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Horrified, he covered his ears like a toddler. “I’m not hearing this.” He shot a glare at Jordan. “Did you know about this?”
She blinked. “Rule number one, Alex: sex lives are private. I don’t tell him about my reverse harems, he zips it when it comes to trysts with your mother.”
“She was not a tryst!” Stone barks. “My intentions with Stassi have always been pure.”
“Ha!” Alex quipped. “Exhibit A: your fifteen-year-old son.”
“And I’ve tried to do right by her. This mansion. Every convenience Stassi could ever want. A staff of servants with her twenty-four/seven to keep her safe. And the finest boarding schools for—”
“You sent him to boarding school?” Alex growled. “Too rich and powerful to be bothered with a son?”
“More like too targeted and under constant threat to subject an innocent child to any of it.” He shook his head, flustered, before yanking Alex away from the women. “What was I supposed to do, Alex? Subject him to a life of constant surveillance—never let him live, never let him grow? Or let him live with Stassi, where all the world is a bonfire, and drugged desserts, a way of life?”
It was the first time Alex wrapped his head around the life Stone led. On guard and jaded…and alone.
Stone grabbed both of Alex’s arms, intense with his words. “I love him, Alex.Xander—the boy you know as AJ—is my flesh and blood, and I would do anything for him.” His body deflated. “And Damian knows it.”
Alex’s heart skipped a beat as Stone’s confession hung in the air. The weight of those words settled on him like a wool blanket—itchy and uncomfortable, and at the same time, warm.
The revelation crashed over Alex, a torrent of emotions flooding him all at once. Confusion, anger, and a profound sense of betrayal mingled within his core. “You knew all this time. You knew and…kept this from me?”
Stone’s features softened, his eyes pleading for understanding. “I did what I thought was right, Alex. You had plenty of your own demons to wrestle with. I’ve made a lot of mistakes, but I did what I thought was best, both for you and your family, and me and mine.”
That was it. There wasn’t much more to say. Stone was right. Alex could see it, but that didn’t mean he signed off on it.
Alex had a brother. All this time. A brother who’d been desperate for the love of family, it bled from his very soul. And Stone could’ve been there for him.
A flash of Alex’s old life hit him. His life before Madison. Where his days were chocked full of Russian roulette. And a lone question hit him hard.Was Stone right?
Alex’s mind spun, trying to reconcile the image of Stone as the father of the boy he had come to love and protect. The complexities of their intertwined lives unraveled before him.
Stone was a man he’d grown to trust, but the wounds of this betrayal ran deep. How deep?
“Are you keeping anything else from me?” Alex demanded, his voice trembling with a mix of anger and vulnerability. “No more secrets, no more half-truths.”
“What are you asking, Alex?”
A delusional laugh escaped his lips. “Are you’re my father too?”
CHAPTER31
MADISON
The women trailed behind, giving Alex and Stone some much needed space. It was clear they had things to discuss. Private things.
Madison leaned forward, desperate to hear. Between their footsteps against the catacomb-bricked floor and the rustling of these ridiculously lavish gowns—Damnit! I can’t hear a thing.
“So,” Stassi began, “I see you got my note.”
She was referring to theLet’s meetnote. Before she could deny it, Stassi pressed a gentle hand to Madison’s belly. “How are you coming along, my dear?”
The simple gesture caught Madison off-guard. “Um, I...uh…” Blubbering, she couldn’t quite form words. Alex warned her why he’d played it off like Jordan was his wife. Madison needed to be on guard with her new mother-in-law.
Which would be easier if she wasn’t shit at lying.
Jordan leaned closer, her lips at Madison’s ear. “She knows,” she said before rushing away, obviously to give Madison and Stassi room to chat.
Madison blinked at her mother-in-law’s smiling face. “You do?”
