PART 2.
Theo stared into Nicholas Hale’s green eyes with innocent certainty.
His tiny fingers rested against Nick’s cheek.
Nick stood frozen, as if the entire elevator had vanished around him.
Vanessa’s hand slowly slipped away from his arm.
My heart pounded so hard I could barely breathe.
Then Theo smiled and whispered the one word I had spent nearly two years fearing.
“Daddy?”
The word struck the elevator like a gunshot.
No one moved.
Theo seemed delighted with himself.
“Daddy,” he repeated, louder this time, patting Nick’s cheek as though he had solved some wonderful mystery.
Nick looked at him.
Then at me.
I watched disbelief give way to something far more dangerous.
Certainty.
“Emma.”
His voice was barely audible.
I shook my head.
“Nick, he doesn’t know what that word means.
He calls men on television—”
“Don’t.”
One word.
Quiet.
Controlled.
It silenced me completely.
Vanessa stepped backward until her shoulders nearly touched the mirrored wall.
Her face had lost all color.
“You told me you hadn’t seen her in two years.”
Nick didn’t look at her.
“I haven’t.”
“And the child is twenty months old.”
Silence answered for him.
The elevator chimed.
Fifty-two.
The doors opened onto a floor filled with glass offices and startled employees.
Nick reached out and pressed the close button.
The doors slid shut again.
My stomach dropped.
“Nick.”
“Is he mine?”
Vanessa inhaled sharply.
There it was.
No accusation.
No shouting.
Just four words that destroyed everything.
I looked down at Theo.
He had already lost interest in the adults and was turning the propeller on his wooden airplane.
I had imagined this confession hundreds of times.
In every version, I had a speech prepared.
I explained Boston.
The pregnancy.
The panic.
The calls I ignored.
The reasons I convinced myself were necessary.
But now, with Nick standing inches away, every explanation sounded pathetic before I even spoke it.
“Emma.”
I closed my eyes.
“Yes.”
The elevator became utterly silent.
Vanessa made a small sound.
Nick didn’t.
That frightened me more.
When I looked at him again, every trace of softness had disappeared.
His face had become the expression I remembered from business negotiations—the Nicholas Hale magazines described as merciless, brilliant, impossible to manipulate.
Only his eyes betrayed him.
They were devastated.
“He’s mine.”
It wasn’t a question anymore.
“Yes.”
“How long have you known?”
“Since before he was born.”
Something broke behind his eyes.
I saw it happen.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“And you never told me.”
“I was going to.”
“When?”
I flinched.
He laughed once.
There was nothing amused in the sound.
“When he turned five?
Ten?
When he graduated?”
“Nick—”
“When, Emma?”
Theo startled at his raised voice.
His lower lip trembled.
Immediately, Nick stopped.
The transformation was almost painful to watch.
His anger vanished as he looked at Theo.
“Hey.”
His voice became gentle.
“I’m sorry, buddy.”
Theo studied him solemnly.
Nick stared back, and I saw grief move across his face.
He had missed Theo’s first smile.
His first tooth.
His first step.
The fever that kept me awake for thirty-six hours.
The morning Theo said “Mama.”
Twenty months of ordinary miracles.
Twenty months I had possessed alone.
Nick slowly lowered his hand.
“Why?”
Vanessa suddenly laughed.
It was sharp and brittle.
“You’re asking why?”
We both looked at her.
Her eyes burned into mine.
“She disappeared pregnant with your child, came back into your company two years later, and somehow we’re supposed to believe this is coincidence?”
“It is,” I said.
“Of course.”
“I didn’t know Nick would be here tonight.”
“This is his building.”
“My meeting wasn’t with him.”
Vanessa folded her arms.
“Who was it with?”
“Daniel Mercer.”
Nick’s expression changed.
Only slightly.
But I noticed.
“What?”
“Daniel hired you?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Three weeks ago.”
“For what project?”
I hesitated.
Vanessa gave a humorless smile.
“Apparently secrets are her specialty.”
“Vanessa.”
Nick finally looked at her.
The warning in his voice made her stiffen.
“You don’t get to defend her.”
“I’m not.”
“You have a son.”
The words seemed to hurt him all over again.
Her expression cracked.
“A son, Nicholas.”
He looked at Theo.
“I know.”
“No.
Five minutes ago, you didn’t.”
The elevator doors opened again.
This time, Nick let them.
Vanessa walked out first.
She stopped outside and turned.
“We were supposed to meet your mother downstairs.”
Nick said nothing.
“For our wedding tasting.”
Still nothing.
Vanessa looked at me.
Then at Theo.
The diamond on her hand suddenly seemed painfully bright.
“I assume that’s canceled.”
“Vanessa—”
“Don’t.”
She lifted her chin.
