Page 16 of Lost Times

Conflict blazed through me, but seeing the set to his jaw, I shoved it all down. I could puzzle all that mess out later; I had a man to deal with before I could even begin to work out that particular issue.

Straightening, I crossed my arms and nodded. “Yes, she’s the product of that night. Apparently the condom broke, and neither of us knew it.”

He heaved out a breath, one of his hands running through his hair until it was a mess, the careful style I was used to seeing on him long gone. Then he spoke, and my attention swiveled away from his hair.

“Why didn’t you tell me? Back then, I could understand. You only had a first name to go off of, and I left to run this company the day after. But why not now?”

The hurt I thought I’d seen before burned brighter and leaked into his tone, guilt inching up to choke me even as I looked away.

“Because…” I said, trying to find the right words that didn’t come down to ‘I didn’t want you in our lives.’ When they didn’t come, I gave him the next best thing.

“Because I didn’t want to complicate things.”

That was the wrong answer.

He shook his head, finally standing from his desk to come around in front of me. His arms crossed over his chest and he scowled, the familiar expression edged with some new and sharp.

“So what, you were just going tonottell me I have a daughter? Forever?”

That hurt was becoming more prominent and I gritted my teeth against the anger fighting to come to the surface. It wouldn’t help anything right now. The cat was out of the bag, and I had two options. I could flat-out demand he stay out of our lives and potentially risk a custody battle,orI could try to work with him.

He looked genuinely hurt that I hadn’t told him about her; that was at least a step in the right direction. If nothing else it proved he wasn’t the icicle I thought he was.

Doubts rose, raking their nails down my back even as I made my decision. “That was the plan, yes,” I said, but before he could say anything, I continued. “Can you really blame me though? This entire situation has the potential to destroy everything I care about.”

He lurched back as if I’d slapped him. “How so?” He asked, still stunned, but recovering fast.

Mirroring him and running a hand through my hair, I sighed. “You’re well off. Obviously. You could probably fight me for custody and win. I’ve seen those cases before and dreaded them happening to me. I tried to find you when I first learned I was pregnant, but I couldn’t; now you all but dropped into my lap, but Iworkfor you.”

I waved between us. “It’s a disaster waiting to happen.”

And that’s not even getting into my doubts about you as a person.

I didn’t say that bit, instead focusing on him as his brow furrowed and a different kind of pain inched into his expression.

“I want to make one thing clear. Above all else, I willnevertry to take her from you. Whatever we decide from here, she is your daughter just as much as she’s mine. More so, since you’ve spent the past seven years raising her.”

He stared right into my eyes as he said it, and despite the doubts all but screaming through me, I believed him. Something told me he wouldn’t lie about this.

He could still hurt Jasmine by leaving later down the line, but at least I didn’t have to worry about a custody battle. Hurt could be soothed and reassured, but that?

A chill worked down my spine and I took a deep breath to disperse it.

That may have cleared one of my biggest fears but we were far from done here, as he proved when he continued.

“That being said, I want to…be there for her. I would have been from the start if I’d known. I don’t want to be a shadow or someone she doesn’t know. Someone she thinks left because of her.”

That snapped my attention upward and I asked, voice sharp. “Is that what she thinks? I never told her that!”

He shook his head, a flash of guilt coming forward. “No, you didn’t, but she told me she asked about her father and you looked sad when she did. One of her friends at school’s fatherdidleave when the mother learned she was pregnant, and Jasmine…”

Made a connection that wasn’t there. Good God, how long had she been stewing over that?

Sick worry twisted and writhed in my stomach, the urge to run to her and tell her immediately that wasn’t the case nearly overwhelming me, but I held it back. At least for now. Ludwig first,thenJasmine.

Forcing that subject to the side for now, I looked back at him and asked, doing my best to keep my tone gentle. “You want to be there for what though? To what extent do you want to be involved?”

He sighed, shaking his head. “I don’t know. What all is there to be involved in? What would you be okay with me being there for?”

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