One Night Stand, Eight Surprises: Pampered by My CEO Husband --- - Chapter 155: Chapter 155

The morning was colder than usual, as if the world itself sensed what was about to unravel.
Damien hadn’t visited the old estate in nearly a year. The garden had grown wild, ivy curling around iron gates like secrets too long ignored. Arielle walked beside him in silence, her coat cinched tight, the wind tugging strands of her hair into her mouth. She didn’t complain. Her silence was an armor now—measured, bracing.
Inside, the house smelled like cedar, old leather, and ghosts.
Elias Montgomery sat in the study, a blanket over his knees, his face pale and lined like parchment. The stroke had weakened him, slowed him, but his eyes—those calculating gray eyes Damien inherited—remained sharp.
“Damien,” his father said, voice gravelly. “And Arielle. What a surprise.”
Damien didn’t sit. He remained standing, one hand clenched into a fist by his side.
“We need to talk about Luciana and Emory.”
Elias blinked slowly, then gestured to the leather chairs across from him. “Then sit. Because I believe you’re finally ready to hear what you were never meant to know.”
Arielle froze. Damien lowered himself into the chair like gravity had suddenly tripled.
Elias looked at the fire, expression far away. “Luciana and I had an arrangement. Years ago. After your mother passed.”
Damien’s heart dropped. “What kind of arrangement?”
“She was young. Bright. Ambitious. And broke. I sponsored her education. Kept her housed. Protected.”
Arielle’s voice was ice. “In exchange for what?”
Elias didn’t flinch. “Her silence. Her loyalty. Her egg.”
Damien reeled back. “Her what?”
Elias looked at him now, steady and unblinking. “You remember how desperate your mother and I were to have more children. How many miscarriages she suffered. What you don’t know is that we attempted surrogacy near the end. Luciana was the donor.”
Arielle covered her mouth. “You used her... for your own family?”
“She agreed,” Elias said firmly. “She signed. She was compensated. But the embryo didn’t take. Or so we thought.”
Damien stood abruptly. “You mean—Emory—”
“Could be mine,” Elias said softly.
The room turned to ice.
“Jesus,” Damien whispered, pacing. “Are you telling me my father might be the boy’s father?”
“I’m telling you the timeline makes more sense. If Luciana used the embryo. If she lied about its failure. She disappeared right after the trial round. I never heard from her again.”
Arielle stood too. “So she took your child. Raised him. And waited until now to drop him into Damien’s life?”
Elias looked into the fire. “She may have believed it was for the boy’s safety. Or maybe she waited until you had something worth disrupting.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Damien asked, fury mounting.
Elias met his gaze. “Because I didn’t know if it mattered. And I couldn’t bear another scandal attached to our name. Your name.”
Arielle’s voice was trembling now. “And what about Emory? What about the truth he deserves?”
Silence.
Finally, Elias leaned forward. “He needs to be protected. If he is mine... I will claim him. I will provide for him. But you—Damien—you have to tread carefully. There’s more at stake than feelings. There’s legacy. Inheritance. Bloodlines.”
Damien stepped forward, fists clenched. “He’s a child. Not a pawn in your old games.”
“I’m aware.”
But Elias’s tone was empty.
Arielle took Damien’s arm. “We’re leaving.”
At the door, Elias called out, “I have one condition if you choose to uncover the truth.”
Damien turned, eyes burning.
“Whatever you learn,” Elias said, “know that some truths don’t set you free. They destroy everything.”
They didn’t speak again until they were back in the car, the countryside rolling by like a faded memory.
Damien was pale. Quiet. Gripping the steering wheel like a lifeline.
“You okay?” Arielle asked softly.
He shook his head. “No. I’m not okay. I might have a brother. Or a son. Or both.”
She reached over, threading her fingers through his.
“No matter what the test says, we’ll face it together. But this time... we won’t be blind.”
He looked at her, eyes glassy. “What if I’m not his father, Arielle?”
“Then we decide what love means beyond biology.”
Damien exhaled, voice shaking. “I still want him in my life. No matter what.”
And in that fragile moment, something in Arielle began to forgive.
Not forget.
But soften.