“You’ve said enough tonight.”
Then she walked away.
Nick watched her disappear around the corner.
For one second, I almost felt sorry for her.
Then he pressed the button for the fifty-sixth floor.
“What are you doing?”
“We’re talking.”
“I have a meeting.”
“Cancel it.”
“You don’t control my schedule.”
His gaze cut toward me.
“Apparently I don’t control much when it concerns my own son.”
The words landed exactly where he intended.
I swallowed.
Theo rested his head against my shoulder.
“Not in front of him.”
Nick stared at me for a long moment.
Then nodded.
The fifty-sixth floor belonged entirely to Hale Meridian’s executive offices.
At this hour, most of it was empty.
Nick led me through enormous glass doors and into an office overlooking Chicago.
I had forgotten how much he loved height.
Even his old apartment had been thirty floors above the street.
He once told me everything looked manageable from far enough away.
Tonight, nothing looked manageable.
Nick closed the office door.
He didn’t lock it.
Somehow, that made me more nervous.
Theo squirmed.
“Down.”
I placed him carefully on the carpet.
He immediately wandered toward a low bookshelf.
Nick watched every step.
“How long has he been walking?”
The question surprised me.
“Three months.”
“What was his first word?”
“Ball.”
“When was his birthday?”
“February seventeenth.”
Nick’s jaw tightened.
“What time?”
I stared.
“Four thirteen in the morning.”
“Hospital?”
“Massachusetts General.”
“Natural delivery?”
“Nick.”
“I don’t know anything about him.”
His voice broke.
Only slightly.
But it broke.
“I don’t know what he eats.
I don’t know if he sleeps through the night.
I don’t know whether he gets sick often.
I don’t know what makes him laugh.
I don’t know what he’s afraid of.”
My throat tightened.
“You’re right.”
He looked at me.
“I missed his birth.”
“Yes.”
“Because of you.”
I forced myself not to look away.
“Yes.”
The honesty seemed to disarm him for half a second.
Then his anger returned.
“Why?”
I sat slowly on the edge of the leather sofa.
“The night I left…”
His expression hardened.
“I remember.”
Of course he did.
We had screamed at each other until two in the morning.
Nick had received an offer to merge Hale Meridian with Whitmore Capital.
Vanessa’s father’s company.
The merger required Nick to remain in Chicago indefinitely.
I had been offered a research position in Boston.
Neither of us wanted to compromise.
Then I found an email.
Vanessa thanking Nick for dinner.
Telling him she was looking forward to “what came next.”
I had confronted him.
He refused to explain.
I assumed the worst.
“You thought I was sleeping with Vanessa,” Nick said.
“I thought you were choosing her.”
“For business.”
“You didn’t say that.”
“Because I was angry that you went through my messages.”
“I was twenty-four and terrified.”
“And I was twenty-seven and stupid.”
The answer surprised me.
His shoulders dropped slightly.
“I should have told you the truth that night.”
I stared at him.
“What truth?”
“The Whitmores demanded a personal alliance before they would finalize the investment.”
My stomach tightened.
“What does that mean?”
“My father wanted me to marry Vanessa.”
The room went cold.
Nick continued.
“I told him no.”
I blinked.
“What?”
“That dinner you found?
I was telling Vanessa the arrangement wasn’t happening.”
“But her message—”
“She was trying to convince me to reconsider.”
I stood.
“You never told me.”
“You left before sunrise.”
“You called me afterward.”
“Seventy-three times.”
I remembered.
Every one.
“I was pregnant,” I whispered.
“You didn’t know that when you left.”
“No.”
“When did you find out?”
“Six days later.”
His face changed.
“And you still didn’t answer.”
“I was scared.”
“Of me?”
I looked at Theo.
The truth had waited two years.
Maybe it deserved air.
“Of becoming your weakness.”
Nick stared.
“What?”
“Your father came to Boston.”
All emotion vanished from his face.
“When?”
“Two weeks after I left Chicago.”
Nick went completely still.
“He knew where you were?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
I wrapped my arms around myself.
“He knew I was pregnant.”
Nick’s face drained.
“That’s impossible.”
“I hadn’t told anyone except my doctor.”
“My father knew.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
Nick turned toward the windows.
His hand curled into a fist.
“What did he want?”
“He offered me money.”
Nick shut his eyes.
“Of course he did.”
“I refused.”
“How much?”
“Five million.”
He laughed bitterly.
“That sounds like him.”
“When I refused, he stopped pretending it was an offer.”
Nick turned slowly.
“What did he threaten?”
I hesitated.
“Emma.”
“He said if I came back to Chicago, he would destroy my career.
He said Hale Meridian’s attorneys would prove I was unstable.
That you would get custody eventually.
That families like yours didn’t lose children to women like me.”
