Her Silent Revenge novel Chapter 89

From his expression, clearly not.

"I know this is a lot. I'm sorry." I rub his back, wondering how it came to this, how I can possibly salvage this nightmare. "I never meant to tell you like this, it just kinda happened…"

"How did you mean to tell me? When did you mean to tell me?" he snaps.

His blue eyes flare, angry and different from the fire of our passion. "I don't know." Maybe never. "I'm sorry."

"Why didn't you tell me before?" he demands again. A fair question. Maybe the first one I'd ask, too.

The how is obvious, at least.

"Well, it's… it's complicated," I manage. Worst answer ever, I know.

I press my fingers into the lounger, feeling the luxe material give way under the pressure.

He inhales sharply, staring at me again, his eyes demanding answers. "I didn't even know who you were until a couple months ago."

"When you started at Higher Ends," he finishes coldly.

"Yeah. That's when I realized exactly who I slept with all those years ago."

The tiniest hint of a smile curls his lips, then drops again.

His voice is strangled when he says, "I told you my name, didn't I?"

"…we were so drunk, Patton. I thought you were just some rich guy. Just some guy with a life to get back to where a baby wouldn't ever fit." And I never bothered looking for him because I didn't think he would care about the fact he'd had a son with me. "I didn't want that kind of friction, feeling like I'm forcing it, putting a burden on you. I didn't want my son growing up with a father who never wanted him."

Yep. I know I sound like the lamest human being on the planet. But my worries are valid.

After all, I've orbited the high life just enough to know rich people don't like anything that comes back to haunt them. They definitely don't like human drama hand grenades chucked into their picture-perfect lives that turn their careers and dreams into twisted shrapnel.

"The pregnancy was a shock," I say into the silence. The dark desert beyond us feels bigger than ever. "A huge surprise, really. I had no clue one night could change my entire life so much."

"I haven't…" This time, it's my turn to put my hands over my face. "I always just told him his father was a man I met a long time ago and he went away. I always knew I'd have to come up with more than that someday. But he isn't old enough to understand yet, not really."

"Went away? That's it? Fuck." Patton cringes. I hate seeing it, but he asked for the truth. I can't give him any less now. "You make it sound like I died."

That boulder in my throat just keeps getting bigger.

"For all I knew, you had. And making up lies about you—that was the least of my worries. My parents, they weren't the most understanding people…" I trail off again.

Huge understatement. My parents hated the fact that I derailed my life more than I did.

First, I hadn't gone to college, and then I'd gotten pregnant by some strange man and wasn't planning on marrying him.

I wouldn't even give them his name.

I can still remember the way my mom screamed at me, her eyes bulging. We didn't have anything like the Rory wealth, but my father was a doctor, and they were crazy social in a big city with a small-town feel where word gets around.