Page 72 of Silver Fox's Secret Baby

When I arrived home and heard Samantha's father threatening her, I nearly went to kick the shit out of him. And then he said the words that stopped me in my tracks.

I realized that for this theory to work, Henry can’t know about the boy.

Could it be true? Could I be Pax’s father?

Initially, Samantha's reaction to her father’s accusations had me dismissing the idea. Surely, she would have told me if Pax was my child.

But it wasn't Samantha's father's words that made me believe what he was saying. It was Samantha’s mother, Gwen. While Gwen’s diary didn't appear to name me, it was clear she believed that the father of Samantha's baby had been during her internship here in New York, not someone she had met in Seattle.

Gwen and Samantha had been close, so the fact that Samantha didn't tell her who the father of her baby was had to mean it was someone Samantha wanted to keep a secret. Someone like me.

I quickly did the mental math. Based on Pax's age, I believed that Samantha had met someone soon after arriving in Seattle, but it seemed quite possible that she could have already been pregnant when she moved west.

A tug of war raged inside me.Could Pax be my son? Is it possible Samantha never said a word?

I finally got my legs moving, entering the living room and demanding that Carl leave the premises. The fucker didn’t know when to stop so I had to physically push him out.

Once he was gone, I reentered the living room and one look at Samantha was all I needed to know the truth. Even so, I asked. "Is Pax my son?”

“And you were never going to tell me. Turns out you’re more like your father than your mother, after all.” My blood pounded in my brain, making it impossible to hear what she was saying. It was clear she was desperate for me to understand something, but what was there to understand?

"How could you?"

She stopped and looked at me, her expression filled with regret. "I didn't find out I was pregnant until I was in Seattle, and you made it clear that you and I were never to see each other again."

I needed a drink. I made my way to the bar, pulling out the first bottle my fingers wrapped around the neck of and poured myself a glass.

"You were so worried about Tori finding out about us and the scandal it could cause, and—"

"I know what I was worried about," I snapped. I downed the contents of my drink, wishing it would burn away the pain. Had I really brought this on myself? She was right that I’d wanted to keep us a secret, and Pax would end that. But Jesus, did she really think that was more important than knowing my child? Or was this punishment for what I did to her five years ago?

I looked over at Samantha standing in the middle of the living room with tears streaming down her face.

"Assuming that I could accept that you didn't tell me you were pregnant five years ago, why didn’t you tell me now?"

"I was going to tell you. I was going to tell you tonight."

Rage and pain consumed me. I picked up the glass, hurtling into the wall behind me. "Bullshit. You were never going to tell me."

She didn't seem fazed by my outburst. "Initially, I didn't say anything because nothing had changed. You said so yourself. If you accepted Pax as your son, it would be admitting to Tori and everyone else that you’d had an affair with your intern."

Technically, she wasn't wrong, but I still didn't buy it. "Don't you think that was for me to decide?"

She let out a long sigh. "You didn't want me back then, Henry, and you don't want me now. Why would I think you'd want Pax?"

She could have jabbed a dagger straight into my heart and her words wouldn’t have hurt me more.

I let out a humorless laugh. "So much you know. All I’ve thought about the last couple of days was being with you. Jesus fucking Christ, I was thinking about adopting Pax.”

Her eyes widened in surprise.

“And for the record, you're the one who kept saying that the things between us hadn't changed. You're the one who would run off and ask me to pretend like nothing had happened." It wasn't that I didn't recognize that I had a part to play in the misery I was feeling at the moment, but it didn't eliminate Samantha's culpability. "You came and lived in my house, watched me grow attached to Pax, and not once..." Emotion threatened to bring me to my knees. I sucked in a breath to pull myself together. "And not once did you tell me the truth about him.”

"I'm sorry, Henry. I really am. All my reasonings made sense in that time, but I knew that the time had come to tell you the truth, and I was going to. Tonight. I swear to God."

Looking at her filled me with anguish and anger that was difficult to manage. "Well, I guess I'll never know, will I?" I made a beeline to exit the living room, unable to look at her a second longer. I stopped when I reached the threshold and turned to look back at her. "I'm going to be in his life, Samantha. Nothing you can do will stop that." I turned to leave the room.

"What are you going to do, Henry?" Terror filled her voice, telling me she worried I would take Pax away from her. The fact that she would believe I was capable of that pissed me off even more. I wouldn't fight to get custody of Pax away from her. I had the clout and resources to do so, but I wasn’t that evil. It wasn't because I didn't want to hurt her, because a part of me did. But I wouldn't do it to Pax who clearly adored his mother.

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