CHAPTER 35 – THE MIRRORS
Lucian
I didn't say a word as we left the restaurant.
The city lights blurred through the tinted windows of the car, but all I could see was her face pale, tight with anger, like every muscle was fighting to keep her from saying something she would regret.
And the children.
God. The children.
They were burned into my mind like afterimages on glass.
Silas sat beside me, unusually quiet. He was always quick with a joke, but tonight he just watched me, like he was waiting for me to speak first.
"You saw them," I said finally, my voice low.
He didn't pretend not to know what I meant.
"Yes."
"They look like me."
"Yes."
I let out a harsh laugh that sounded nothing like humor. "You're not even going to try to talk me out of it?"
"Would it work?"
"No."
"Then what's the point?" He leaned back against the seat. "Look, boss, I've seen you stare down hostile boards and media storms without blinking. But tonight? You looked like someone knocked the wind out of you."
"They called me Daddy."
"Yeah." Silas blew out a breath. "That part was… a lot."
I turned to the window, but my reflection stared back, grim and haunted.
"I thought I buried that night," I said quietly. "Locked it up, threw away the key. I told myself I was a victim too, that I didn't owe anyone anything because I hadn't chosen it."
"And now?" Silas asked carefully.
"Now I'm not so sure."
The memory came rushing back the dizziness, the drugged haze, the sound of a woman's voice crying out, the way I had tried to speak but my tongue wouldn't work.
And then waking up alone.
I had searched for answers back then, but nothing concrete ever surfaced. My family had hushed it up, afraid of scandal, and I had let them.
Because I hadn't been ready to face what it meant.
But tonight…
Tonight I had seen what it meant, in the faces of two little girls who shared my eyes, my hair, my everything.
Silas watched me wrestle with it all, his usual smirk replaced with something quieter.
"You think she's the same woman from that night."
"I know she is," I said, my voice sharper than I intended.
"She looked like she wanted to murder you, just saying," he added mildly.
"I noticed," I bit out.
"She also looked like she was about five seconds away from running. If you'd said one wrong word, she'd have bolted."
I knew he was right.
Her hand had trembled on the little girl's shoulder as she tried to leave the restaurant. She had been shielding them from me like I was some kind of threat.
Maybe to her, I was.
Back at my penthouse, I poured myself a drink and didn't touch it.
Silas dropped into a chair across from me, stretching his long legs out. "So what's next?"
I didn't answer right away.
Because what was next?
Do I track her down? Demand answers?
Or do I wait risk never seeing them again?
My chest ached at the thought.
"She didn't want me near them," I said finally.
"No," Silas agreed. "But the girls sure did."
That memory was like a knife.
One of them had pointed at me, bright-eyed and sure. Daddy.
The other had echoed her, grinning, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
And I had just stood there.
Frozen.
Like an idiot.
Silas leaned forward, his elbows on his knees.
"You want my advice?"
"Always."
"Don't scare her off. You've got the resources to find out who she is without barging in. Play it slow. Let her see you're not the enemy she thinks you are."
"She does think I'm the enemy," I muttered.
"She thinks you're worse," he corrected.
That stung, because it was true.
She had looked at me like I was the reason she had suffered, like I had been complicit.
Like I had destroyed her life.
When Silas finally left, I stood by the balcony doors, staring out at Arden City.
My parents thought I was still brooding over my broken engagement from five years ago.
Aurora had told me last week that it was time to move on, that no woman would measure up if I kept comparing them to the one who left me.
But it had never been about my ex.
Not really.
It had been about this.
The hole in my life that I hadn't been able to name until tonight.
Now it had faces.
Two of them.
The next morning, I went to the office early, ignoring the surprised looks from the staff. Work had always been my escape, but today it wasn't enough.
I sat through a meeting about Lysander Enterprise's newest project, nodded at the right times, gave orders but my mind kept drifting.
I imagined them at home, maybe playing with dolls or coloring books.
I imagined her, pacing, wondering if I would show up again.
Wondering if I would try to take them from her.
Would I?
The thought made my stomach twist.
I didn't want to take them.
I wanted to know them.
When the day finally ended, I stayed late, the city dark outside the office windows.
Silas knocked on the door before stepping in. "You've been quiet all day."
"Thinking."
"Dangerous," he said lightly.
But then his tone softened. "You're going to find her, right?"
"Yes."
"And when you do?"
I stared at the skyline for a long moment before answering.
"I make sure she knows I'm not the man she thinks I am."
Silas nodded once. "Good. Because those kids deserve to know where they came from. And you deserve to know them."
I exhaled slowly.
This wasn't just business.
This was my life.
And I wasn't going to let it slip through my fingers again.