Page 54 of Daddy's Dirty Little Secret

“You’re telling me Hayes is holding Amelia hostage. And now you’re dragging me into this because you’ve run out of options.” Laurence didn’t argue. He just stood there, breath uneven, hands half raised like he didn’t know what to do with them.

The name sat heavy in my head—Hayes. I’d heard it before, a few times. Quiet, offhand references in conversations that dropped off when someone walked into the room. A name people didn’t want to say too loud. I’d never met him, but I knew he had money. I knew he wasn’t the kind of man who forgavemistakes. But I had no idea Laurence had borrowed from him—no idea Amelia had been caught in the crossfire, and no idea I was next.

I opened my mouth, then closed it. I turned away from Laurence and stared down the street, trying to focus, to push my brain into lining up all the pieces. But it was all still noise. Heat, sweat, panic—none of it let me think clearly.

Then one word cut through everything else—pregnant.

I turned back to him. “What do you mean she’s pregnant?”

He blinked at me slowly, dumbfounded. “You didn’t know?” he asked, staring at me like I was a fool. And I was a fool—a complete total idiot.

My chest tightened. Something lodged behind my ribs like a stone. I took a step back and dropped my hands to my sides.

“No,” I said slowly. “She didn’t tell me. When did you find out?”

“Vegas. Hayes told me. He said they found her appointment card, the prenatal vitamins, some other things in her apartment. He said it casually, like it was just another pressure point.”

The edges of my vision felt too sharp, like everything had suddenly gone high definition without warning. The baby—a baby—wasn’t just some threat to throw around. It was real. She’d kept it from me. I didn’t even know what I felt first: anger, confusion, fear, or something worse that didn’t have a name yet.

Laurence watched me like he expected me to blow. Maybe I did too. But nothing happened. I just stood there, cold in the middle of all that heat, trying to remember how to breathe.

“She didn’t tell me,” I said again, mostly to myself.

“She didn’t?” His blank expression enraged me. “Maybe she was scared…”

I almost said I would’ve helped her, but the words stuck. Because help wasn’t what this was anymore. We were way past that.

Laurence shifted, his voice quieter now. “They won’t let her go without the money. Half a million, or she disappears. That’s what they told me.”

I looked at him, really looked at him, and for once there wasn’t anything else left to say. I nodded once. “Get in the car.”

He hesitated. “What?”

“Get in the damn car, Larry. We’re going to the bank.”

“You have that kind of money?” He scurried, two-stepping as fast as he could around the front of my car.

“I don’t know yet,” I snapped, “but we’ll figure it out on the way.”

He didn’t argue again. He followed me without another word, and we both climbed in. The moment the doors shut, the cabin felt too small. My hands were slick on the steering wheel. I turned the key, and the engine caught, the air conditioner kicking on with a slow wheeze that barely cut the heat.

I didn’t wait for traffic. I pulled away from the curb too fast, tires skipping slightly on the hot pavement. The street blurred past as we drove, but I barely saw it. All I could hear was Laurence’s voice on a loop, repeating things I hadn’t wanted to hear. Amelia’s name. A baby. Hayes. Half a million dollars or she’s gone.

Gone.

I pressed harder on the gas.

Laurence stayed silent beside me. He looked hollowed out, like the panic had worn down everything else. But mine was just catching up. It was spreading fast, rising in my throat, settling behind my eyes, locking up every thought that wasn’tget to her.

She was pregnant.

She hadn’t told me. I didn’t even know how far along she was. I didn’t know if she was scared, if she was okay, if they were treating her like someone carrying a child or just another pawn in their game. That thought hit harder than anything else.

My child was out there—at risk. Held by people who didn’t care whether they were threatening a woman or a life she hadn’t even had the chance to protect yet.

I gripped the wheel tighter, knuckles white. We were going to fix it. I didn’t know how. But I wasn’t going to sit back and wait for another message to show up, or for some clock to run out.

I didn’t care what it cost. I would burn every cent I had. I would clear out accounts, sell off assets, mortgage everything if I had to. I was going to be a father. And the person who should’ve been able to tell me that was locked in a room with strangers who knew it before I did.

That was going to change.

We didn’t speak for the rest of the drive. I didn’t need him to say anything else. We were already too far in. And this time, I wasn’t handing it off to anyone else to clean up.

We were going to the bank.

And I was going to bring her home.

---