Chapter 12
Landon
Seven days. Seven damn days since I had her in my arms. Since I felt her body arch beneath mine. Since I heard her moan my name. And seven fucking days of silence.
I’ve called. I’ve texted. Left her voicemails. But I got nothing. Not even her anger to keep me sane. She’s shut me out completely, and it’s driving me past the edge.
I know she’s got trust issues—I get it. But she needs to see I’m not going anywhere, and I’ll do everything in me to prove it until there’s no doubt left.
With that thought steeling my mind, I slam the gear into park, my car idling outside her office.
‘It’s time for her to face, me whether she wants it or not,’ I murmur under my breath as I shove the car door open.
Buttoning my coat, I stride through the glass doors of the imposing building. The moment I step inside, every head snaps up. Women sit up straight and openly gawk, a reaction I’ve seen a thousand times, but I don’t slow down. My steps stay measured as I cut straight to the reception desk.
The woman behind it lifts her head, her eyes going wide as she catches a sharp breath, as though she’s forgotten how to breathe.
“Anna Delgado,” I say, making it clear I expect an answer, and fast.
“Yes, sir,” she stammers, immediately scrambling at her keyboard, her fingers tripping over the keys like she’s terrified to keep me waiting. But before she can even look up to answer, a smooth voice cuts through the air.
“Mr. Hayes.”
I turn and see Sabrina walking toward me in a crisp two-piece suit, a professional smile plastered perfectly in place. I know it’s her. I remember her from the video call where she confirmed the meeting with Anna.
“Ms. Sabrina,” I greet as she stops in front of me.
“How lovely to see you,” she says, surprised, though her polished smile never slips.
I give a slight nod.
“The interview you gave was absolutely perfect,” she adds, her smile softening. “Why don’t you come into my office for a coffee and tell me how I can help you?”
“Save the coffee.” A faint smile touches my mouth, never reaching my eyes, as the words slide off my tongue. “I was thinking another interview might be in order. Something more in depth. Is Anna available?”
“Ah, unfortunately, Anna is on leave for two days.”
My brow furrows. “Leave?”
“Yes,” she replies, her voice tinged with polite regret. “But I can assign another journalist to continue the piece.”
“No.” I cross my arms over my chest, my stance unwavering. “It’ll be Anna. Or no one.”
Something flickers across her face. Curiosity, or maybe suspicion, but she doesn’t question me. Instead, almost too casually, she says, “I’m afraid, Mr. Hayes, I won’t be able to call Anna. She’s on emergency leave.”
My jaw tightens, the muscles ticking with tension. “What the hell happened to her?”
“She’s fine,” Sabrina answers carefully. Then, after the briefest pause, she adds, “It’s her daughter. She’s admitted to the hospital.”
For a split second, the word around me tilts. I don’t breathe, my pulse hammering against my ribs.
Anna has a daughter.
Blood roars in my ears as a train of thoughts crashes through my mind… fear, disbelief, questions, all colliding at once.
“Daughter?” The word grinds out of me, my jaw clenched so tightly the ache shoots up my cheek. Sabrina blinks, taken aback by the look on my face.
“Yes,” she replies slowly, cautious now, as though weighing every word.
My fists ball at my sides, every muscle coiling, ready to snap at anything within reach. My Anna. My wife. My ex-wife, I remind myself bitterly, the word tasting like poison on my tongue. She has a child. With another man?
Rage and jealousy hit me so sharp I can almost taste blood.
But then, suddenly like a lifeline thrown in the dark, her words from that night slam back into me. She hadn’t been with anyone since the divorce.
Dragging in a deep breath, I shove the fury down and lock it behind a wall of ice as I inquire slowly, “How old is her daughter?”
Sabrina hesitates only a moment. “She turned two this spring.”
Two. I quickly do the math.
Everything inside me stills, like the world has paused just long enough for the truth to sink in. My pulse roaring in my ears. It’s mine. I have a daughter.
I can feel it deep in my bones, every heartbeat, every breath echoing the truth I never anticipated but now can’t ignore.
“Mr. Hayes, are you okay?” Sabrina’s voice cuts in, careful.
I nod once, though my jaw feels carved from stone. “Which hospital?”
“City Center Hospital.”
“Thanks,” I bite out, already heading toward the door.
By the time I’m back in my car, my hands are locked around the wheel in a death grip. I tear through the streets on autopilot, my mind a goddamn warzone.
Anna hid my daughter from me? My daughter.
My chest feels like it’s been ripped open, a savage cocktail of emotions detonating through me all at once. Fury, so sharp that it feels lethal, hits me at the thought that she kept this from me. And then the guilt tightens around me.
I left her. Walked away without a word, without a reason. And because of that, I wasn’t there when my daughter took her first steps or spoke her first words… I wasn’t even a shadow in the room while her life was taking shape without me.
As I slam the car into park in the hospital lot, the fury still roars through me, refusing to ebb. I march inside and head straight for the reception desk.
“I need the room number for Anna Delgado’s daughter,” I ask the woman in front of the desk.
She hesitates, then quickly checks the system. “She’s on the pediatric floor. Room 407.”
I give a curt nod, then turn on my heel and make my way to the elevators. I jab the button for the fourth floor. The ride is hell, every second stretching unbearably, and I’m seconds from ripping the doors open with my bare hands.
The doors finally slide open, and I’m out before they’re even fully apart, my strides consuming the sterile hallway. The sharp scent of antiseptic stings my nose, but it’s nothing compared to the fire raging through my veins.
