Roman's POV.
"One last thing, Audrey."
My voice stayed calm as I spoke into the phone, but the tightness in my chest told a different story. I stood by the floor-to-ceiling window in my office, staring down at the city lights scattered across the streets below. From this height everything looked quiet and controlled.
My life rarely was.
"I'm calling to remind you that you signed an NDA regarding our night together," I continued, keeping my tone even. "If you go to the press with this pregnancy nonsense, I will sue you for every penny of the payout I already gave you. Do not test me."
The words sounded cold, but I didn't soften them.
Because none of this made sense.
Pregnant?
With my child?
The claim alone would have been laughable if it hadn't suddenly turned into a potential disaster.
Three years ago I had sat in a sterile medical office while a specialist explained my condition in careful, clinical language.
Azoospermia.
Zero sperm count.
The doctor had tried to sound sympathetic, but the meaning had been painfully clear. My chances of fathering a biological child were practically nonexistent.
The report proving it was locked inside my private safe.
Which meant Audrey's claim could only be one thing.
A lie.
Or a trap.
I waited for her to respond. I expected anger, maybe panic.
Instead, a man's voice answered.
"Mr. Lennox… I don't think an NDA covers a pregnancy."
I went completely still.
That was not Audrey.
My grip on the phone tightened.
"Who is this?" I demanded. "Put Audrey on the line. If you're some boyfriend she hired to help run this scam, tell her she's wasting her time. I have lawyers who eat men like you for sport."
"I'm not her boyfriend."
The voice was calm, steady, and measured—but every word set off alarms in my mind.
"I'm her uncle, Saul Gates," he said.
"Most people call me Sully."
For a moment, the name didn't register.
Then it hit me.
Sully Gates. CEO of Gates Media Group. Owner of half the city's tabloids. One of the most ruthless media men alive.
A man whose entire career revolved around destroying reputations and selling scandals to the highest bidder.
And Audrey? The woman I'd dismissed as just another cleaner—quiet, invisible, a ghost in the hallways—she was his niece.
I'd never suspected that the woman I'd slept with, the one I'd paid off with a bored flick of a pen, was tied to one of the most dangerous men in the country. By confirming that payout, I hadn't just settled a debt. I'd handed him a loaded gun.
"Mr. Gates," I said, forcing the tremor out of my voice. "You are treading on dangerous ground."
"And you, Mr. Lennox, are out of time."
His tone hardened immediately.
"My niece confessed everything. You used her, paid her off, and now she's pregnant. Because of that scandal, the Mercer family she was to marry just walked out of my house. My shipping merger is dead."
My jaw tightened.
"If you don't fix this," he continued, "I will make sure every news outlet in this city runs your face next to the word deadbeat by sunrise. A billionaire abandoning his own blood? The public will tear you apart. You will lose your board. You will lose your position."
The words landed like a physical blow.
The accusation echoed in my mind, mocking me. It was a trap, perfectly laid. He had the receipts for the money, and he had the girl.
But Gates didn't know the whole truth. He didn't know why I'd been so careless.
It was impossible.
Medically impossible for me to father a child—with his niece, or anyone else.
The proof existed in black and white inside my safe.
But Gates didn't know that.
And I couldn't let him know.
In my world, weakness was currency. The moment the press learned that the CEO of Lennox Corporation couldn't produce an heir, the market would tear me apart.
The headlines would write themselves.
"Lennox Dynasty Ends With Sterile Heir."
Investors would panic. My stock would crash.
I would lose the company.
And my cousin Cassius, who had been waiting his entire life for an opportunity, would step forward to take my place before the dust even settled.
No.
That truth could never reach the public.
"We need to talk," I said.
"Tonight."
There was a brief pause before I continued.
"The Onyx Lounge. Private Room Four. Thirty minutes."
"Good," Gates replied smoothly. "I was hoping you'd say that."
The call ended.
I stared at the dark screen for a moment before grabbing my keys and leaving the office.
The drive across the city blurred into streaks of red taillights and restless thoughts. Every traffic light felt like an insult. Every second wasted felt dangerous.
If this story broke, Felicity's family would cancel the engagement immediately.
The Wellingtons didn't tolerate scandal.
Without their investment, the contract I had spent months negotiating would collapse.
And if that happened, Cassius would be waiting to step over my body and take the CEO chair.
The Bluetooth system chimed suddenly.
