The Ticket Was Never for His Mistress Chapter 08

The Ticket Was Never for His Mistress Chapter 08

The heartbeat monitor kept beating. Fast. Innocent.

I sat up slowly, pulling my shirt down over my stomach.

“Say that again,” I said.

Grant swallowed. “I need to know.”

“You need to know.” I laughed, and it sounded like breaking glass. “Seven years, Grant. I gave you seven years. I gave you my mother’s house. I gave you every line of code your company runs on. And you stand in this room and ask me whose baby this is.”

“Hazel-”

“No.” I swung my legs off the table. “You don’t get to say my name like that anymore.”

Rhys was in the doorway now. He didn’t touch Grant. He didn’t need to. Two security guards appeared behind

him.

“Mr. Mercer,” Rhys said calmly. “The doctor has asked you to leave.”

Grant spun on him. “Stay out of this, Callahan. This is my wife.”

“Ex–wife,” I said.

“I never signed-”

“Diane filed on day one. California’s a no–fault state, Grant. Your signature is a formality. Your lawyers told

you that.

His face drained of color He knew.

He just hadn’t wanted to believe it.

“Hazel, listen to me.” He took a step toward me. The guards stepped forward. He stopped I didn’t mean it i don’t believe her. I just… I saw him and I lost my mind. I know it’s mine I know”

“Then why did you ask?”

He had no answer.

“Let me tell you what you missed,” I said, very quietly.

“You missed my birthday. You were at Nobu with her.

You missed my mother’s anniversary. You were at Tahoe with her.

You missed the first time I heard our daughter’s heartbeat. I was alone. The technician gave me a tissue

because she felt sorry for me.”

Grant’s eyes filled.

“Daughter,” he whispered.

“And our anniversary? You spent that one telling me you loved someone else.”

“I pushed her away. That night. I swear I-”

“I know. I saw the whole video.” I met his eyes. “You want a medal for stopping, Grant? You were on her couch at one in the morning. You chose her every single day for thirty days. Stopping at the last second doesn’t make you loyal. It makes you a coward who got scared.”

He flinched like I’d slapped him.

Rhys stepped forward then, very close to Grant. When he spoke, his voice was so low only the three of us

could hear.

“Mr. Mercer. Two things.”

Grant glared at him.

“First, the clinic’s footage will show I have never once stepped into an exam room with her. I wait outside Every time. Because it isn’t my place.”

He paused.

“It was yours. You just never showed up.”

Grant’s fists clenched.

“Second,” Rhys went on, “if you ever again imply that Hazel lied about her child’s father, my lawyers will make your remaining shareholders very interested in the eighty–thousand–dollar necklace you expensed And the

Tahoe cabin. And the rest.”

Grant looked like he’d been hit by a truck.

“You don’t know anything about us.”

“I know she built your empire,” Rhys said. “And you let a girl who faked her own birthday talk you out of your

own child.”

Nicked up my coat. My legs were still weak. Rhys offered his arm without a word, and I took it

We walked past Grant.

He smelled like airplane coffee and whiskey. He’d started drinking again.

“Hazel,” he said, breaking. “Please. I’ll do anything. I’ll fight for you.”

I stopped in the doorway, just for a second.

“I asked you for one dance, Grant. One song. In our own kitchen.”

His face went slack. He remembered.

“You looked at your watch.”

I walked out into the snow.

Behind me, I heard him shouting my name down the street, over and over, until the car door closed and

swallowed the sound.

In the backseat, I finally let myself shake.

Rhys didn’t say anything. He just took off his scarf and wrapped it around my cold hands.

“You were magnificent,” he said quietly.

“I don’t feel magnificent. I feel like I’m going to throw up.”

“That’s usually how magnificent feels.”

I laughed. Then I cried. He handed me a handkerchief and looked out the window so I could do it in peace

My phone buzzed.

A news alert.

“EXCLUSIVE: Tech Wife’s Secret Pregnancy Is Rival Billionaire the Father?”

The photo underneath was me and Rhys. Leaving the clinic. His hand on my back.

Brooke had struck.