Page 82 of Forever King

He doesn’t need to answer that question. I know how it will go. Not fucking well.

His office phone rings, jarring me out of my misery for a moment to replace it with utter terror. “Hey, Greene, let me put you on speaker since I have Kellen sitting here with me.”

A second later, the PI’s voice comes through loud and clear. “Hey, guys. How are you doing this morning?”

I close my eyes as Matthias answers, “I’m great, but Kellen looks like he’s about to faint dead away. What news do you have for us? I was surprised you messaged me last night to say you wanted to talk today. I didn’t think you’d find out so fast.”

Every word out of my brother’s mouth makes me hate him. It’s like I want to never hear what Greene has to say but Matthias is dragging his feet with all this fucking small talk, and I hate it.

“Well, this wasn’t exactly hard, to be honest. I just had to pull a few strings on that girl’s life, and it all unraveled pretty quickly. So, you ready to hear what I found out, Kellen?”

Greene sounds strangely amused this morning, which only makes what I’m going through worse. I swallow hard and nod before answering, “Sure.”

“Well, first off, her last name was Martin. Amelia, that is. She gave birth to Elias Martin on January twelfth four years ago at White Plains hospital, and on the birth certificate, you’re listed as the father.”

My stomach drops, and the last thing I see before closing my eyes again is Matthias’s shocked expression. I don’t know why the hell he looks so surprised. It’s not like there was zero chance we’d hear I’m the father today.

Green continues. “Elias Martin lived with his mother only for those four years until she was killed in that train accident. Odd thing that. I guess trains wreck all the time, but I can’t remember the last time I heard about one in the news. But I digress. Emily Martin has been the guardian of little Elias since his mother’s untimely death, but here’s the interesting thing. That little boy is a very wealthy little guy. The Martin family has a lot of money, and the five million dollar trust that Amelia had from her parents transferred to her son upon her death. Emily herself is worth much more because unlike her sister, she invested most of her inheritance. The number I found was somethinglike twenty-five million. So I’m not thinking she approached you over money.”

“Well, that’s good, right?” Matthias asks me, but I merely shrug.

So what if they don’t want money? I’m still the father of a four-year-old boy, and that news is going to mean the woman I adore will leave me.

“Thanks, Greene. Look for the transfer today. Send me the report when you can. I appreciate you putting a rush on this. I’ll be sure the payment reflects that,” Matthias says all businesslike while I sit there feeling like my world has crashed down around me.

Greene thanks him, and a moment later, it’s just Matthias and me in his office saying nothing. What else is there to say? I’m the kid’s father.

“I think you should ask for a paternity test before you accept responsibility, Kellen. People can put whatever they want on birth certificates. Science will give us the definitive answer.”

With a sigh, I stand up, nodding. “Whatever. I’m sure the test will say the same thing as Amelia put on the birth certificate.”

“Where are you going?” he asks as I make my way toward the door to leave.

I look back and shrug. “I don’t know. I think today is going to have to be a mental health day, you know?”

He says something, but I don’t hear him. I’m too lost in my own head.

For five long days,I’ve waited for the results of the paternity test, and now that I have them in my hand, I can’t put off tellingSalem any longer. I’m the father of Elias. It’s right there in black and white courtesy of modern science.

To say that the past five days have been torture would be an understatement. I think I knew I was his father as soon as Greene told Matthias and me about my name being on the birth certificate. Amelia was a decent person, and knowing she had money of her own made it even less likely she put me on there when I wasn’t the father.

I shift in my chair at the kitchen table in the penthouse I share with Salem before looking at the little guy’s picture again that Emily sent me. I should have done that first before the blood test. I wouldn’t have needed science to tell me what my eyes can clearly see. The kid is the spitting image of me. It’s like nature took me and made a smaller version of me.

There’s some of her in his face, though, too. He has my eyes, but I see her in the way he smiles. I don’t really remember much about her, but her smile still sticks in my mind. It was sweet and a little devilish, and that’s how Elias looks in the picture.

Then again, from what I remember, I was a little devil as a kid, so maybe that’s another checkmark in the Kellen column. It doesn’t matter what he looks like. He’s mine, and the only thing to do is step up to do the right thing.

Emily and I talked about what that may be, and I know she doesn’t want him to come live with me. I don’t know how I feel about that. Before the test showed I’m his father, I thought I’d be okay with him staying with her, but now I’m not so sure.

I don’t know why I’m thinking that could ever work. Either it’s going to be just the two of us living together since Salem will leave me when she finds out, which won’t be good for the kid since I work ridiculously long hours, or if for some reason Salem doesn’t walk out without another word to me, I can’t imagine she’s going to want to raise some other woman’s child.

What a mess I’ve made of things.

My phone goes dark, and I tap the screen again to bring the picture back up. He really is a cute kid. Then again, how could he not be?

I hear the door open and Salem’s heels tapping off the floor as she walks into the house. Quickly, I stuff my phone into my pocket and stand up. I feel sick, like I’m going to puke from the mixture of fear and stress coursing through my body right now.

“Kellen, are you here?” she calls out.