I stop outside the door, my hand hovering over the handle as my heart races. On the other side of this door is my daughter… a piece of me I never knew existed.
With trembling hands, I push the door open, and the sight inside steals the breath from my lungs.
Anna is slumped in a chair beside the bed, her hair twisted into a messy knot, her face pale with exhaustion.
But my eyes barely linger on her. They move instead to the hospital bed where my little girl lies.
She’s so small. So fragile. Her tiny chest rises and falls in a steady rhythm, and a teddy bear is clutched against her side.
My throat burns like fire. That’s her. She’s mine. My daughter.
Anna’s head snaps up at the sound of the door, and her eyes widen, horror flooding her face.
“Landon.”
“She—” My voice cracks. I swallow hard, forcing myself to try again. “She’s mine.”
Anna’s lips tremble, but she doesn’t deny it. There’s absolute silence. And that silence is louder than any confession.
I step further into the room, my voice raw. “You kept my daughter from me.”
Anna’s chin lifts, defiant even in her exhaustion. “Yes, I did.”
For a moment, I can’t speak. Then I let out a strained, “Why?”
“To protect her from you,” she replies without hesitation.
“Protect her from me?” I growl, my fists tightening at my sides. “You think I’d ever hurt her? I’m her father. I should have been there from the start!”
I drag in a shaking breath and tear my gaze from Anna back to the bed. Soft blonde curls spill across the pillow, every line of her face holding a reflection of mine.
I move closer, ignoring Anna’s accusation, each step heavier than the last.
“What’s her name?” I ask in a hoarse voice.
“Liala,” she replies.
I stop beside the bed and force my hands to stay at my sides even as every instinct in me screams to reach out, to hold her, to make up for every stolen second I wasn’t here.
But I don’t. I can’t. Not while this anger still burns through me like a live wire, reminding me of everything I lost without even knowing.
I turn back to Anna, my voice shaking with fury I can’t tame. “Two years, Anna. You raised my daughter for two fucking years, while I had no clue that she even existed. Do you have any idea what you’ve taken from me?”
Her eyes fill with tears, but her jaw remains firms. “Do you have any idea what you took from me when you walked away?”
My stomach twists, bile and fire churning in my gut. But before I can speak, the door swings open, and a handsome, young man strides in.
“I’m back, sweetheart. The doc…” he starts, but the words die the second his eyes land on me.
My jaw grinds tightly. “Who the hell is he?”
Anna shoots me an annoyed look. “Landon, don’t you—”
“Answer me.” My voice cuts through the air, ignoring her annoyed glance.
“Name’s Mick,” the guy replies evenly as he steps up beside her. “I’m her roommate.”
My eyes narrow to slits, glaring at him before I drag my gaze back to Anna. “We need to talk.” The steel in my tone makes it clear this isn’t a request.
Anna rises to her feet. “Not here. Not in front of her.” She grits the words out, then turns to Mick, her tone softening. “Take care of Liala. I’ll be back.”
The jerk nods, sliding into the chair she just vacated, his hand brushing a stray curl from my daughter’s forehead with a familiarity that makes my gut twist.
Before I can explode, Anna grips my wrist and yanks me out of the room. The door clicks shut behind us, leaving just the two of us in the stark, empty corridor.
“You kept my daughter from me?” I hiss the second the door shuts. “And I have to watch some dumb roommate of yours sitting by her as if he belongs with her.”
Her eyes blaze. “Because he does belong. He’s been there for her when you weren’t. He’s supported us. He’s helped me raise her while you were off building your empire.”
“Don’t twist this,” I snap, stepping closer, the heat in my chest ripping my control. “That’s my daughter in there. Mine. Not his. And I’ll be damned if I let anyone else stand in my place.”
Her laugh is bitter, jagged at the edges. “Your place? You couldn’t even be a husband, Landon. How the hell are you claiming you could be a father?”
“I admit I wasn’t a good husband. But don’t you dare decide what kind of a father I would have been,” I grind out. “None of it gave you the right to hide my daughter from me. I deserved to know about her.”
“You fucking deserve nothing, Landon. You didn’t give me any answers when you handed me those divorce papers, and I sure as hell am not answerable to you for why I kept her from you.
I spent years wondering why you left me, and now, you need to taste the same medicine as to why I didn’t tell you about your daughter,” she spits, daring me to push her further.
“And you sure as hell don’t get to walk in here and demand answers from me. ”
I stay mute, the words hitting me like a punch to the chest. I don’t know how long I stand there, stunned, only just registering her hand on the door handle as she looks over her shoulder.
“Go home, Landon. Leave us alone,” she says.
Before I can even reply, she slips back into the room and shuts the door with a final, decisive click, leaving me in the corridor, my eyes locked on the closed door that now holds my entire world.
Minutes drag by before I force myself back into my car. Slamming the door shut, I sit there for a moment, letting the weight of it all settle over me. My hands shake as I pull out my phone from my pocket, scroll to the name I need, and hit dial.
“Hello, Mr. Hayes,” a male voice greets me.
“I need to file for custody of my daughter,” I bite out, without much courtesy or preamble.
There’s a pause before the man begins to explain that he needs details, a time to meet, but I don’t let him finish.
“I don’t care how you do it. I want every loophole, every statute, every precedent on my side. And I want the papers before the day ends.”
Before he can form a response, I end the call, shoving the phone back into my pocket.
My gaze snaps back to the hospital building, and a dark vow coils in my chest.
Anna… you can try to keep me out of my daughter’s life all you want. But make no mistake, I will get my daughter back.