Page 29 of After-Hours Heir

“Did you know?” he asked.

“Why are you asking me that again?”

“Because this is extraordinary, and I have a very hard time believing this wasn’t orchestrated. Did. You. Know?”

“What?”She slapped the top of the table with her open palms. “What kind of question is that after you just made a marriage demand? DidIknow about it? Of course I didn’t know about it.”

“It seems as if it would be a good way for you to begin to understand your enemy.”

“Would it? Because I understand you less now than I ever have. Believe me, it would be a stupid plan if it was my plan. Because what did I get? What did I win? Is this my prize? This horrendous coffee date and the fact I’m carrying your fetus?”

His lip curled. “Don’t say it like that.”

“Itislike that. And you think we should get married? That’s ridiculous. We can’t even say two words to each other. We had sex—” she looked around, obviously a little bit embarrassed that she’d said it so loudly “—and you sent me away. Like nothing that had happened before meant anything.”

“It didn’t,” he said.

“Then, why are you asking to marry me?”

“I don’t have to. When I tell you that my first offer is my kindest, I expect you to listen.”

He saw fear shimmering in her eyes, and he felt a strange experience of…softness. Sympathy. He didn’t like it. Why would he feel anything for her? It was like reading her texts. Looking at her when she was this distressed. Suddenly, he couldn’t separate her from the woman in his phone. And he ought to. She had been misrepresenting herself. Because there was no way that Sylvie was actually that woman. Who was smart and knew exactly what to say to him. Who had reached beneath his armor and found part of him that still had feeling. No.

“What exactly does that mean?”

“I will maintain control of my child.” It felt like a desperation. Like a clawing, animal need.

Because all he could think about was his own childhood. And what happened when you were in the wrong hands. What could become of you. Once his mother had been out of the picture, everything had fallen to pieces for him. Once his mother was gone, all his safety had been destroyed. And his father… Once he had been away from his father, who was a truly awful man, things had only gotten worse. No. This child would be bonded to him. Tied to him. Safe.

“We will move on to full custody from there. I think the safest way to guarantee that I have access to my child is through marriage.”

“That’s…archaic.”

“Perhaps. But it is the easiest way for us to have default custody, and for me to have default acknowledgment. You can call it archaic all you want, but there are still realities to the physical custody of the child.”

“And you’re just so desperate to be a father?”

“I am desperate to make sure that my child is safe. That they are in my life. That I always know what is happening with them.”

“As for now,” she said, “they are a zygote.”

“And are you choosing to end the pregnancy?”

She looked down at her hands. “No.”

“I didn’t think so.”

“What makes you just assume that?”

“Because if you had already decided on that course of action, you would have been resolved. And you wouldn’t have been half so terrified that you were going to have to deal with me. Because you would’ve already decided that you weren’t.”

She looked away. “It’s not the right decision for me.”

“If you wish to surrender custody, you can. I will assume the role of single father.”

She looked horrified at that. “Absolutely not. You are not going to have full custody of this child. Because I already know what it’s like to have one dysfunctional parent. You need the other one to be involved.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself. I wouldn’t call youdysfunctional.”