Liam Ashford leaned back in his leather chair, staring out at the city he ruled. From the top floor of Ashford Tower, everything seemed small. Manageable.
The quarterly report glowed on his tablet, but the numbers didn't satisfy him today. He set it down, jaw tight. The merger he'd been chasing for months had slipped through his fingers, and the board's whispers were growing louder.
A soft chime from the intercom.
He pressed the button, irritation sharp in his voice. "I said no interruptions."
"I...I'm sorry, sir." His assistant's voice trembled. "But... someone's here. Someone you'll want to see."
Liam exhaled slowly. "Who?"
A pause. The assistant swallowed audibly. "Vivian Cole."
The world seemed to stop.
Liam froze, fingers curling into fists. The name hit him like a punch to the gut. Vivian. Gone for five years. Gone without a word, leaving nothing behind but questions and fury.
"This isn't funny," he growled.
"I swear, sir. She's here. In the lobby. She... she brought a child."
A cold dread spread through him. His heart pounded.
"Send her up," he said, his voice dangerously low.
He turned to the window, hiding the storm on his face. How dare she come here? After all this time? After what she'd done?
Memories clawed at him the night she left, the way she looked back at him one last time, tears in her eyes. The pain he'd buried under work, deals, power.
The elevator chimed.
He turned slowly, bracing himself.
The doors slid open.
Vivian stepped out, calm, poised and stunning. Time hadn't dimmed her beauty. If anything, it had sharpened it. Her eyes, once soft, now held steel.
Beside her stood a boy. Small, maybe four or five. Dark curls. Familiar brown eyes.
Liam's breath caught. His world tilted.
No.
It couldn't be.
His gaze darted between them. The boy looked up at him curious, unafraid. His face...
His face.
"Vivian." His voice was a low growl. "What is this?"
Vivian didn't flinch. She stepped forward, protective hand on the boy's shoulder.
"This," she said, "is the truth you tried to bury."
Liam's eyes blazed. "You think you can walk in here after five years and play games?"
"This isn't a game, Liam."
He stalked toward them, fury and confusion battling inside him. He knelt, eye-level with the child.
The boy blinked at him, tilting his head.
"What's your name?" Liam asked, voice rough.
"Daniel," the boy said softly.
Liam stared at him. His features. His eyes. His voice.
His son.
No. He wouldn't accept it. Not yet.
He straightened, facing Vivian. "DNA test. Today. Now."
Vivian's smile was sad. "I expected nothing less."
The room crackled with tension. Liam wanted to shout, demand answers, but the boy's presence held him back.
"I don't care what your reasons were," he said, voice tight. "If he's mine if you kept him from me I'll never forgive you."
Vivian's gaze didn't waver. "I didn't come for forgiveness. I came for what's his."
"And what's that?"
"His birthright. His protection. His future."
Liam's mind raced. His heir. The board. The press. The vultures waiting for any weakness.
He clenched his jaw. "You should've stayed gone, Vivian."
"Too late." She took Daniel's hand. "I'm here. And so is your son."
The elevator doors slid shut behind them. The game had begun.
The elevator doors whispered shut behind them, sealing them inside Liam's world a world of glass, steel, and ruthless ambition. But for the first time in years, Liam felt that world crack at the edges.
His son. His heir.
The words echoed in his mind, impossible to ignore.
He turned to Vivian, his chest tight with a storm of emotions he didn't dare show. Rage. Betrayal. A flicker of something dangerously close to hope.
"You had no right," he said, his voice low, dangerous. "No right to keep him from me."
Vivian lifted her chin. "You had no right to ruin me."
Her words hit harder than any slap. For a moment, Liam saw not the fierce woman before him, but the girl he'd once loved the girl who'd looked at him as if he held her whole heart, until he shattered it.
"I did what I had to do," he said, his voice strained.
"And so did I." Her gaze burned into his. "I protected him from your world from you."
Daniel shifted at her side, small fingers tightening on hers. His wide eyes flicked between them, sensing the tension but not understanding it.
Liam's throat worked as he tried to find words. The boy... his boy... was watching.
He forced himself to soften, just slightly. "Leave him with me. Let me get the test done now. We'll settle this."
Vivian's laugh was soft, bitter. "You think I'd hand him over to you? After everything?"
"I won't hurt him," Liam said through gritted teeth. "But I deserve to know."
Daniel tugged gently at Vivian's sleeve. "Mama... is he my daddy?"
The room fell silent.
Vivian knelt, brushing a hand through his curls. "Sweetheart... we'll talk about that soon, okay? Mama's here. I promise, I won't let anything bad happen."
Daniel nodded, trusting. It nearly broke Liam's heart the trust that should have been his.
The tension was thick enough to choke on.
Liam exhaled hard, dragging a hand through his hair. "Fine. Stay. But the test happens today. And when it proves what I already see in his face you and I are going to have a much bigger conversation."
Vivian's gaze stayed steady. "I'll stay. But understand this, Liam I'm not the woman you threw aside five years ago. You don't get to control me. Not anymore."
Liam's jaw clenched. He wanted to argue, to remind her this was his tower, his world but the truth was, she'd already shaken his control just by walking through that door.
A knock at the office door broke the tension. His assistant peeked in, pale and wide-eyed.
"Sir? The... the test team will be ready within the hour."
"Good," Liam snapped.
Vivian straightened, pulling Daniel close. "We'll wait. But know this, Liam. I didn't come back for you. I came back for him."
Liam's eyes darkened. "And now he's mine. You can't take him away again."
Vivian's smile was sad, knowing. "We'll see."