Nick’s face became frighteningly blank.
“He said that?”
“Yes.”
“And you believed him.”
“I was pregnant, alone, and he knew the name of my doctor, my apartment address, my employer, even the coffee shop I went to every morning.”
Nick said nothing.
“He showed me photographs.”
“What photographs?”
“Of me.”
My voice trembled despite everything.
“Leaving my apartment.
Going to the clinic.
Buying groceries.
He wanted me to understand that I couldn’t hide.”
Nick walked toward his desk.
For a moment I thought he might destroy something.
Instead, he pressed both palms against the wood.
“My father died eleven months ago.”
“I know.”
“You could have contacted me then.”
“I thought about it.”
“But you didn’t.”
“No.”
“Why?”
I looked at Theo.
“Because by then, you were engaged.”
Nick’s mouth tightened.
“To Vanessa.”
“Yes.”
“And you decided for me again.”
The accusation was deserved.
“I thought you had moved on.”
“Moved on?”
He pushed away from the desk.
“Emma, I spent fourteen months looking for you.”
I froze.
“What?”
“I hired investigators.”
My stomach dropped.
“They found nothing.”
“Your father—”
“Yes.”
Understanding passed between us.
Nick went pale.
“He was blocking them.”
Neither of us spoke.
Suddenly Theo laughed.
We turned.
He had found a framed photograph on the bottom shelf.
Nick as a child.
Maybe three years old.
Dark hair.
Green eyes.
A stubborn little crease between his eyebrows.
Theo held the frame beside his own face.
“Boy.”
My breath stopped.
Nick walked toward him slowly.
“That’s me.”
Theo grinned.
“Nick.”
The word sounded like “Nih.”
Nick crouched.
“Yes.”
Theo touched the photograph.
“Baby Nick?”
A broken smile appeared on Nick’s face.
“Something like that.”
Theo placed the frame carefully down.
Then, without warning, he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Nick’s neck.
Nick froze.
I covered my mouth.
He didn’t hug Theo immediately.
It was as if he was afraid he hadn’t earned the right.
Then his arms slowly closed around our son.
His eyes shut.
The billionaire disappeared again.
For several seconds there was only a father holding a child he had just discovered existed.
When Nick opened his eyes, they were wet.
I had seen Nicholas Hale angry.
Cold.
Ambitious.
Arrogant.
I had never seen him cry.
“Emma.”
I couldn’t answer.
“I want a DNA test.”
Pain flashed through me despite knowing it was reasonable.
“He’s yours.”
“I know.”
“Then why?”
“Because tomorrow attorneys will exist.”
I stiffened.
His arms remained around Theo.
“And I need one piece of paper no one can manipulate.”
The word attorneys echoed through the room.
“You’re going to take him.”
Nick looked at me sharply.
“What?”
“That’s what your father said.”
“I am not my father.”
“You have more money than I’ll ever have.
More power.
Better lawyers.”
“And you think I’d punish Theo by taking away the only parent he knows?”
“I don’t know what you’ll do.”
Something wounded crossed his face.
“That might be the worst thing you’ve said tonight.”
Theo pulled away and returned to his airplane.
Nick stood.
“I want to know my son.”
I nodded.
“I understand.”
“No.”
He stepped closer.
“I don’t think you do.
I want mornings.
Bedtimes.
Pediatric appointments.
Birthdays.
Bad dreams.
Tantrums in grocery stores.
I want the ordinary things.”
My eyes burned.
“You have a life here.”
“So does he.”
“His life is in Boston.”
“Then we’ll figure it out.”
“We?”
“Yes, Emma.
We.”
I stared at him.
“You’re marrying Vanessa.”
His face became unreadable.
“The wedding is six weeks away.”
“I know.”
A knock sounded at the door.
Nick frowned.
His assistant entered.
“Mr.
Hale, I’m sorry, but Mr.
Mercer said it’s urgent.”
Daniel Mercer appeared behind her.
My blood instantly chilled.
Daniel had hired me.
Daniel had arranged tonight’s meeting.
And Daniel was smiling.
Not politely.
Triumphantly.
“Emma,” he said.
“There you are.”
Nick stepped between us.
“What’s urgent?”
Daniel’s smile faded slightly.
“You.”
“What?”
Daniel glanced toward Theo.
Then back at Nick.
“I assume she told you.”
My stomach dropped.
Nick turned slowly toward me.
“Told me what?”
I stood.
“Daniel—”
He reached inside his jacket.
“Don’t.”
Nick’s voice sharpened.
Daniel ignored him and removed a thin black folder.
He placed it on the desk.
“You were never supposed to find out in an elevator.”
My pulse thundered.
Nick stared at the folder.
“What is this?”
Daniel looked at me.
