Chapter 5 A Bombshell

(Ethan)

I couldn’t sit still, moving from my desk to the door and back. I finally stopped at my office window, shutting my eyes while my mind replayed the scene at the gala.

Lila in that red dress, pressed against my uncle’s side like she belonged there. The memory kept hitting me, over and over. My fingers tightened around the whiskey glass.

“You’re going to break that if you grip it any harder,” Grace said from her perch on my leather couch. She’d followed me here after the gala, claiming we needed to talk.

“Why are you really here, Grace?” I turned to face her. The woman I’d once thought was the love of my life sat there, looking exactly like she had ten years ago. 

Yet all I could see was Lila’s face when I’d cornered her in that bathroom.

“Can’t I check on an old friend?” She smiled that perfect smile that used to make my heart race. Now it just reminded me of everything that wasn’t real. “You seemed…upset at the gala.”

I laughed harshly. “Upset? My girlfriend of one year turned out to be Jonathan Montgomery’s daughter, and now she’s dating my uncle. Upset doesn’t begin to cover it.”

“Girlfriend?” Grace’s eyebrow arched. “Is that what she was?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Come on, Ethan. You never introduced her to anyone. Kept her hidden away in that penthouse of yours. Was she really your girlfriend, or just a convenient distraction?”

The words hit too close to home. I drained my glass, welcoming the burn. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t I?” She stood, moving closer. “I saw how you looked at her tonight. The same way you used to look at me.”

“This isn’t about you.”

“Isn’t it?” Her hand touched my arm. “We were good together once.”

I jerked away. “We were never good together. You left.”

“I had dreams, Ethan! I couldn’t stay here and play corporate wife while—”

“While what?” I spun to face her. “While you built your career? I never asked you to give up anything. You just assumed I would.”

“That’s not fair!”

“Fair?” I slammed the glass down on my desk. “You want to talk about fair? You show up after ten years, right when I finally…” I couldn’t finish the sentence.

“Finally what? Fall in love again?” She laughed, but her eyes stayed cold. “With Jonathan Montgomery’s daughter? The same man who’s been trying to take over your company for years?”

“She didn’t tell me who she was.”

“And that makes it better?” Grace moved closer. “She lied to you, Ethan. For a year. Who knows what else she lied about?”

The tampered condoms flashed through my mind. “She wouldn’t…”

“Wouldn’t she? The Montgomerys are known for playing dirty. And now she’s with Nicholas?” Grace shook her head. “Think about it. First you, then your uncle? She’s working her way through the Baldwin men.”

“Shut up,” I growled harder than I meant to.

But she did not stop pressing. “Why? Because you know I’m right? Or because you can’t stand the thought of her with someone else?”

Images of Lila flooded my mind. Her sleepy smile in the mornings. The way she’d curl into me while reading. How she’d leave little notes in my suit pockets.

“You don’t know her.”

“Do you?” Grace challenged. “The real her? The Montgomery heiress who played commoner to get close to you?”

I gripped the edge of my desk. “It wasn’t like that.”

“No?” She stepped closer. “Isn’t that what you said?”

“I didn’t mean it like that!”

“Then why did she hide who she was? Why did she wait until now to reveal herself? Right when I came back?”

“I don’t know!” The words exploded out of me. “I don’t know anything anymore! I trusted her. I let her in. And now…”

“Now she’s with Nicholas. I’m sorry, Ethan. I know how it feels to be betrayed.”

I shouldn’t have laughed, but I did. “Do you? Because from where I’m standing, you were the one who did the betraying.”

She flinched. “I need to tell you something.”

“What now?”

“It’s about why I really left.” She wrapped her arms around herself. “I was pregnant.”

“What?” I had to grab the desk to stay upright.

“When I left for Europe…I was carrying your child.”

My legs gave out, and I collapsed into my chair. “That’s impossible.”

“Is it?” She pulled out her phone, showing me a photo of a boy around nine years old. “His name is James.”

I stared at the photo. Brown hair like mine. Grace’s green eyes. My mother’s nose.

“No.” I shook my head. “No, you’re lying.”

“Look at him, Ethan. Really look. He’s your son.”

The room spun. I thought of all the times I’d wondered why Grace left so suddenly. The unanswered calls. The abrupt goodbye.

“Nine years,” I whispered. “You kept this from me for nine years?”

“I was scared! I had just gotten that fellowship in Paris. You were taking over the company. We were so young…”

“So you decided for both of us?” I stood up so fast my chair toppled over. “You took my child and disappeared?”

“Ethan—”

“Get out.”

“Please, just listen—”

“GET OUT!” I roared. “Before I do something we’ll both regret.”

She backed away, tears streaming down her face. “He asks about you, you know. His father. The great Ethan Baldwin.”

The door closed behind her with a soft click, leaving me alone with a truth that shattered everything I thought I knew.

A son.

I had a son.

And Lila…

God, Lila.

I’d accused her of trying to trap me with a baby when all along…

The irony was enough to make me laugh until I was choking on it. Or maybe I was crying. I couldn’t tell anymore.

My phone buzzed—a news alert. A photo of Lila and Nicholas at some restaurant, his arm around her waist, her head thrown back in laughter.

The caption read: “Montgomery Heiress and Baldwin’s Black Sheep: City’s Newest Power Couple?”

I hurled my phone across the room, watching it shatter against the wall.

Everything was falling apart, and I didn’t know which truth hurt more—the son I never knew I had, or the woman I loved in another man’s arms.

The woman I loved.

The truth knocked the air out of me. I loved her. Not because she reminded me of Grace, but because she was Lila. Just Lila.

And I’d lost her.

The question was: to what?

My uncle’s ambition, her father’s schemes, or my own blind stupidity?