Lena’s POV

I felt his gaze burning into my back as I led Leo toward the waiting car.

It was Damon Blackwood In the flesh.

Every step I took felt like walking across ice. Leo’s tiny hand was warm in mine, unaware and unbothered.

He tugged my arm. “Mommy, who’s that man?” His voice rang loud and clear

I smiled down at him with my heart thudding. “Just someone from the company, baby.” I replied slowly.

Damon didn’t say a word. He didn’t have to. His silence said enough.

I felt he knew and and it was only a matter of time before the questions started.

The ride from the helipad to the hotel was quiet and tense.

Damon didn’t ride with us, but I felt his presence in every inch of the city. It was like a storm waiting to break. I kept my face composed for Leo, but my mind raced. My hands were cold and my throat was dry.

Had he known I was coming?

Had he arranged the gala just to see me?

Or was this some cruel twist of fate?

I needed to protect Leo. That was all that mattered.

……..

That night, I tucked Leo into bed at the luxury suite Bleone had arranged.

He was fast asleep in minutes. I stepped out onto the balcony, taking long gulps of the warm city air.

Then I heard it. A knock that was measured, slow and sharp.

I already knew who it was. I opened the door.

He stood there in black with hands in his pockets. His eyes was cool and unreadable.

“Hello, Lena.” His voice was thick.

My fingers tightened around the doorframe. “Damon.” I echoed, lingering.

He stepped inside without waiting for an invitation.

The silence stretched like wire between us.

He finally said, “Is he mine?”

My chest constricted, almost snapping me out of myself. “No.” I replied firmly.

It came out too quickly. It was like he practiced it.

His eyes narrowed. “Don’t lie to me.”

“I’m not. Leo’s mine. That’s all you need to know.”

He didn’t raise his voice. Damon Blackwood never had to.

Instead, he turned and walked out without another word.

And I knew right then that it wasn’t over.

Not even close.

………..

The next week was torture. Damon didn’t speak to me again.

But I felt him watching. I felt his presence in every dark corners. I caught his assistants whispering behind their tablets. The event meetings were stiff, formal and with every moment, I felt monitored.

I tried to stay focused on the gala planning.

I tried to pretend everything was fine.

But then, one morning, I got a call.

“Ms. Hart,” a clipped voice said, “we would like to verify your hospital records from your 2020 birth at Saint Francis Clinic, Paris. Our client has authorized the request.”

I froze at the voice. “Saint Francis Clinic. The midwife. The birth certificate I signed alone.’ I puffed out an heavy breath realising he was digging.

Damon Blackwood was investigating everything and there was no way I could stop him.

……..

Three days later, he summoned me to his office.

I told Elise to keep Leo busy downstairs with cartoons and pastries.

When I stepped inside the penthouse suite of Bleone headquarters, I barely recognized it.

The décor was clean and clinical. Power hung in the air like perfume and I was feeling choked.

He was standing at the window and his back turned at me.

“I had it confirmed,” he said without turning. “You gave birth to a boy in Paris. No father was listed. He was born exactly nine months after the night you stumbled into my suite.”

I clenched my jaw. “You had no right…” My voice rang out harshly.

“I had every right,” he snapped, finally facing me. “You hid my son from me.”

I stepped back. “I protected him from a man who would’ve never believed me. I protected him from a war between our families that he didn’t ask to be born into.” My eyes tightened.

His hands curled into fists at his sides. “You think I would hurt him?” He asked me.

“I can't tell,” I whispered.

We stood there in silence.

“I’m going to court,” he finally said. “I’ll file for full custody and I am sure I will win.”

My blood ran cold. “You wouldn’t.” I managed to say.

He stepped closer with eyes darker. “You know I would.” His voice, stern.

I swallowed hard. My world tilted under me.

Leo, my baby , is everything to me. He can't take him like that.

I wouldn’t let him.

“Then I’ll disappear again,” I said with a voice like steel. “You’ll spend the rest of your life chasing what you can't reach.”

He stared at me for a long moment.

Then, his phone buzzed, distracting him.

He answered. “Yes?” Then, he pause. “Put them through.”

He didn’t break eye contact with me as he listened.

Then his expression shifted slightly. “Understood,” he said and hung up.

A beat passed. And then he said, “It seems fate just handed us a solution.”

He walked to his desk, pulled open a drawer, and tossed a folded legal document onto the surface.

I stared at it without touching it.

“My legal team just reminded me,” he said flatly, “that to retain the full Blackwood estate, I must present a legal heir and a spouse before my thirty-fifth birthday.” He looked at me. “That’s four weeks from now.”

I didn’t speak.

He stepped closer. “I need a wife. A child. A picture-perfect family. Even if it’s a lie. I have to make it happen.” He blinked.

My heart thudded. “You’re asking me to marry you?” I asked faintly in disbelief.

“No. I don't need you to marry me. I’m offering you a deal.” His voice expanded.

He leaned over the desk, voice razor-sharp.

“You will marry me for one year. Pretend publicly and I will protect your son, protect your business just to keep the board off my back.”

I blinked after I heard him speak.

It felt like falling off a cliff. “I…”

“There will be conditions,” he said coldly. “No intimacy unless required publicly. No emotional entanglements. And under no circumstances can either of our families know the truth.” I stared at him.

This wasn’t a proposal. It was a contract.

And yet… I thought of Leo and the life I had promised him. Of the father he didn’t know he had. And the truth hit me like a freight train… I never planned to raise him alone afterall.

Not really! I just hadn’t found a way to trust anyone else with him.

Until now.

Even if Damon was terrifying, controlling and cold. He was still Leo’s father.

And he had never let harm come to him. My chest ached and pride screamed.

But for my son… I nodded in agreement.

“Fine. I’ll marry you.”