His Heir, Her Secret - Chapter 52: Chapter 52

Isla
The first thing I noticed when I stepped out of the town car was the flash of cameras. Even before the media found me, I felt their presence like the pressure of a storm rolling in—hot, stifling, inevitable.
Lucien had warned me.
“There’s no going back,” he’d said last night, his voice velvet-soft as he brushed a strand of hair from my face. “When I go public with Leo, everything changes.”
He wasn’t wrong.
Now I stood at the courthouse steps, my fingers curled around the leather strap of my handbag like it could anchor me through the whirlwind ahead. Lucien stood beside me, immaculately dressed in a tailored charcoal suit, his expression calm but unreadable. His hand brushed the small of my back—reassuring, possessive, and entirely too grounding.
Across the street, a few paparazzi shouted our names.
“Lucien! Isla! Is that your child?”
“Is this the real reason behind the Renwick acquisition?”
“Isla, how long have you been hiding the baby?”
I didn’t flinch, but my spine stiffened.
Leo clung to my hand, wearing a small navy coat and boots that made him look like a baby prince. His face lit up when he saw the fountains out front, completely oblivious to the chaos around him. I envied that.
Lucien leaned in close. “Let them stare. You look stunning, by the way.”
I gave him a tight smile. “Let’s just get inside.”
The doors opened to a different kind of theater.
Inside, everything was hushed and clinical. Polished floors. Sharp footsteps. Whispers. A courtroom had been cleared for the emergency custody hearing—one Damon pushed for. And we had no choice but to meet it head-on.
I sat beside Lucien at the counsel table, with our attorney, Adele Marquette, between us. A striking woman with steel-colored hair and an even sharper tongue, Adele was a veteran in high-stakes family law. I trusted her more than I trusted myself in this moment.
Damon entered moments later, flanked by his lawyer. I didn’t need to look at him—I felt him. That chill down my neck. That twist in my stomach.
Lucien’s jaw clenched as he shifted subtly between me and Damon.
Good.
The judge—a sharp-eyed woman named Justice Conway—arrived with a gavel bang that silenced the room.
“Let’s proceed,” she said. “Mr. Hawthorne, you requested this emergency hearing. Present your case.”
Damon stood. “Your Honor, my concern is simple. I’ve recently discovered I may have a biological son—concealed from me for years by the mother and a third party with immense resources. I have a right to establish paternity and be involved in my son’s life.”
I clenched my hands in my lap.
He said it like I was the villain. Like he didn’t know exactly what I was running from.
Justice Conway turned her gaze to us. “Ms. Monroe? Mr. Wolfe?”
Adele stood, smooth and regal. “Your Honor, my clients never denied Mr. Cross’s biological link—though the timing of his reappearance is curious at best. But this hearing is not about paternity. It’s about fitness. My client, Ms. Monroe, has raised her son in a loving, stable environment. She had legitimate reasons for keeping him away from Mr. Cross, and those reasons involve prior evidence of emotional manipulation and a troubling history.”
Damon laughed under his breath. “You mean she ran off with another man and hid a child that wasn’t his.”
Lucien stood abruptly. “You watch your mouth.”
The room stilled.
Justice Conway’s gavel struck again. “Mr. Blackwell, you’ll sit down or I’ll have you removed. I run my courtroom, not you.”
Lucien sat slowly, but not before locking eyes with Damon. I saw the storm behind his gaze, the man I’d once feared and now depended on more than I should.
The judge continued, “We’ll take a short recess before we hear testimony.”
As the court emptied out for the break, Lucien guided me toward a private waiting room. The door clicked shut behind us.
I sagged onto the armchair, suddenly aware of how tightly my nerves were pulled.
Lucien crouched in front of me, resting his hands on my knees. “You okay?”
I shook my head. “No. I feel like the world’s crashing in. And I hate that he gets to twist everything, like he’s the victim.”
Lucien’s eyes darkened. “He won’t win, Isla. I won’t let him.”
“You can’t promise that,” I said softly. “The system isn’t built for people like us.”
“Then we’ll tear the system apart.”
I blinked. “That’s a bit extreme.”
He gave me a crooked smile. “You’re worth extreme. So is Leo.”
Before I could answer, my phone buzzed. A message from Freya.
He’s trying to get the press to spin a story that Leo is the result of an affair. Brace yourself.
I exhaled slowly, holding the phone out to Lucien. He read it and growled under his breath.
“I’m done playing nice,” he said. “When we go back in there, I want it on record that Damon knew. That he threatened you when you were pregnant. That he had the chance to be a father and chose manipulation instead.”
I stood. “You’ll have to walk a line, Lucien. If you come off too aggressive, the judge might think you’re trying to dominate the narrative.”
“I’m not just trying to dominate the narrative,” he said, voice like steel. “I’m trying to protect my family.”
His family.
I didn’t realize until that moment how much those two words meant.
There was a knock on the door. Adele peeked in. “They’re ready for us.”
I took Lucien’s hand. “Let’s go.”
As we stepped back into the courtroom, I no longer felt small.
Yes, I was scared. But I wasn’t alone.
Lucien squeezed my fingers once—silent and fierce.
And for the first time in a long while, I truly believed we might win this.