His Heir, Her Secret - Chapter 8: Chapter 8

Lucien
We walked in silence for a few more moments, the cool evening air surrounding us as the last rays of the sun dipped behind the trees. Leo was a few steps ahead, his little legs moving quickly, clearly enjoying the freedom of the open space. But it was Isla’s silence that weighed heavily on me.
I could feel the distance between us—the invisible gap that had only grown wider with the years. She was here, but she wasn’t here. Her presence was physical, but her heart, her mind—they were somewhere else, locked away behind walls I wasn’t sure I could scale.
I knew she was angry. I knew she had every right to be.
But more than that, she was scared. And I understood that fear. Hell, I lived with it every day. Fear of the unknown, fear of things not working out, fear of losing the one thing that had kept me human for so long: Leo.
“You don’t trust me,” I said, the words slipping out before I could stop them.
Isla didn’t flinch, but I saw the tightening of her jaw. She kept her eyes forward, watching Leo as he ran ahead a little more, his laughter ringing through the air.
“No,” she said softly, but firmly. “I don’t. Not yet.”
I exhaled, feeling a knot of frustration tighten in my chest. “And when will I earn it? How long is this going to take?”
“Longer than you think.”
There it was. The sharpness that had always existed between us. The one that had kept us apart, that had kept us from ever truly figuring this out. I’d never been good at waiting, at being patient. I wanted answers. Now. I wanted Leo to accept me. Now.
But Isla? She wasn’t in any hurry.
“Isla, I—” I began, but she stopped me with a raised hand.
“I’m not here to argue,” she said quietly, her voice calm but tinged with something deeper. “I’m here because Leo deserves to know the truth. He deserves a chance to know his father. But I’m not going to pretend this is easy. It’s not.”
Her words hit me like a punch. I’d known this wasn’t going to be easy, but hearing it from her—the woman I’d hurt, the woman I’d left behind—it made the reality of the situation feel even heavier.
“I never meant to hurt him,” I said, my voice quieter now, a sincerity I didn’t always let slip creeping into my tone. “I never meant to hurt you.”
She finally looked at me then. For the first time since we’d arrived, her eyes met mine directly, and I could see the storm swirling behind them—the anger, the hurt, the betrayal. It was all still there, buried deep but unmistakable.
“You did, Lucien,” she said, the words soft but cutting. “You hurt both of us. And I don’t know if I can ever forgive you for that.”
I swallowed hard, the weight of her words settling over me like a lead blanket. “I’m not asking you to forgive me. I’m asking for a chance. A chance to be a part of Leo’s life. A chance to prove to you that I’m not the same man I was.”
She stopped walking, and I did the same, turning to face her. There was a brief moment of hesitation, as if she was trying to figure out how much of her heart she could afford to expose. Then, finally, she spoke again, her voice quieter now.
“Proving it… it’s going to take time. You can’t just waltz back in like you haven’t been absent for the last four years. You don’t get to come in and expect everything to fall into place. It’s not that simple.”
“I know it’s not,” I said quickly. “But I want to try. I want to earn it, Isla. I want Leo to know me, to trust me. I’m not asking for miracles. Just a chance.”
She sighed, looking down at the ground for a moment. “I want that for him too,” she whispered. “But I’m scared. I’m scared of what’ll happen if you disappoint him. Again. I won’t let him go through that.”
“I won’t disappoint him,” I said, the words more of a promise than anything else. “I swear it.”
Her gaze softened for the briefest of moments, but it was gone as quickly as it came. “I don’t trust you yet,” she repeated, “but you have a chance. A small one. And if you break it, there will be no coming back. For you or for him.”
I nodded, accepting her words with the weight they carried. There was no room for mistakes here. Not with Leo.
And as much as I wanted to argue, to push back, I knew she was right. She had every right to be protective of him, of their little world that had existed without me for so long.
I had to earn my place in it. And I wasn’t sure how long it would take. But I would do whatever it took. For them.
Leo had stopped a little ahead, his small figure standing still as he waited for us. I could see the way he was looking back at us—curious, unsure, but not afraid. He didn’t know what to make of the man walking beside his mother, but he was open. He wasn’t closed off.
That was the first step.
“Let’s walk a little more,” Isla said, breaking the silence. “He’s waiting for us.”
I nodded, falling into step beside her once again. The park felt even more expansive now, as if the world had opened up in front of me, full of possibility—and full of danger. But no matter how daunting it seemed, no matter how far I had to go to prove myself, I couldn’t turn back.
“I won’t let you down,” I promised softly, my gaze locked on Leo as he looked up at us, his eyes reflecting the fragile hope that had started to bloom in my chest.
And for the first time in a long time, I believed my own words.