Claiming His Secret Heir

by Joanne Rock

  Her love.

  Her father was wrong about that. Damon was the worthiest man in the world for that honor. If only he loved her back.

  Yet to help make things right for her husband, she would have to be the one to maneuver her father. She could convince him to sign that paper and give Damon the ultimate win. But Damon wasn’t going to like it one bit.

  Not that it should matter now. He’d already broken her heart with his profound silence following her declaration of love. Except, foolishly perhaps, she didn’t want to hurt him any more than she already had. Keeping his child a secret from him had been more than he should have to bear.

  Behind her, the elevator chimed. Her bodyguards didn’t move, and yet she could feel their readiness for anything.

  “Mrs. McNeill?” A familiar police officer stepped off the elevator onto the top floor, his dark jacket and plain blue tie setting him apart from most of the staffers at Transparent. From the coders to the front office workers, the company embraced a more relaxed, West Coast vibe.

  “Officer Downey.” She strode forward to shake his hand. “My husband made sure I wasn’t in the building when my father entered, but he’s in the boardroom now.” She pointed to the meeting space where Damon had been joined by his brothers Jager and Gabe, plus his half brother, Cameron.

  Beyond the McNeill men, there were five other attendees, including her dad. An administrative assistant sat off to one side, taking notes. They could see the proceedings through the clear glass wall on one side that gave the meeting room a mountain view, but still allowed the light to spill into the interior reception area.

  Fortunately, her father’s back was to her.

  She needed to steel herself to face the man who had ruined her marriage and tried to keep Damon from his child.

  “We’ve spoken at length with the man who asked for your husband at the Los Altos Hills house a few days back,” the officer informed her, peeling off his aviator shades and tucking them in his pocket. “We have some good leads on two of the suspects we believe served as your captors in Mexico. Once we speak to your father, we’ll know more. But I will warn you, it appears your father has business ties to both of them, as well.”

  She wanted to ask him if he thought her dad could have really masterminded the kidnapping of his own daughter, but she knew he wouldn’t answer such a thing. How could anyone have suspected that? She’d known her father was controlling, but she’d never guessed he would try to erase her memory to keep her away from Damon. Whatever her father did, if she couldn’t prove it and see him punished, she would have to find a way to live with it. To move past it.

  “Thank you.” She nodded, needing to keep her thoughts on the task in front of her and not her spiraling emotions. If she wanted her father to sign over his stake in Transparent, she needed to put on a hell of a show in that boardroom. “If you’ll excuse me though, I think I see my cue to enter the meeting starting right now.”

  She watched as Damon shoved a contract in front of her father. He was passing over the buyout offer with incentives to sell his stake to the McNeills. There were terms Stephan Degraff would never agree to.

  Unless she made him.

  “Are you sure?” Officer Downey stepped forward, as if he would follow her into the meeting. “I can go with you.”

  “I’ll be fine.” She tried for a gracious smile, all the while knowing how important timing was for the entrance. “I have two bodyguards and you can see me through the window.”

  Her heart beat faster in fear of her father, of what she might discover. Damon would be angry about this. But the end would justify the means.

  She hoped. It was the best way she could think of to make amends for not finding her way back to him sooner. She peeled off her wedding ring set and slid the diamonds into her purse.

  She couldn’t afford to think about those vows right now when she was about to break them in spectacular fashion.

  * * *

  “I would have to agree to the sale, and I never will.” Stephan Degraff had the nerve to smile as he refused to even glance at the agreement in front of him. It was a small, fake-apologetic smile that Damon wanted to punch into next year.

  He wouldn’t, of course.

  He wasn’t going to lose his cool in the boardroom, especially now when the stakes were higher than they’d ever been before. The safety of his wife and his child rested in the balance.

  It was just because of the hell this pale, perfectly groomed man had put Caroline through that had Damon imagining all the ways to exact revenge. How dare the bastard show his face after lying to the police about Caroline’s disappearance. The guy had always been somewhat of a Silicon Valley enigma, focusing on start-ups that other investors hadn’t even heard about before, beating his competition to the punch. Damon suspected that had far more to do with his daughter’s business savvy than his own. The value of Degraff’s portfolio had skyrocketed once Caroline had joined his company. And the bastard had paid her back by sabotaging her marriage. Her health.

  Risking the life of his own grandson in the process.

  The knowledge made Damon tense with icy rage, but he had to get through this. Had to turn the tide before the man succeeded in robbing him of his company.

  Everything about Stephan Degraff was meticulous, from his perfectly centered double Windsor knot to the way he put down his pen at a ninety-degree angle to the top of his legal pad every time. He was a perfectionist who took things too damned far.

  “Has it occurred to you that it’s generous of the company to offer a buyout now when you might be sitting in prison this time next week, without any way to tap into the rewards of your investment at all?” Damon ground his teeth while Gabe kicked his shin.

  Little did Gabe know how much he’d restrained himself already.

  “Prison?” The bastard lifted an eyebrow, his lips pursing in a smirk. “I hardly think so.”

