One Night Stand, Eight Surprises: Pampered by My CEO Husband --- - Chapter 14: Chapter 14

Arielle didn’t see it coming. Not exactly.
But she’d felt the shift—like thunder rolling somewhere far off. The tightening silence when she passed Damien’s office. The way his eyes lingered a heartbeat longer than before, as if weighing her soul against a secret scale.
And now, as the end of the workday approached, she sensed something was about to snap.
“Ms. Summers,” Damien’s voice called through her earpiece. “My office. Now.”
There was no warmth in it.
She stood slowly. Her fingers trembled, but she curled them into a fist. She had done nothing wrong. Nothing shameful. She reminded herself of that with every step toward the lion’s den.
The moment the door shut behind her, he spoke.
“Sit.”
She didn’t. “Is something wrong?”
“Oh, everything,” he said smoothly, leaning against the edge of his desk, arms folded. “Why don’t you start by telling me who Eli’s father is?”
The air was ripped from the room.
Her lips parted, but no sound came.
He waited.
Still. Calm. Like a king before an execution.
“You know,” she finally said, voice low.
“I want to hear it from you.”
She met his gaze. “You.”
A long, dragging silence.
His jaw flexed. “All eight?”
“Yes.”
He turned his back to her. Walked to the window. The skyline beyond him seemed too vast to hold this truth.
He whispered, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Arielle stepped forward. “Because I didn’t know who you were that night. We never exchanged names. I only remembered your face… and by the time I realized, it was too late.”
He turned sharply. “Too late to tell me I had eight children?”
Her voice cracked. “I didn’t want anything from you. I still don’t. I raised them. I worked two jobs. I cried myself to sleep. I didn’t chase you down because I didn’t want to trap you or ask for help.”
“You had my children,” he snarled.
“Yes,” she said fiercely, eyes wet. “My children. Who I fed, bathed, protected when they had fevers and nightmares. Who I taught to walk and read and sing. Don’t talk to me about what I owe you. You weren’t there.”
Damien’s fists clenched. “You robbed me.”
“I protected them,” she said, barely holding back tears. “From a man who didn’t know they existed. From a world I wasn’t sure you’d ever let them belong in.”
He strode forward suddenly, stopping a foot from her. “You think I wouldn’t have claimed them?”
“I didn’t know what you’d do. You were a stranger. A one-night stand I met after losing my sister. I wasn’t going to drag you into their lives based on a memory of a night filled with pain and wine.”
“Bullshit,” he whispered. “You didn’t want to lose control.”
She swallowed. “Maybe. Maybe I was scared. But it wasn’t about control. It was about love. About protecting eight little souls who didn’t ask to be born.”
His stare softened, then hardened again.
“And now?” he asked.
“What about now?”
“I know. I am their father. That changes everything.”
“For you. Not for them.”
“I want to meet them.”
She hesitated.
His eyes darkened. “You’re going to stop me?”
She stepped back. “Not stop you. But this isn’t about you. Not anymore. If you want to know them, you’ll do it the right way. Slowly. Respectfully. Without trying to bulldoze into their lives.”
He laughed bitterly. “I don’t take orders.”
“You’ll take this one,” she said quietly. “Or you’ll ruin what little chance you have to know them.”
Silence thickened between them.
Then he spoke. “I’m not going away.”
“I know.”
“You’ll let me in.”
“I’ll let you earn it.”
For a moment, something broke in his expression—rage giving way to something raw and bleeding. He saw it now. The sleepless nights etched beneath her eyes. The quiet strength. The love.
He stepped back.
“This conversation isn’t over,” he said.
“It’s only just begun,” she replied.
He left the room without another word.
Arielle stood alone.
Heart racing.
Tears unshed.
And somehow, even as her body trembled, she felt lighter.
Because the truth had been spoken.
And now, they would both have to survive it.