business.” I reached out for Thomas, but he held him tighter. “Give him back, please.”
“He’s my son. You can’t keep me from him.”
“I know that. And I’m not trying to. But you can’t take him from me whenever you feel like it. I’m his mother.”
He sighed and handed Thomas to me, but leaned down to kiss his forehead. “Bye, buddy. I’ll see you later, okay?”
Thomas giggled and squirmed in my arms. “Daddy.”
Zachary’s face softened, and he reached out to run his fingers through Thomas’s hair. “That’s right. I’m your daddy.” He looked back up at me, his eyes soft. “Caitlin.”
“Don’t.” I turned and walked back to my desk, setting Thomas down next to his toys. I sat down and didn’t look up until I heard the door close behind Zachary.
I looked up, my eyes meeting Alena’s as she stormed across the room towards me. Thomas let out a squeal and backed away, and my heart pounded in my chest as I watched her stalk towards me.
“What did he want?” she spat.
“Nothing. He just came to say hi to Thomas.”
She put her hands on my desk and leaned in close. “You can’t let him anywhere near that kid. He’s going to ruin him.”
“Thomas is his son,” I said, standing up. “He has a right to see him. And it’s not like he’s going to take him away from me or anything.”
She laughed. “Oh, you naive fool. He’ll take that kid away from you the first chance he gets. Don’t you know how vindictive he is?”
I stared at her, my eyes wide. “No. He would never do that. He knows how much Thomas means to me. He would never hurt him like that.”
She shook her head. “You really don’t get it. He’s a vindictive bastard. He won’t hesitate to use that kid against you. Just wait and see.”
I watched her stalk out of the office, my chest tight. Zachary wouldn’t do that, would he? He wouldn’t use his own son as a weapon. I shook my head and sank back down into my seat. No. He wouldn’t do that.
Zachary
“Have you seen the news?”
I glanced up as Alena stormed into my office and slammed the door. I hadn’t even gotten my jacket off yet. I’d just gotten back from the dinner meeting with the investors that Caitlin had arranged. It had gone even better than I had hoped.
“No. What’s going on?”
“Somehow the press got wind of your little love child and they’re having a field day.”
I groaned and leaned back in my chair. The last thing I needed right now was to deal with the media. They were going to hound me relentlessly until they got their pound of flesh. I was lucky I’d managed to keep my identity hidden from them for this long.
I’d known it was only a matter of time before someone recognized me and made the connection between me and Caitlin, but I’d been hoping to keep a low profile until after the investors' meeting. At least that had gone well. I just hoped the press attention wouldn’t scare them off.
“How bad is it?”
She handed me her tablet, and I scrolled through the headlines. “CEO’s Secret Love Child,” one of them read. “Zachary Edward Harms Sleeps with Subordinate, Gets Her Pregnant.” “Scandal Rocks Edward Capital With News of CEO’s Illegitimate Child.”
“What the hell am I going to do?”
Alena sat down in the chair next to my desk. “This could ruin you. You have to do something.”
“I know. I’ll call Caitlin and have her set up a press conference.”
Alena scoffed. “Good luck with that. She’s refusing to take my calls.”
“What?” I pulled out my phone and dialed Caitlin’s number, but it went straight to voicemail. “Dammit. She must be turning her phone off.”
“What do you expect? You’ve probably traumatized her. She doesn’t know that you’re not just going to take her son away from her.”
I frowned. “She knows I would never do that.”
“Does she? You’re not exactly the most trustworthy guy in the world. Look at how you’ve lied to her all these months. How you’ve manipulated her and taken advantage of the situation. How you’ve treated me.”
“That’s not fair,” I argued. “And I would never, ever take Thomas away from her. I love him. I love her. I would do anything to protect them. I’ve told her that.”
“Sure.” She rolled her eyes. “You keep telling yourself that.”
“I’m calling a press conference,” I said, changing the subject. “I’ll get this taken care of.”
“Whatever.” Alena stood and stalked out of the room. I sighed and rubbed my hand down my face. This was not what I had needed right now.
“Mommy, I’m scared.”
I wrapped my arms around Thomas, who had run into my room in the middle of the night. “It’s okay, baby. There’s nothing to be scared of.”
“People are outside,” he mumbled into my neck.
I sighed and rocked him back and forth. “I know, sweetie. But they can’t get in here.”
“Why are they here?” He looked up at me, and I could see the tears shining in his eyes.
“Because they’re mean and nosy and they want to take pictures of us. But they’re not allowed to come into our house. The police are out there keeping them away, okay?”
He nodded and laid his head back down on my shoulder. “Can Daddy come over and keep them away?”
My heart clenched. “No, baby. Daddy is working right now.”