“I’m sorry, Emma.”
“For what?”
“I needed him angry enough to listen.”
Nick opened the folder.
The first page contained an old photograph.
I recognized Nick’s father immediately.
Richard Hale.
Standing outside a hotel.
Beside him was another man.
Daniel pointed.
“That is Dr.
Samuel Keating.”
The name meant nothing to me.
Apparently, it meant something to Nick.
His expression changed.
“No.”
“Who is he?”
I asked.
Nick said nothing.
Daniel answered.
“He ran Hale Meridian’s private medical research division until it was shut down three years ago.”
I stared at him.
“What does that have to do with me?”
Daniel placed another document on the desk.
Medical records.
My medical records.
The clinic where my pregnancy had been confirmed.
I went cold.
“How do you have those?”
Daniel ignored the question.
“Your pregnancy wasn’t discovered accidentally.”
Nick’s head snapped toward him.
“What are you saying?”
Daniel’s expression was grim.
“Your father knew about Theo before Emma did.”
“That’s impossible.”
“No.”
Daniel looked directly at me.
“Because the pregnancy was being monitored from the beginning.”
I couldn’t breathe.
“What?”
Nick grabbed the medical report.
His eyes moved quickly across the page.
Then stopped.
His face changed.
“What the hell is Project Legacy?”
Daniel didn’t answer immediately.
The silence became unbearable.
Finally he said, “Your father spent years protecting the Hale bloodline.”
Nick slammed the folder shut.
“Speak clearly.”
Daniel looked at Theo.
Then at me.
“Emma’s pregnancy was never the reason Richard Hale wanted her gone.”
My skin prickled.
“Then what was?”
Daniel’s next words seemed to bend the room around me.
“Because Theo wasn’t the first child.”
I stared at him.
“What did you say?”
Nick went completely motionless.
Daniel opened the folder again and removed a birth certificate.
The paper was old.
Three years older than Theo.
Mother:
Emma Claire Lawson.
My name.
My full legal name.
I laughed.
Not because anything was funny.
Because the alternative was screaming.
“This is fake.”
Daniel said nothing.
“I have never had another child.”
“I know what you remember.”
“What does that mean?”
Nick took the paper.
His hands were shaking now.
The date was from four years earlier.
Months before Nick and I officially met.
“This isn’t possible,” he whispered.
Daniel pulled out a photograph.
A little girl.
Maybe three.
Dark hair.
Green eyes.
A tiny line between her eyebrows.
The same line.
Nick’s line.
Theo’s line.
My knees nearly gave out.
“No.”
Daniel placed the photograph into my hands.
The child was wearing a yellow coat.
She was holding the same kind of wooden airplane Theo carried everywhere.
On the back of the picture, someone had written two words.
Eleanor Hale.
Nick read them over my shoulder.
His breathing stopped.
I turned toward Daniel.
“Who is she?”
Daniel’s answer came softly.
“Your daughter.”
The room tilted.
“No.”
Theo wandered toward us.
“Mama?”
I couldn’t look away from the photograph.
“I would remember giving birth.”
Daniel’s face tightened.
“You were never supposed to remember.”
Nick grabbed him by the collar.
“What did my father do?”
Daniel didn’t resist.
“He didn’t do it alone.”
“WHO?”
Theo began crying.
I rushed toward him.
Nick immediately released Daniel.
Daniel adjusted his jacket.
Then looked directly at me.
“There’s a reason Richard Hale knew you were pregnant with Theo after only six days.”
My stomach turned.
“There’s a reason your Boston clinic disappeared eighteen months later.”
I held Theo tightly.
“And there’s a reason Nicholas Hale met you in the first place.”
Nick’s face hardened.
“What are you implying?”
Daniel gave him a sad look.
“You really think meeting Emma at that charity gala was random?”
Nick said nothing.
Daniel reached for the final paper in the folder.
Before he could remove it, every light in the office went dark.
Theo screamed.
I pulled him against me.
Emergency lighting flickered red along the floor.
Nick moved instantly.
“Stay behind me.”
Then his phone vibrated.
The screen illuminated his face.
Unknown number.
One message.
Nick read it.
His expression became something I had never seen before.
Fear.
“What?”
I whispered.
He showed me.
A photograph filled the screen.
A little girl asleep in a white bed.
The same child from Daniel’s photograph.
Beside her pillow sat a wooden airplane.
Beneath the image was a message.
You found the boy.
Stop looking for the girl.
Then another message appeared.
Or this time, Emma will remember losing her.
I stopped breathing.
Somewhere below us, an alarm began to scream.
And Daniel whispered the words that changed everything again.
“Richard Hale isn’t dead.”
…If you want to know what happened next, please type “YES” and like for more.
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Source: Stories of Destiny · Thao Thao
