Page 47 of Discretion at Its Finest

I paced the floor, hand running down my face in distress. I needed to know. Part of me already fucking knew the truth. But I waited anyway. Waited for him to say the words that would put me out of my misery.

“Go ahead.”

“…The results show a 99.98% match.”

The words didn’t seem to register, his calm demeanor staying in place like his words weren’t fracturing my mind, like they hadn’t just rearranged the last three years.

I didn’t speak as I stood there in the cold of the corridor, the phone pressed to my ear as something inside me cracked open.

“It is confirmed. You are Eugene Newman’s biological father.”

Chapter twenty

Genevieve

The ballroom pulsed louder around me as the hours passed. Glasses clinking harder, laughter rising higher, music weaving through the tension in the room.

I wasn’t looking at Gregory anymore. Or at Cheryl’s perfect posture, the way her hand slid down his sleeve like it had done it a hundred times before.

I didn’t care. Or I was trying not to.

I was too busy searching the room forhim.

Reid had been at the bar not even ten minutes ago, watching me converse with Eleanor before she had to slip away to talk to her husband. I could feel his eyes on me as a man made me laugh more than I had in the last week without intending to.

Reid had been watching everything and everyone. I’d felt his gaze the entire night.

But now? He was gone.

No trace of him in the crowd, no sign of his pristine black suit or cutting stare. No sharp jawline in the corner of my eye. It worried me, despite my better judgement.

“Genevieve.”

The sound of my name pulled my spine straight. Gregory stood beside me now for the first time tonight, finally done avoiding me. Cheryl was with him, not as close as before but close enough. Looking beautiful as always, her hair perfectly done, dress framing her in ways that would guarantee her more than just Gregory’s attention.

I turned slowly, letting my gaze settle fully on them. Gregory looked handsome, put together despite the crumbling man he was behind closed doors. His scent had mixed in with hers, her perfume radiating off him.

I ignored it as I plastered a smile on my face, the same smile I’d practiced over and over again.

“Gregory, you made it.”

He smiled. “Had to. Couldn’t let Reid steal the spotlight completely…” The laugh that followed was dry and forced. Then, casually, he gestured to the woman beside him. “I don’t think I ever had the chance to introduce you to Cheryl. She’s been with the company a few years now.”

My smile remained in place, not faltering once. As if I hadn’t spent the last forty-five minutes watching her laugh beside him.

I had already memorized the cut of her dress, the curl of her hair, the way her hand hovered at the small of his back like it had the right to be there. And I counted every single second she occupied the space that used to be mine.

I reminded myself that my initial introduction to her was on my own terms. It came long before he ever had the nerve to say her name to me. As far as I knew, Gregory had no idea I knew of the woman who frequented his office throughout the day.

I stood. “It’s lovely to meet you,” I said softly, extending my hand.

Cheryl’s expression flickered, probably thinking of the times she’d caught my lingering gazes. She knew I’d seen her. Knew I’d watched her hang off the arm of the father of my son.

But then she smiled anyway. It was flawless and practiced. “It’s nice to finally put a face to the name.”

When I pulled away to sit back down, Gregory turned his attention to her, leaving me alone in my thoughts. In the midst of their conversation, my eyes glanced around the room, landing on Reid re-entering the ballroom as a breath left me unintentionally.

His shoulders were tense, his jaw set, hair slightly tousled from his hands running through it.