Page 56 of The Billionaire's Demand

For a moment she did not answer. Her eyes rested on the little boy, oblivious to the complications and currents swirling all around him.

‘I take it he’s yours.’

Leandros’s voice was flat. Hard. As hard as stone. Things were starting to make sense—but darkly. Bleakly.

‘But who the hell is his father? Because the woman in that apartment is not Damian’s mother! And besides—’ He broke off. ‘Damian was gay, so—’

He broke off again.

Eliana turned to look at him. He was frowning.

‘But you were a virgin,’ he said. ‘So how—?’

He took a rasping breath.

‘IVF might have got you pregnant by Damian, or by any other man, but to give birth and still be a virgin...? Is it even possible?’ He lifted a hand, then dropped it like lead. ‘Caesarean delivery?’

He gave a swift shake of his head in negation.

‘But you have no scar.’ His frown deepened. ‘Maybe you used a surrogate? Because how the hell else—?’

It was time for her to speak. What else could she do now? Only the truth would answer him.

‘Miki is not my son.’ She spoke quietly, the words falling slowly from her lips. ‘He is Damian’s.’

She didn’t look at Leandros, only at the little boy still rocking on his pony, humming away to himself.

‘Damian was not gay, as you supposed,’ she said, and she knew that now she had no choice but to tell all—to tell everything. ‘And as I let you think. He was just in love with someone else. Miki’s mother, Maria. He wanted to marry her, but she worked as a maid in his father’s house—that was how they met. Jonas, as you know, is a self-made man—and he was ambitious, as many such men are, for his only son. His heir. The last thing he would have permitted was his son throwing himself away on a woman who worked as a maid. Someone from the same background he himself had climbed away from. He wanted better for his son. He wanted old money...the prestige of a “good family”. Mine, as it happened.’

She swallowed.

‘That was why he found Damian’s marriage to me acceptable. Oh, he profited materially too, by buying up my poor father’s debts and ending up with his house. But my real value to him was that I made a very “suitable” wife for Damian socially.’

Her gaze rested on Damian’s little son.

‘That was Damian’s father’s reason for wanting me to marry Damian. Mine...’ her voice twisted ‘...you already know.’

She drew another breath—a difficult one.

‘As for Damian... Well, it suited him too. Marriage to me meant he could continue his liaison with Maria, the woman he’d never be allowed to marry. She became pregnant...gave birth to Miki. Damian, of course, could never acknowledge him—never do anything but conceal his existence, conceal Maria’s as well. As for me... I knew from the start and went along with it, what Damian wanted of me—being a smokescreen to hide Maria behind, and placating his father with a marriage that Jonas would welcome. We agreed to it before we married.’

Her voice changed.

‘I pitied Damian...felt for him. His father ruled him with a rod of iron. Damian was cowed by him—he always had been. He had no money of his own—his father held the purse strings. If he’d left me for Maria his father would have cut him off penniless. So he just made the best of it—as did I.’

She paused again. Then finished the sad and sorry tale.

‘Maria was in the car when Damian crashed it. They died together. Leaving Miki with only his widowed grandmother. And me.’

She looked at Leandros.

‘I can’t abandon him, Leandros. His grandmother is getting on—you saw that. And she isn’t in the best of health either. She has her pension, but it isn’t much. I...I give her as much as I can afford from the meagre allowance Jonas makes me as Damian’s widow, but it doesn’t go very far. It stretches so far as paying for a childminder for Miki, because his grandmother can’t really cope on her own. And after Damian and Maria were killed, I...I steered clear. Not because I wanted to, but because—’

She took a sharp, incising breath.

‘Leandros, Jonas must never learn of his grandson’s existence! He’s never suspected it, and it must stay that way! Thankfully, the ambulance crew at the scene of Damian’s car crash got Maria out first—she was still alive, I discovered—and she was taken to the ER. She died en route. So far as Jonas knows there was no passenger with Damian. But if he learnt about Miki he’d get hold of him! He’d value him now, because—illegitimate or not, and despite who his mother was—he’s all the progeny he’s going to have! He’d use his wealth and influence to get custody...ensure Miki’s grandmother never saw him again. It would be a hellish childhood for Miki! I know that from what Damian said about his own childhood, and I’ve seen for myself—experienced for myself—how Jonas treats people. Miki is much better off with Maria’s mother, despite her age and her not being well off. She adores him, and for her... Well, he’s all she’s got now, with her daughter dead.’

She fell silent. The tale was so sad...so pitiful all round.

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