Page 88 of His Beloved Princess
"What aboutknocking?" Bastian snapped, glaring at his brother, but Andreas only shrugged nonchalantly, ignoring his older sibling's obvious irritation.
"Wasn't on the menu," he replied, grabbing my purse from the chair and handing it to me. "Let's go. The traffic is terrible, and I have to be at court at five."
"Okay." I cupped Bastian's cheeks for the last time, smooching his lips and making him chuckle. I didn't want to leave him in a bad mood or be concerned about the interrogation. Being the reason behind his smile lifted my spirit, and I waved at him on my way out.
"Hey, princess!" he called out when I almost closed the door, and I peeked inside, wondering if I had forgotten something. "I love you, too."
A wide grin settled on my face, and I blew him a kiss, closing the door and running down the hall behind the impatient dragon. However, he was quiet, like some curse sealed his lips, and when we drove through the city, and he just stared out the window, worry bubbled in my stomach that something horrific had happened.
"Are you okay?" I asked, watching his motionless face. The car came to a halt at the lights, and he rested his head against the seat, paying all his attention to the sidewalk.
"Andreas." I placed my hand on his forearm on the armrest, and he flashed me an annoyed glance. "What is going on?"
"Nothing that concerns you," he answered, jolting his arm away from my reach, and the frown on my face deepened. His attitude only fed my worries.
"But it obviously includes you, so?" I turned my upper body towards him, realizing this was the first time I’d seen him driving. He had servants for everything, and it was slightly weird not to have at least one of the security guys behind our asses.
He stopped again; the cars before us had barely moved. The usual afternoon traffic jam gave us time to talk as much as we wanted. Yet, he would clearly rather spend it in silence.
"You'll learn it from the news anyway, so what can I lose." He inhaled sharply, checking his phone briefly before ignoring its buzzing. I sat motionless and calmly, waiting for him to start talking.
"My wife wanted to leave the country with my kids," he said eventually, and my brows shot up. Bastian mentioned that things went sour and that Ava threatened to take the children away and forbid them to see their father until the trial, but none of us believed she would actually do that.
"Cora, my daughter, told the airport security that she didn’t know that woman and that she was being kidnapped," Andreas continued, his face blank of any emotion. "Security called the police. Ava made a scene, attacked the police officer, and now she's in jail. And I did nothing to help her." He looked me dead in the eyes, and I gulped, startled by the vicious energy that radiated off him. "I even pressed charges against her for kidnapping my kids and stealing my money."
"Oh, God." My eyes widened in shock, and a very inappropriate laugh escaped my mouth, but he chuckled as well.
"Would you believe that?" He ran his hands through his face, shaking his head in disbelief. "She wanted to take them to Colombia!"
"What? Why?" I burst out, not understanding such ridiculous behavior. Ava's entire family was here in Seattle. Her kids attended a prestigious private school. They had their father, uncles, grandparents, and friends here. It didn't make sense that she wanted to take them away from the people they loved.
"Well," Andreas sighed, frowning at the road before us. "Can I trust you not to tell anyone what I'm about to tell you?"
"Not even Bastian?" I asked, disliking this demand. The last time I hid things from him, he ended up in a coma.
"I'll tell him over an expensive bottle of whiskey when he returns home," Andreas promised, and I reluctantly nodded. I agreed mainly because I saw he needed to confide in someone. This secret, or whatever it was, was gnawing him, torturing him, and I wanted to help him.
"Ava wanted to run away and prevent me from divorcing her,” he explained, hitting the brakes hard because of the people appearing out of nowhere beforethe car. It still didn't make sense, but it wasn't the end of the story. It was just the beginning.
“I found out that she cheated on me two years after Cora was born," he confessed, making me gasp. My mouth fell agape, and I started at him dumbstruck. "And I loved them both so much that I stayed and tolerated her infidelities until my son, Jordan, arrived."
"Oh, fuck," I mumbled, already knowing where this story was heading, but once he started, he couldn't stop.
"My sweet, perfect boy isn't mine, Electra," Andreas whispered, and my heart broke into a million pieces, hearing the crushing pain in his low voice. "I tested both of them a month ago. Cora is mine, but Jordan isn't, and I don't know what to do." He looked at me; his eyes glistened with unshed tears, and his breathing quickened. "I don't fucking know what to do."
Without thinking, I unfastened my seatbelt and hugged him, squeezing him for dear life. He momentarily froze, but after a few seconds, he gave in and curled his arm around me. We stayed like this until the car behind us honked at us to move.
An awkward silence settled between us when he pulled away and discreetly wiped the tear that fell from his eye. I acted like I didn't see it, staring at the van before us, but my mind couldn't process this revelation. A man like Andreas Thorn, who, in the eyes of the public, had everything suffered this for more than eight years, completely alone. How was it possible?
He always looked confident, collected, and impressive in his role as an outstanding lawyer, devoted husband, and father. Exactly as Zoe said, he was a perfect partner in every way. He was arrogant, snobby, and sometimes hot-headed and frustrated, but he was always dedicated to his family and friends. He didn't deserve any of this.
"Jordan is yours, Andreas." He snapped his head in my direction, and I turned back to him. "He is yours. You love him, protect him, take care of him. If you feel that he is your son, he is yours."
"Thanks." He sighed heavily, passing the last crossroad, and I noticed the police station building in the distance. "But there is one more thing you don't know about."
I furrowed my eyebrows, waiting for him to park the car. My watch showed we had arrived thirty minutes early so we could finish this conversation.
"The DNA test is the proof of infidelity," Andreas uttered, ignoring another incoming call. "We signed a prenuptial agreement, and if I prove she was unfaithful, she won't get a penny."