  “The terms are generous,” Cameron McNeill stepped in smoothly, redirecting the conversation away from prison time and giving Damon a moment to get his fury under control. “And this way you’re not tied to the launch of the new product for a payout. You must realize we can continue to stall the launch if we can’t agree on terms.”

  There was grumbling around the dark cypress wood table from the other investors, none of whom wanted to wait another day for their investment to appreciate, let alone months.

  Damon didn’t care. He needed control of his business. And now, even if Degraff agreed to stop trying to boot him out of the CEO seat, it was no longer enough. Damon needed the backstabbing prick gone.

  He lifted his eyes toward the glass wall separating the meeting space from the reception area, and glimpsed Caroline talking to the cop who was working on the investigation into her disappearance. Damn it. What was she doing in such a visible spot? He’d hoped she would wait in one of the offices. What if her father saw her?

  The need to run out of the meeting and take her somewhere safe was making it impossible to concentrate.

  “I know that you’re trying to remove me.” Stephan Degraff flipped his black Montblanc fountain pen in the other direction, oblivious to his daughter standing so close to him on the other side of the glass. That damn pen remained perfectly perpendicular to the edge of his pad, but was now facing the other way. “I understand that you don’t want me to have a role in Transparent. But you’ve taken my daughter. You won’t take my stake in the business.”

  Damon hadn’t even processed that remark when the conference room door swished open. The click of her high heels had an authoritative sound as Caroline entered and made her way across the room.

  Stunning every single person in the room.

  Her hair was brushed to shining silk, a shade lighter than it had been just the day before. He hadn’t noticed that in the car on the drive over; he was too distracted thinking about the meeting. In fact, even he
r clothes were different from the things she’d worn earlier in the week. This was Caroline Degraff, executive in charge. Her stiletto pumps made her tower over the table. Her white fitted dress had been tailored to the leaner frame of her body.

  “Don’t be ridiculous.” She kept her eyes on her father as she entered the room. “Damon hasn’t taken me, Dad.” She smiled warmly at him. The dutiful, perfect daughter, reunited with her lying bastard of a father.

  Betrayal stabbed Damon.

  Dad? That’s how she thought of the scum who had lied through his teeth about her disappearance? This was the same man responsible for keeping Damon from his son. Had she been lying to Damon all week? He could not imagine how she could still be loyal to this miserable excuse for a human being.

  His brain couldn’t comprehend it. He watched her drop into the empty chair beside Stephan Degraff, who almost looked like he’d seen a ghost. Had he not expected to see Caroline? Or was he expecting to see a different version of his daughter, the weak and confused amnesiac he’d tried to manipulate for his own ends?

  For once, Damon could identify with her smarmy father. He didn’t know what to believe, either, but he sure as hell understood what it meant that she no longer wore her wedding ring. She’d made sure the whole room would know where her real allegiance lay.

  Bile burned his gut.

  “Caroline.” Stephan Degraff gripped his pen harder, clearly trying to compose himself. “You’re here.”

  “Of course.” She smiled that high-wattage grin that Damon remembered from the honeymoon photos. “Where else would I be? I’m all about protecting the family interests.” She passed him her pen, a Montblanc that matched her father’s except it was silver. “I’ve had the benefit of reading the agreement ahead of time, and the terms are very generous, especially considering how we know about the glitch in the launch product.”

  There were more murmurs around the table. Was she talking about the security issue Damon’s hacker had found? The one she knew Damon had already patched?

  He straightened in his seat, trying to follow whatever she was doing. Damon might not comprehend her motive, but one thing was certain. Having her father sign that paper benefited Damon.

  Not Stephan.

  And Caroline knew it better than anyone.

  “McNeill, is that true?” a worried voice asked loudly over the fray. “Is the launch product flawed?”

  That seemed to be the concern around the table for anyone who wasn’t a McNeill or a Degraff. They didn’t want to think their investment had gone belly-up because of a glitch.

  Thankfully, Gabe responded for him while Damon watched the drama play out between Caroline and her father on the opposite side of the table. Stephan Degraff stared at her in wonder, like he’d recovered the most precious thing in the world to him.

  To a certain extent, Damon could empathize. He hadn’t wanted to lose her, either. But he sure as hell wouldn’t kidnap or drug someone he cared about to force them into staying loyal to him. That wasn’t love. That was obsession.

  “You really think I should sign, Caroline?” Stephan Degraff took the pen she’d given him, his hand poised over the contract.

  For the first time since he’d entered the room, the bastard appeared confused. Conflicted. Something in his tone of voice revealed how much he wanted his daughter to be on side.

  Damon held his breath.

  He wanted Caroline on his side, too. And in that moment, he realized how much more important it was to win her than Transparent. He’d been battling so hard to keep his company when all along what he should have been fighting for was the woman herself.

  Caroline slid the papers out from under her father’s elbow, flipping to a back page. “I do. This is very fair to the Degraff interests. We need to protect our investment and get out before Transparent tanks.” She slid the contract back under his pen and leaned closer to touch the bastard’s arm. “I know how important our family is to you.”

