The CEO's Rejected Wife And Secret Heir novel Chapter 20

Chapter 20: Chapter 20: The Confrontation

Aria POV

The bathroom door was still open behind me, and the light was too bright, hurting my eyes as I caught sight of myself in the mirror across from where I stood. My reflection stared back at me—someone who pretended to have it all together but looked like a liar instead. The person I saw wasn’t really me, not anymore. She was someone I used to be before everything fell apart, before I learned what it meant to be truly alone.

My hands were shaking as I pressed them against my thighs, trying to make them stop, but they wouldn’t listen. I gripped the phone tighter and took a breath, then another. Someone laughed in the hallway outside, the sound high and sharp as it echoed through the quiet corridor.

I needed to fix my face, put myself back together, go back out there and smile and pretend everything was fine. But I couldn’t move. I just stood there with my phone in hand and my heart in pieces.

"Mama?"

I spun around to find Damien standing five feet away, his face pale and his eyes wide with shock.

"Did that child just call you Mama?" His voice was barely a whisper.

My blood turned to ice. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough." He took a step closer, his movements deliberate. "That was my son, wasn’t it? That little boy on your phone with my eyes."

"Damien" I called out, my voice shaking slightly.

"Don’t lie to me. Not about this." His voice shook with barely contained emotion. "I saw him, Aria. I saw our son."

People were starting to gather in the hallway, drawn by our raised voices, and I felt the weight of their stares pressing down on me. Someone’s champagne glass clinked against another, and the sound made me flinch.

"Not here," I hissed. "Not now."

"Then when?" He moved closer, his presence overwhelming as he towered over me. "When were you planning to tell me I’m a father? When he was eighteen? Never?"

The overhead lights felt too bright, and my heels were starting to hurt as I shifted my weight from one foot to the other, trying to steady myself against the moment.

"You don’t deserve to know him." The words came out cold and sharp, cutting through the tension between us. "You gave up that right when you threw me out."

"I made a mistake."

"You made a choice." I stepped back until my shoulder blade hit the wall behind me. "And now you have to live with it."

"He called someone Daddy." Damien’s voice broke, revealing the pain beneath his anger. "Who is he calling Daddy, Aria?"

I pressed my palms flat against the wall, feeling the cool, smooth painted surface under my hands. "No one. He doesn’t have—" I stopped myself. "This is none of your business."

"Like hell it’s not!" His control snapped completely. "That’s my son! My child! You can’t keep him from me!"

The hallway went silent, and everyone was staring now. I could see them in my peripheral vision—women in expensive dresses, men in tailored suits—all watching us like we were dinner theater providing their evening’s entertainment.

Damien’s hands were clenched into fists at his sides, his jaw tight as a vein pulsed visibly in his neck. I felt my carefully constructed walls crumbling under the weight of his accusation.

"You want to talk about what you deserve?" My voice rose despite my attempts to control it. "You told me to get rid of him. You called me a liar and a gold-digger and threw me out like I was a problem to be solved. So no, Damien. You don’t get to meet him. You don’t get to be his father. You don’t get anything."

"Aria, please"

"Stay away from us." My voice turned cold and final. "Or I’ll file a restraining order and make sure you never get within a hundred feet of my son."

I pushed past him, past the staring crowd, toward the exit with my breath coming too fast. My purse caught on someone’s sleeve, and I yanked it free as the hallway seemed to stretch on forever.

Lucas caught up with me at the coat check. "Let me drive you home."

"I’m fine," I said, though my heart was beating so loudly I could barely hear my own voice. I fumbled in my purse for the coat check ticket, but my hands were shaking so badly that I dropped it. The small paper square fluttered down to the marble floor.

Lucas bent down and picked it up, handing it to the attendant without a word. "You’re shaking," he said gently, taking my arm. "Come on. You shouldn’t be alone right now."

The coat check attendant returned with my jacket, and Lucas helped me into it with careful, slow movements, as if I might break at any moment. I let him guide me outside where valets were bringing up cars, and the night air hit my face like a slap. It was cold—I hadn’t noticed before—and my breath came out in white puffs that dissipated into the darkness.

My phone buzzed in my purse once, twice, three times, but I didn’t look at it. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

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