Incoming Call: Felicity.
My hands tightened around the steering wheel.
I couldn't answer.
Not while my life was unraveling piece by piece.
I let the call go to voicemail and quickly typed a message when the light turned red.
"Stuck at the office. Crisis with the Asian market. I'm sorry, Feli. I'm doing this for us. See you soon. I love you."
I dropped the phone onto the passenger seat and exhaled slowly.
I was fixing this.
Everything I was doing tonight was to protect our future, our marriage. It has to happen.
It was my only play left. Tracking down the heir to Madison's shares had proven impossible, leaving my flank completely exposed. If I couldn't neutralize Gates, I was done.
*
By the time I reached the Onyx Lounge, my expression had returned to its usual calm mask.
I was Roman Lennox.
I didn't beg.
I negotiated.
Private Room Four was waiting at the end of the hallway.
When I stepped inside, I expected to see a frantic, desperate man.
Instead, Saul Gates sat comfortably on the leather sofa, swirling bourbon in a crystal glass. He looked like a man who had just discovered a winning lottery ticket.
"Sit," he said.
I sat across from him but didn't relax.
"Let's get one thing straight," I said. "Your niece is lying. That child is not mine."
Gates laughed softly.
"Of course you'd say that. Every man says that. But Audrey has the dates, the proof of your payout, and a positive test. The press won't care about your denial. They'll care about the scandal."
"It's a scam," I said sharply.
I wanted to tell him the truth. I wanted to throw the medical report on the table and watch his entire story collapse.
But I couldn't risk it. Giving him the truth would just be handing him another piece of leverage to use against me.
"It doesn't matter whether it's a scam or the truth," Gates replied calmly. "My merger collapsed because of this situation. That cost me millions."
He leaned forward slightly.
"And now I'm going to recover those losses."
"You're blackmailing me."
"I prefer the word negotiation."
His eyes hardened.
"I need five million dollars tonight."
I stared at him in disbelief.
"Five million for a lie?"
"Five million for my silence," he corrected smoothly. "You pay, and Audrey disappears. No interviews. No lawsuits. No paternity tests. The story vanishes."
The room felt suddenly smaller.
I knew I didn't owe a cent for a child that wasn't mine.
But the damage this man could cause would destroy me long before I could ever prove the truth.
"Five million," I repeated quietly.
"And she disappears?"
"Yes."
I leaned back slowly.
"If a single word of this reaches the press," I said, my voice turning cold, "I will spend every cent I have making sure you rot in prison for extortion."
Gates only smiled.
"Fair."
I opened my banking app and accessed the emergency acquisition account.
Five million dollars disappeared in seconds.
I wasn't paying for a child.
I wasn't paying for a termination.
I was paying to bury a blackmailer's lie.
"It's done," I said, standing.
"Good doing business with you," Gates replied.
"And Saul, to make it clear, the money is to stop this blackmail. Nothing more. I'm not responsible for this pregnancy so I don't care what she does with it, it best she goes after the man responsible now. My name must stay clear."
Saul nods slowly, a calculating look in his eyes. "Understood. Don't worry, I'll handle her."
I walked out without shaking his hand.
By the time I reached my car, the night air felt heavier.
But I told myself it was worth it.
Five million was a small price to protect the Lennox name.
The crisis was contained.
Or so I thought.
I drove to Felicity's office, planning to apologize for missing dinner and take her somewhere quiet.
The building was nearly empty when I arrived.
I used my key card and stepped into the private elevator.
The hallway outside her office was dim.
Just as I reached for the door handle—
Crash.
Glass shattered inside.
Adrenaline surged through me.
I pushed the door open.
The vase on her desk lay shattered on the floor.
Felicity was pressed against the desk, her silk dress pushed up, her breath caught in a gasp as she turned toward the door.
And the man standing between her legs…
…was Cassius.
My cousin.
My rival.
He didn't jump away.
He didn't look embarrassed.
Instead, he slowly turned his head toward me.
His hair was messy, his tie loose, but the expression on his face was calm.
Confident.
A slow smirk spread across his lips.
It was the look of a man who had already won.
The meaning behind it hit me like a punch.
While I had been out buying silence to protect our future…
…he had been here taking it from me.
My knees nearly gave out.
The five million dollars.
The lies.
The blackmail.
All of it crashed down in a single moment.
I had gone an extra step tonight to protect a future that didn't even exist.