Page 55 of Under His Embrace

“Yeah.” She nodded. “At first, I didn’t know they sent him to find me. He met Caleb. But he didn’t tell my parents. Wes became… infatuated with me. Obsessed with me. It was a sick, twisted mental warfare that he used on me. He saw me as a possession, and once I realized that he knew my parents, he used that link as a way to hold power over me. He threatened to tell them that I had a son if I didn’t do as he said.”

“To stay with him?” I asked, fearing that she’d lied about his abusing her. If he raped her and violated her, I’d never get over it.

“Yes. To keep me with him. It wasn’t love. I knew that. I recognized that something had to be wrong with him, gravely wrong with him to act like this. When I started the job at the deli, I let Caleb go to stay with his friend, Brent. He met him through a pen pal program and they always stayed in touch. I knew that Brent’s grandpa was a good guy, a war veteran, and I figured Caleb could stay there while I settled in during his spring break until I could know I found a decent sitter.”

She rubbed her forehead. “That’s why I had to live under the radar. To have a burner phone. To use cash. No trace and no record. My parents will go to the ends of the earth to ensure that no ‘Mafia criminal blood’ will be in their family.”

“This is fucked up, Chloe. You understand this, right? This is fucked up.”

“It is. But it’s been my life, Franco. I’ve been running and hiding ever since the day I saw that positive line on that pregnancy test.” She stood and rubbed her hands down her thighs. “I will never forsake him. I will never give him up. He is my son?—”

“Ourson. One I had a right to know about.”

She shook her head. “Not if going to you would have put him at risk. Not if coming here would lead my parents to find him.”

I paced faster, gripping my hair out of frustration.

“But how in the world did you find him?”

“Ethan is Liam’s friend from the military,” I answered, defeated and so twisted from her truth. “He noticed Wes lurking at his building.”

She covered her mouth. “He wasstilllooking for Caleb.”

To bring him to your parents, who wished him dead from the beginning.

I couldn’t speak. I could hardly wrap my head around it all. Words remained jumbled in my head, a mix of curses, raging complaints, and more demanding questions. I needed time,a lotmore time, to process this bombshell that I was a father. All these years, I had a son and never knew.

“I am sorry, Franco.” She set her hand over the base of her throat as she stared at me with tears in her eyes. “I am sorry, from the bottom of my heart. These last several days, I warred with the decision to tell you. I wanted to, so,sobadly, but I feared the judgment you’d give me. I dreaded that you’d scowl at me like you are now. Like you hate me for deceiving you.”

I licked my lips, feeling unsteady and on edge. I didn’t know what I could tell her, what I would say. I was so mad, so hurt, and so stunned by all of this, I had no clue which way to go about my emotions.

“Can you find it in your heart to ever forgive me?” She asked it in such a small, nervous tone, something so uncharacteristic of her that it seemed like it wasn’t even her. Vulnerable and afraid. She’d never been afraid of me. Not of my hurting her, and I almost wanted to laugh at the irony that not forgiving her would be punishment enough.

Numb and locked within the turbulent waves of anger and despair in my heart, I turned and walked away.

24

CHLOE

Franco walked away from me, shattering my heart and crushing my soul.

This was precisely why I didn’t want to tell him. This was the reason I held back. I knew, I justknewhe’d react poorly. I never once imagined a happy, gleeful moment when I told the man that I’d hidden his son from him for nine years. It simply wasn’t positive news to break to anyone.

Yet, I wouldn’t regret it. Running like I ran had kept Caleb alive. Hiding like I hid had ensured that my son stayed with me, healthy and normal, not controlled or killed by my parents.

I would never apologize for keeping my son a priority. I would never stop seeing to his safety.

But I wished from the bottom of my heart that I didn’t have to hurt Franco in the process.

I wiped the remaining tears from my face and headed to the pool. Someone found a pair of swim trunks for Caleb, likely a pair from the housekeeper’s son who sometimes took a dip when Olivia wanted someone to play with.

I stood at the edge of the room, smiling slightly at the cute scene. Olivia splashed in her floatie while Caleb and Nicky, the head housekeeper’s son, tossed a ball back to her.

Caleb was having the time of his life in the water and fooling around. He’d mentioned many times that he wanted a sibling. It was the first thing he wrote on every letter to Santa. It was the one item he asked for when he was tasked with writing a persuasive letter in school.

It felt good to see him enjoy others like this, and I wished against wishes that he could always have this kind of companionship.

“How are you doing?” Nina asked as she waddled from the pool. They’d made it a group affair, and I appreciated that they’d all teamed up to help distract Caleb while I spoke with Franco.

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