Treasured by Thursday

Gabi gasped. “Oh, no . . . posing as you?”

“No. Not that I know of. No, I’m sure Sheila knew exactly who she was sleeping with and why. The picture at the studio event was me. It was the first time I’d met the woman. Everyone at the event knew I was there. There is no disputing our acquaintance. To make things even sweeter, she showed up in my New York office pleading a need to see me. She was much too pushy and needy for my taste. Flattery from someone’s attraction dissipates quickly when you believe they’re unbalanced.”

“Do you think her motivation in invading your work was just attraction?” Gabi asked.

“No. It was by design. She wanted people to see us together.”

“For what purpose?”

“Blackmail.” He finished his drink. “Ironic when I think about what I had to do to destroy her goals.”

Gabi sat a little taller. “This is where I come in.”

He unfolded from the couch and brought the decanter of whiskey to his glass. “I wasn’t lying when I first told you I needed a wife to ward off the number of women claiming I’d promised them marriage.”

“I’m sure that’s true, but sincerely doubt marriage was your only solution to that problem.”

He offered a half-ass smile from across the coffee table. “Except some were determined to make a killing on their accusations. You see, Sheila had a child nine months ago. My twin brother’s child. I don’t know what came first, the child or the plan. Doesn’t really matter.”

“Oh, no.”

Hunter could see the light in Gabi’s eyes spark.

“Sheila manages a few pictures of the two of us at the party . . . makes a surprise appearance in my office, corners me during a lunch meeting. Then a note arrives from Noah. Congratulations, Daddy. Words no man ever wants to hear and yet every one of us deserves to at least once in our lives. But not from a woman they’ve never touched.”

The confession hung between them for a few seconds before Gabi asked, “Your need for a wife was so she wouldn’t blackmail you into marriage?”

He hated the irony. “In part . . . but she never would have managed. Having a contractual wife certainly removed that from her plans.”

“How is it she can pin this child on you if it’s not yours anyway?”

“DNA. Noah and I are identical in every way genetically. I received word last week that the paternity test proved me to be the father.”

“It proved one of the two of you to be the father,” Gabi corrected. “Surely someone with your wealth and influence can find a way to dispute this woman’s claim.”

His eyes collided with Gabi’s.

The forced smile she held slowly melted. “Unless you don’t want that.” Her jaw dropped.

“My hell will be Noah’s purgatory. How dare he use a child as leverage for money.” The early memories of his brother’s deception to claim something of his that wasn’t, flooded him. Yeah, they’d used the identical twin thing in unison in primary school . . . by the time they were halfway through high school, their mother had completely disappeared, their father was easily persuaded to follow whatever financial path Noah thought he should. What Blackwell Senior didn’t realize, or if he did, didn’t care about, was Noah’s self-serving nature. Avoiding responsibility and pretending to be someone he wasn’t was Noah’s gift. Another gift . . . he pleased everyone he met. There wasn’t a soul who would say he was a bad guy. He reserved his nasty side for Hunter.

There’d been many times in the past Noah had come along asking for a little money to hold him over . . . finance a “brilliant idea.” It was easy to hand over money when you had it. Eventually, however, Hunter knew he wasn’t doing the right thing.

He stopped being his brother’s bank and subsequent doormat and shut him out. Less than three months later Noah had opened a line of credit using Hunter’s name . . . drained over a hundred grand before Hunter learned of his brother’s deception. After, Hunter stopped all communication, and his bookkeepers kept a close eye on all credit inquiries.

Hunter’s reward for tough love . . . a child he didn’t father. Payback is a bitch.

Gabi lifted a hand to her lips and spoke through it. “You’re going to keep the child.”

“A move neither of them are expecting.”

Gabi dropped her hand in her lap, her jaw tightened. “This isn’t a game of chess. We’re talking about a child, Hunter.”

The hair on his neck stood on end. “A child being used as a pawn by his own parents. What kind of life will he have? My mother forced my father into marriage with her pregnancy. She left the first time in third grade, only to return and play the back-and-forth game until high school. My brother knows I won’t support him, so he’s devised a plan to support his child. Only Noah thinks I’m going to do it by handing him money to avoid being the child’s father.” He couldn’t sit any longer and crossed to the windows and the lights of the city below. He never spoke of his mother. Most people thought she was dead. To him, she was. After Noah’s game, his brother would be dead to him, too.

“I’m sorry.”

“I don’t want your sympathy.”

“Well that’s too bad. Abandonment from a parent isn’t easy at any age. My father died and I still felt cheated. If he had chosen to leave and never returned, it’d be an unfathomable betrayal. What I don’t understand is why you didn’t tell me all of this before now.”