His Heir, Her Secret - Chapter 58: Chapter 58

Lucien
I stared out over the London skyline, the sun bleeding into the clouds like gold melting over silk. It should have been beautiful. Instead, all I saw was the battlefield stretching out before me. Every building was a fortress. Every glass tower a potential weapon Damon might use against me, against Isla. Against Leo.
My reflection caught in the glass—a familiar stranger in a world that once made sense. But everything had shifted since Isla walked back into my life with my son. Our son.
And now, Damon was coming for him.
My jaw clenched as I stepped away from the window. “Eleanor,” I said sharply, summoning my assistant without looking.
She entered almost instantly. “Sir?”
“Get Barker back on the line. And schedule the meeting with the board. I want everyone present—no exceptions.”
“Yes, Mr. Wolfe.”
I turned toward my desk, where stacks of files, reports, and press briefs were arranged with my usual obsessive precision. But none of it mattered now. This wasn’t about stocks or mergers or headlines. This was war. And Damon Cross had declared it the moment he filed for custody.
The legal team was working around the clock—background checks, countersuits, emergency filings. We had already frozen any joint assets Damon shared with his shell companies. But he wasn’t the kind of man who needed conventional weapons. No. Damon thrived in the shadows, manipulating perception, twisting truths into daggers.
And right now, he had leverage—the fact that for years, I hadn’t known about Leo. That I hadn’t claimed him. That I hadn’t protected him.
That part still burned in my chest.
Not because Isla had kept the secret—no, I understood now why she had. Damon had left her terrified, and I hadn’t been there. The guilt of it was as constant as my heartbeat.
But I’d be damned if I let him win now.
The intercom buzzed. “Mr. Barker on line one.”
I pressed the button. “Barker?”
“Lucien. Updates across the board. We’ve secured the private footage from the boutique opening—your public statement about Isla and Leo is trending. Positive sentiment, eighty-seven percent. That helps. Judges are swayed by public favor, even if they won’t admit it.”
“Good. The article Isla approved—has it gone live?”
“Just hit the major outlets. Vogue picked it up. She’s getting attention—and sympathy. People see her as strong. A mother protecting her son.”
I exhaled slowly. “That’s exactly what she is.”
There was a pause. “We also got wind of Damon contacting one of your investors—Reed. Trying to paint you as unstable. Claims your sudden relationship with Isla is a PR stunt.”
I almost laughed. “He’s getting desperate.”
“Yes, but he’s dangerous when he’s cornered. We need to be ahead of this.”
I leaned back in my chair. “What else?”
“We have a forensic accountant on Damon’s personal assets. And a private investigator on his movements. You were right—he’s been meeting with a former social worker who has ties to the judge presiding over the custody hearing.”
“Christ.” My fist tightened. “Pay him off. Or discredit him. I want him out of the picture.”
“We’re on it.”
I ended the call and sat in silence for a long moment, fingers steepled beneath my chin. Damon wouldn’t stop. Not until he tore Isla apart. Not until he had Leo in his grasp—only because it would give him power over her.
And I couldn’t let that happen.
A soft knock sounded at the door.
Isla.
I knew it before I saw her.
She stepped inside quietly, a vision in cream and gold, her curls twisted up, eyes ringed with exhaustion—but also fire. Always fire.
“I didn’t mean to interrupt,” she said, her voice quiet.
“You’re never interrupting.” I rose and walked toward her. “Everything I’m doing—every minute of it—is for you. For Leo.”
She hesitated. “I spoke to my lawyer. She said Damon is trying to schedule an emergency mediation. He wants visitation rights… immediately.”
I felt the rage coil in my gut again. “Absolutely not. He will not get near Leo. Not until this is over. And not after, either.”
She nodded, but her hands trembled. I took them gently, wrapping her fingers in mine.
“He won’t win, Isla. I won’t let him.”
“But if he twists things—if the judge sees my past—if they find anything to use against us…”
I tilted her chin so she’d meet my gaze. “Then we burn that courtroom down and build another one. With our lawyers. Our truth. Our power.”
She gave a soft, strained laugh, the kind that cracked around the edges. “You make it sound so easy.”
“It isn’t. But I’m not giving up. And you’re not alone in this. Not anymore.”
For a moment, she just stared at me, like she was trying to memorize this version of me—the man who wouldn’t leave, who wouldn’t lie. Then she whispered, “Do you regret it?”
“What?”
“Everything that happened between us. Missing those years with Leo.”
The pain hit me like a punch. “Every damn day. But I also know I’m here now. And I’m going to spend every minute making sure he knows he’s loved. Protected. And that his mother is the bravest woman I’ve ever known.”
Her eyes glistened.
“I made a promise, Isla,” I said. “In that press conference. But I’m making another one now. Off-camera. No cameras. No crowd. Just you and me.”
She watched me, breath held.
“I swear to you—I will fight until my last breath to protect this family. No matter what it costs.”
She stepped into my arms then, burying her face against my chest, her fingers clutching my shirt like she was trying to hold herself together. And I held her. I held her for a long time, as the city fell quiet beyond the windows.
There was still so much ahead. The courtroom battles. The media storms. The dark corners Damon would drag us through.
But right here, right now, I wasn’t Lucien Wolfe the billionaire. I wasn’t the headline or the strategist.
I was just a man. A father. A partner.
And I would burn the world down before I let it take either of them from me.