Chapter 629
She distinctly remembered only ever telling Rowan that Paige Jensen was
responsible for her adoptive parents’ death. She had never once mentioned the name Orion Stone.
Rowan wasn’t surprised by the question. He walked over, sat on the edge of the bed, and carefully tucked the blankets around her before answering. “I don’t just know who he is.”
He paused, gently brushing a stray lock of hair behind her ear under her questioning gaze. “I also know that Paige Jensen used the criminal network Orion left behind when he went to prison to murder your adoptive parents. She did it to avenge him.” Elissa was stunned. He knew even more about her own tragedy than she did.
“Since getting out of prison recently, Orion has kept a remarkably low profile. He’s biding his time. I don’t think he plans on clashing with us directly anytime soon.”
She followed his logic. “So tonight was the perfect opportunity to see if we could track him down?”
“Exactly.” Rowan nodded in approval. Orion hadn’t made a direct move yet, likely because his power had diminished significantly during his long stint behind bars. If they gave him time to rebuild, he would become an absolute nightmare. For Rowan, Orion was a threat who would undoubtedly help Paige seize control of the Murphy Group. For Elissa… the danger was even more personal. They had to drag him out of the shadows as quickly as possible.
Elissa bit her lip. “But… won’t that put you in danger?”
After tonight, Rowan would never allow anyone another chance to hurt her. But what about himself? He would inevitably be putting himself on the front lines. In the past, he had operated recklessly, throwing himself into life-or-death situations to secure a victory.
Rowan looked deeply into her eyes. “I won’t let anything happen to me, either.”
“Promise?”
Rowan instantly saw the anxiety pooling in her eyes. He knew his men had probably told her all about his suicidal tactics from the early days. Back then, his only goal had been to seize power as fast as possible he could the leverage needed to destroy Paige and bring Elissa safely back under his protection. Because of that, he had constantly used scorched-earth tactics, destroying himself just to take his enemies down with him.
But things were entirely different now.
He grasped her soft, warm hand and nodded solemnly. “Little Nine, back then I had nothing left to lose. It’s different now. You and Grandma need me.”
Elissa understood the true weight of his words. It wasn’t that she and his grandmother hadn’t needed him back then; it was that he hadn’t possessed the power to give them anything-not even the guarantee of his own life. His only option had been to bet everything on a single, desperate gamble. Now, he had the power
to protect them, so he would never recklessly throw his life away again.
Elissa reached up, hooking her arms around his neck, and reminded him softly, “It’s not just me and Grandma. It’s the baby, too.”
She pulled one hand back and pointed to her rounded stomach.
Before Rowan could respond, she suddenly gasped, “Ah!”
Rowan’s face tightened in panic. “What’s wrong?”
“She—she…” Elissa stammered in pure excitement, fumbling for his hand. “She just kicked me! Did you see it?”
She pressed Rowan’s large palm flat against the exact spot where she had felt the movement. “Baby, this is your daddy. Give him a kick.”
Rowan watched her speak with such tender warmth, his eyes momentarily glazing over. His young girl was really becoming a mother; she looked like an absolute natural. He felt rare stab of awkwardness and was just about to pull his hand away when he felt a distinct flutter against his palm. It was incredibly light, but profoundly surreal.
Elissa’s face lit up with absolute joy. “See! Your daughter is so smart. She understood me!”
His lips curved into a faint smile, and he nodded in agreement. “Yeah. She’s a smart baby.”
He had promised her he would treat this child as his own, which meant this truly was his daughter. But the moment their eyes met, Elissa didn’t miss the fleeting, complicated emotion that flashed through his gaze. She couldn’t fully decipher it, but she knew that if he knew the absolute truth, he would be unconditionally happy.
The lingering terror of tonight’s kidnapping had cemented something in her soul: life
was too short to wait for the “perfect” moment. She decided to lay everything on the table right now.
“Rowan, she really is your daughter.”
She didn’t know what his reaction would be, but from this moment forward, she only wanted to live fully in the present.
The confession caught Rowan
completely off guard. For a second, his brain couldn’t even process the
ve
weight of her words. The fingers resting against her stomach trembled, and his voice went
dangerously tight.
“Explain exactly what you mean. Are you saying she’s my biological daughter, or…”
“There is no ‘or’.”
Elissa pressed his hand even firmer against her skin and looked at him with absolute conviction. “She is your biological daughter. It’s the absolute truth.”