  It was all Damon could do not to launch over the table and tear her away from Stephan. But one thing was becoming clear. She wasn’t betraying Damon at all, no matter how it appeared. The deal wasn’t going to help the Degraff interests one bit.

  She was playing her father for all he was worth to make sure he signed the paper that gave Damon control of Transparent.

  “There is nothing more important.” Sweat beads popped along the man’s pale forehead as he swore the words like an oath. “I would do anything to keep our family safe, Caroline. I’m glad you know that.”

  A smile stretched the bastard’s thin lips as he stared up at the daughter he must care about in some twisted way.

  Then Damon watched his primary investor scratch his name in ink on the contract and tossed down the pen like a gauntlet.

  Damon almost couldn’t believe his eyes. He heard someone—his brothers, maybe—trading discreet high-fives. Then Jager clearly told one of the other investors there was no problem with the launch and that it was as hack-proof as possible.

  Cameron rose from the table and went around to shake Stephan’s hand. “Since you’ve sold your shares to me, Mr. Degraff, I’ll have my attorney escort you out so he can sign the funds over while the rest of the investors finish up the meeting.”

  “Of course.” Stephan nodded, though he watched the byplay around the table uncertainly, as if becoming aware he may have missed something. “I look forward to being done with the McNeills.” He held out an arm for his daughter. “Caroline?”

  Damon held his breath. He couldn’t allow her to walk out of this room with that man. Their marriage may have fallen apart, but he would never let anything happen to her on his watch.

  “I need to stay a bit longer, Dad,” she told him gently. “Just to hammer out a few details about my own stake in the company.” She opened the file folder that had been in front of the empty seat at the table, which contained a projected timetable for the new product launch. “I’ll be along shortly.”

  With her perfect posture and thoughtful scrutiny of the pages in front of her, she gave every appearance of being all business. But Damon saw the way the blue vein in her neck ticked like mad, the pulse tapping triple time.

  He was an idiot. And he wasn’t worthy of the woman who’d just handed him the biggest business victory of his life after he’d hurt her. He wanted to roar with fury at himself as the rest of the room cheered Degraff’s departure. Everyone but Caroline, of course, who turned sad eyes to watch Officer Downey escort her protesting father into another room.

  Thanks to her, Damon had regained control of Transparent. But he couldn’t imagine a more hollow victory when he’d lost her in the process.

  “Congratulations, brother.” Cameron McNeill hauled Damon to his feet and pulled him in for a bear hug. “We’re going to make beautiful business together, mate.”

  Damon nodded. Thanked him. But when Gabe thumped him on the back and pointed to the conference room door closing, Damon realized his wife had made a quiet exit.

  Shit.

  He scrambled toward the door.

  “Excuse me.” He clapped a hand on Jager’s shoulder, the brother who’d taken the reins at this company plenty of times in the past. “Jager will finish the meeting. I have to go.”

  Thirteen

  A uniformed officer and a female detective Caroline hadn’t met before whisked her father away before she even arrived in the reception area. She met her father’s cold, furious gaze as he backed stiffly into the elevator cabin, flanked by his two escorts.

  Lifting her chin, she allowed herself to meet his eyes without flinching. To let him know she’d recovered—if not her memory, damn it, her dignity. Her self-respect.

  It was a small consolation considering everything else she’d lost this week. A love that she’d once thought was strong enough to overcome anything. Her husband.

  Her chest had ached more
each day following the cold ending to their encounter in the card room. Now, the hurt and hollowness inside would have brought her to her knees if not for Lucas. She still had a precious son to mother and her love for her child would have to keep her strong.

  “Caroline.” The deep rumble of Damon’s voice sounded behind her in the reception area.

  She turned around to find him closing in on her, his steps muffled by the Aztec-patterned rug in the lobby. She glanced into the meeting room where Damon’s older brother Jager seemed to be leading the meeting, all eyes turned toward him.

  “Shouldn’t you be in there?” She wondered what he thought of her performance in the conference room. Was he going to rebuke her for pointing out the flaw in the software to the conference room at large? She wanted to believe he’d seen through her guise of camaraderie with Stephan, but then again, Damon didn’t trust her much anymore. Maybe he would see that calculated risk she’d taken as yet another betrayal. “Your meeting is still going.”

  He joined her near the windows overlooking the Santa Cruz Mountains, in the corner farthest from the small reception desk where an administrator sat with a Bluetooth in one ear as she tapped her computer keys.

  “I’ve waited too long to talk to you already. Jager can finish up in there without me.”

  “Your investors need your guidance. Your reassurance.” She understood all too well about how fickle investors could be. Her father got antsy at the slightest hint of unease in a company that he’d backed. “I thought it was worth leaking the information about the software glitch to convince my father I had his best interests at heart.”

  “You’ve given the remaining investors the best possible reassurance already by relieving the board of the one consistently dissenting opinion.” His blue eyes searched hers. “I wish you’d been there to receive the thanks we all owe you for making that deal happen.”

  She felt a spike of relief that he’d recognized what she had been angling to accomplish. They still understood each other at some level, at least.

  “You knew what I was doing then?” She flicked a thumb over the empty place on her ring finger, remembering how bare that spot felt.