Page 54 of Black Mark's Heart

Chapter Ten

Someone knocked at my front door. Okay, banged the life out of it would be more accurate. I sighed, setting my cello aside, looking at the clock. Just past five in the afternoon. Jacob was walking his way around the furniture of the lounge room while I practiced the new songs I needed to learn for work. "How the hell did someone get up without buzzing in?" I asked Jacob. He was too busy trying to climb up on the sofa to care.

I walked to the door and opened it. Darius looked at me, red-rimmed eyes like he'd been crying, but now filled with rage. "I think we need to talk." He stormed in without waiting.

Well, at least that answered the question of buzzing in. Darius had been using the key I'd given him to spend two nights a week with me since I got home from the Carnival tour - which was a massive success, thanks for asking.

"Dare, what's happened?" I asked, wondering why he was so angry. "Did someone find out about us?"

Darius turned to face me. "No, you are very good at keeping your secrets, Mora, and getting others to keep them for you." His voice was a whip against the tender skin of my back. "Warren is away for his mother's birthday."

"He's proposing to Sophie while there." I tried to lighten his mood.

Darius glared at me, and I swallowed hard. He was seriously pissed. "So, when Taylor, my accountant, came up to clear up some matters for the tax to be done, Warren wasn't there to answer them."

I swallowed, suddenly understanding where this was going.

"Taylor put the tax forms in front of me to discuss the problem," Darius explained. "No big deal in itself, easily sorted out, and then Taylor congratulated me on my marriage last year and the birth of my child." Darius looked at me. "As you can imagine, Mora, I was sort of a bit lost for words. What I managed to fumble out was asking how he knew. Turns out, having a dependent creates a tax break for me, so a very confused Taylor flicked back to the very front page of the forms to show me where you are listed as my legal wife and Jacob Blake Rafal is listed as my dependent." Darius stepped closer to me. "Care to fucking explain that to me, Mora?"

Tears were running down my cheek. "I tried to tell you."

"Bullshit!" Darius yelled. "You hid it from me."

"I came to your office the day I found out," I murmured. "I brought back everything you'd bought me. I saw you hiding in your office rather than face me. I was about to tell Warren when he handed me the annulment papers," I sobbed. "I...I couldn't tell you that the very reason I knew those papers were a lie was growing inside of me."

"And every time since?" Darius raged.

I looked at Darius exasperated. "I was angry. You broke my heart! You tore my world apart and, in the midst of it all, I found out I was pregnant with your child, Dare. What did you expect?"

"I expected you to tell me I'm a father. That the child I've held and sung to for the last month is actually mine," Darius yelled. "How many times have I asked you who the father is, Mora? I've given you ample opportunity to tell me."

"I would have told you the first time you asked," I explained, "But it didn't even occur to you that he was yours." I stepped to the side and pointed to Jacob crawling around the floor. "Look at him, Darius. He's you all over. Everyone else could see it straightaway. You didn't see it because you weren't ready to. You subconsciously refused to acknowledge the possibility Jacob was yours, because then you would have to admit that not only did you give me up, but in choosing them, you abandoned your son."

Darius looked at Jacob, shocked. He looked back at me, then to Jacob again. "You're sure he's mine?"

"How could you even ask me that?" I screamed at him. "There was no one else. From the time I was with you until four months after you'd left me."

Darius looked at me doubtfully. I gave him the filthiest look. "Watch Jacob," I ordered him. I stormed up the hall to my bedroom and went to the top drawer of my dresser. I pulled out a set of papers and walked back into the kitchen, thrusting them at Darius. "Jacob's birth certificate and paternity test," I snarled at him. "Zander got me a DNA sample the week Jacob was born. Warren wanted paternity assured in case you were ever stupid enough to ask me that question."

I walked over, picking Jacob up as he tried to get to my cello. I turned around to find Darius reading the paperwork. I waited for him to process it, anger burbling inside of me at his accusations, but beneath that was a whole bucket load of relief. He finally knew.

Darius put the papers on the kitchen counter and looked at his feet for several minutes. "I'm a father," he finally murmured, anger still coloring his tone. He looked over at me holding Jacob. "And we are still married?"

I swallowed. "I couldn't sign the papers. They were a lie, and I didn't want Jacob born illegitimate," I defended. "I decided that if you moved on with someone else, we could divorce then." I took a deep breath and walked forward. "Dare, I want you to meet your son." I held Jacob out to him.

Darius took Jacob from me and looked at him. I saw him finally taking in Jacob's hair and eyes and recognizing himself in his son. "How did you choose the name?"

"Bex told me it's the name you liked for a boy." I held up my hand for him to see. "She also made me an eternity ring to go with the set, since you should have given me one on the birth of our first child."

Darius frowned, looking at the full wedding set on my hand. "That's why you were at my place two months ago?" he fumed. I nodded. "I'm going to kill her for not telling me."

"You might have to kill her twice over then," I simpered, taking his hand and placing it to my abdomen. "In six months, you will be a father again, Dare."

Darius looked at me, shocked. "You're pregnant now?"

I nodded. "The recording studio. I did warn you."

"I said I didn't care," Darius groaned. His eyes lifted to me. "Were you going to tell me about this one?"

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