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With cautious steps, I moved towards him until I stood just within arm’s reach. Up close, I could see the storm still simmering in those dark eyes. “Alan didn’t force me into anything. He gave me a choice, and I chose to go along with the plan. It was my decision.”
Neil’s nostrils flared, his scowl deepening. “You were coerced.”
“No.” I surprised myself with the vehemence in my voice. “I wasn’t.”
For a long, fraught moment, he stared at me. The war of emotion waging within him was palpable—the anger and betrayal, the petrified terror of potentially losing me, the desperate yearning to shield me from harm even as his rationality reminded him I was my own woman, free to make my own choices.
A muscle twitched in Neil’s neck, and the vein in his forehead throbbed as his anger swelled once more. “How could you put yourself in harm’s way like that?”
I opened my mouth, but Hannah spoke up first. “It was my job to protect her. The fault lies with me.”
Neil turned his thunderous glare on Hannah. She met him head-on, chin raised, brown eyes steady.
“I don’t blame you,” Neil said. “You were just following orders.” He shot another withering look at Dixon. “But you… I can’t stand the sight of you. I never thought… of all people…”
“Don’t forget that it was your emotional entanglements that got us into this mess in the first place,” Dixon said.
Neil shook with barely contained rage. “Go. Before I do something I might regret.”
Dixon hesitated for a split second before relenting with a curt nod. “Very well.”
As the older man disappeared through the door, Hannah followed suit. “I’ll give you two some space,” she said on her way out.
In the wake of their departure, Neil slumped like he had exerted himself from all his rage. “Come here,” he said gruffly.
I wasted no time closing the distance between us. Neil gathered me into his arms, pulling me flush against his body. I let out a soft sigh, drawing comfort from the safety of his embrace after the hellish ordeal I had endured.
“I hopped on the first flight as soon as I heard,” Neil murmured into my hair. “Thank God you’re safe.”
A profound sense of relief washed over me at having him here, holding me close. But it was quickly followed by a stab of guilt over the fear and anguish I must have put him through. I drew back enough to look up at him. “Neil, I’m so sorry. I know I went behind your back, did the exact thing you asked me not to do.” I swallowed hard against the burgeoning knot in my throat. “If you want to break things off with me, I–I’d understand.”
He studied me, a crease etched deep between his brows, letting out a long, weary sigh as his thumb stroked over the arch of my cheekbone. “Is that what you want?”
I recoiled sharply. “No! But I betrayed your trust by putting myself in danger, after you made it clear?—”
“I would never break up with you. Christ, when I got that call…” He shook his head, eyes squeezing shut. “I’ve never been so terrified in my life. But you’re here, you’re alive. That’s all that matters now.”
Tears filled my eyes. I swiped at them before they could trickle down my cheeks. I had to keep my guard up. “What about Veronica and Benjamin? They’re your family. You should be with them, not here with me.”
Neil grasped my shoulders, meeting my gaze intently. “I’m going to tell you the whole truth now, okay?”
I stiffened, bracing myself for the devastation I knew was forthcoming. “Okay.”
“It’s true that Benjamin is my son—biologically speaking. But Veronica and I have been separated for a long time. Years. We only kept up a pretence of a relationship in front of her father, so that he’d continue to treat me like a son, for the purpose of gaining from the inheritance.”
“But you slept with her?—”
Neil shook his head. “Not since we broke up. The baby was conceived via sperm donation.”
My mouth dropped agape. This was not what I had expected. “W-what? Why?”
“Veronica has had a new partner for a number of years now. Her name’s Natasha.”
“She… Huh?”
“Veronica and Natasha genuinely wanted to have a child. Giving the chairman his long-wished-for grandson was just a side effect. We didn’t even know the child would be a boy.”
The puzzle pieces slotted into place until I felt a visceral snap of comprehension. “So what you’re saying is, you donated sperm so Veronica could have a child with her same-sex partner, and that’s why you’re the father of her child? Not because you’re still in love with her? And not because you wanted to manipulate the chairman?”
