The Billionaire's Hidden Heir

#6 - Mine Alone

Lily

"Surprise!" My back yard roared with excitement as kids and their parents shouted, welcoming my son to his birthday party. Asher's reaction was beyond excited. Exactly as I had pictured him when I'd decided on a super hero themed party for his fifth birthday, but I wasn't beaming as I had expected myself to be. I stood frozen, hand tightening on the fake golden lasso that had come with my wonder woman outfit, my eyes wide at who's hand my son excitedly tugged on as he walked further into my yard. Adrian...

For a split second, the sight of him, them together, was that picture perfect dream of the little family I'd always wanted. Him, in his usual tux, looking magnificent, coming home to me after taking over the world and being met by our bubbly kids wanting to share their day with their father while he remained torn between listening to them and walking over to kiss me his wife. Except, Adrian wasn't walking over to slap me with that embarrassing kiss in front of our son and I wasn't his wife. And he shouldn't be here!

I felt panic rise in my throat. Where the hell was Derby? She should have walked my son in, not him... I wanted to rush over, snatch Asher away from Adrian, but my world spun, the shock of seeing my ex-husband here, in the flesh, sucking the life out of me. How in God's name had he found us?

I blinked at the sight of my him and Asher. Panic and shock aside, they looked perfect. Father and son, a mirror image of each other as I had known from the moment the doctor placed my Asher in my arms. An image I realized was fading away quickly with every second I stood there.

"You okay? You look like you've just seen a ghost." A familiar voice asked beside me. I wanted to say yes, but my tongue suddenly grew heavy and I felt funny as my world tipped.

"Lily?" Someone called my name. Was it Derby? I couldn't be so sure as my hand tightened a fraction more onto my lasso. It didn't do a damned thing, though. I kept falling, my legs that had been perfectly fine a moment ago, giving up on me. "Lily? Goddamnit!" That voice... it became clearer, but he wasn't supposed to be here. I'd left him behind and more importantly, he wasn't supposed to sound like he cared for me, because he didn't. I felt my eyes burn and something warm spill at the thought. "Lily!" Strong arms wrapped around me and where I expected the hardness of the garden's floor, I landed on something way softer. The smell of grass was also replaced by a familiar scent that woke me in ways that left my diminishing life strangely alive ...quite ironic. I inhaled, and for someone whose life was already dangling at death's door, I did it ever so greedily even as darkness engulfed me.

"You should have told me that I had a son!"

I had been desperately grasping at straws, trying to navigate the silence that surrounded me, heavy and thick, when a fiery accusing gaze collided with mine in the darkness, stealing my breath. There was no doubt who it was. I had endured those green flames more times than I could count. Although, this time around, they were too intense and they threatened to consume me whole.

"How could you be this greedy, Lily? Was marrying me and making my life miserable not enough for you, you had to go ahead and hide the only thing that was ever good about our marriage?"

"I didn't." I defended, breathless, but even as the words left my mouth, memories of the little bubble of happiness I'd had in Radiant Springs, the one I'd tightly guarded from Adrian, flashed before my eyes. "I-"

"Well, it doesn't matter now." Adrian cut me off. "...I have him. I will raise my son and shower him with all the love he deserves."

"You can't do this to me!" I lunged at Adrian's retreating back, but something pulled me right back and held me in place. "Adrian!" I struggled still. "Please don't do this..."

"You are making me do this, Lily." Adrian pivoted and faced me, his eyes blazing. I'd never seen him this mad. "I didn't want to, but your greed leaves me no choice.

"Please don't take him away from me..." I pleaded, but my words fell on deaf ears and I was left to watch helplessly after Adrian as he walked away with my son.

"Asher!" I cried out, my screams ripping right out of my chest. They died down quickly, however, when the familiar walls of my bedroom came into view. Breath hitching, I blinked a couple of times at the place, the unchanging scenery flooding my heart with relief. "It was a dream... It was all just a dream, Lily." I drew in the longest breath as I crashed back on my pillow.

"You are awake..." familiar green eyes collided with my startled ones, sending me shooting up to a sitting position.

"A-Adrian." I stuttered, my gaze glued to his.

"Please don't get up." Warm hands wrapped around me as he laid me back down, never breaking our eye contact at any point. Five years... I realized was not nearly long enough to forget just how much I wanted to be lost in that sea of green. My hand shot out for his face of its own accord, the feel of his clean shaven jaw reminding me of one of those rare days I got to steal such a moment while he slept.

"You are here? That wasn't a d-" my words died on my tongue as reality plunged me right back into the nightmare. He.was.here... to take my son away! I felt every pore of my being fill with panic. "Asher?" I pulled my hand back and abandoned my bed in a flash, intent on locating my son and taking him away from here...from him. I couldn't let Adrian take my baby. But damn the heavens for endowing him with all that extra muscle that could easily intimidate almost anyone. Almost.

"I want my son." I glared at Adrian's frame that easily towered over me while he blocked my way out of my bedroom.

"He's fine, he's with Derby." His voice was soft. Too damned soft and a stark contrast to his hard gaze that was currently trained on me. "You should get back to bed-"

"I'm fine." I cut off his overly concerned self, suddenly preferring his coldness. I actually preferred many things in the moment as I struggled to wrap my head around the fact that Adrian was here, in my home. I needed him gone. "It's my son's birthday and I'll be damned if I have to spend it hidden in my bedroom." I side stepped Adrian, but he quickly reached for me.

"Lily, you can't-"

"Let me go!" I glared at him and was surprised when his gaze softened.

"At least let the doctor have a look at you," Adrian said, almost pleadingly. Once upon a time, I would have loved to hear him speak to me like that; right now, though, it only filled me with bitterness. Because obviously now that he had seen Asher, he'd want to play nice. I was grateful for the single knock and the door to my bedroom opening.

"Hey,"

"Warrick?" I'd never been happy to see the guy until now.

"Hey, you okay?" Still in his black panther suit, Warrick ate up the distance between us in a flash and came and stood by my side. "You scared the hell out of us, out of me." His hand shot for my face and despite being grateful for him being here, I flinched. I'd never had another man touch me, except for Adrian even though I hoped my ex-husband had not noticed that.

"I'm fine," I waved Warrick away before asking about my son."Is Asher alright?"

"He's alright, thanks to this gentleman here." Warrick turned to Adrian and extended a hand. The latter only stared at it, all the softness from a second ago gone, leaving only disdain colouring his eyes.

"It was nothing. I'd do much more for him." Adrian's glare bore into me, but I refused to give him what he wanted. He'd given up that right five years ago. Asher was mine, and mine alone.