The Billionaire Playboy's Regret (Lark and Max) novel Chapter 48

Lark felt like a deflated balloon as Doug was escorted out of the building. It was over. Everything was signed, she already initiated the transfer of ten thousand dollars to his bank account, which stung if she were being truthful, but at least he was gone.

She looked up with tears coating her lashes as she felt her father’s arm wrap around her shoulder. “I’m fine Dad.” “You’re better than fine.” He kissed her temple and hugged her tight. “I’m proud of you for sticking to your guns.” Sawyer came back in the room and looked directly at them while sitting back down.

“I’m sorry.”

Grady pulled his head back, shocked by the apology. “What?”

“I’ve been trying to get an angle to reach out to you and I knew unless it was in a professional setting you wouldn’t give me the time of day. I was out to dinner with a friend recently and she mentioned the loser who tried to f**k over Grady Hoffman’s eldest daughter, and I knew I found my way in.” He looked to Max, “you should have simply offered half of what you did. I would have convinced him to sign.”

“I’m not following,” Grady’s nostrils flared. “All of this s**t was to make me come here to you?”

“Yes. I am sorry for putting you through this Lark, but I needed it to be believable to Doug, so I don’t lose my license. All of it though was nothing more than a ruse on my end to get you here.”

“Why?” Grady’s fists were clenched on the tabletop.

“What Charlotte and I did, was a mistake. We got caught up in something we shouldn’t have, and, in the moment, it was wild and forbidden. I knew what I was doing but I was arrogant and stupid. I am sorry for what I did back then Grady. When she got pregnant, I knew I’d f****d up but then there was a kid involved and I wasn’t near as guilty as I should have been. I wanted the child.”

Lark put her hand on her father’s wrist when she knew he was ready to get up and walk.

“She miscarried.”

“She did. I was there when she lost the baby. There was blood everywhere.” Sawyer agreed. “What we didn’t know at the time was she was carrying twins and she lost one but not the other. I found out when I got called to the hospital because she was put on bed rest because there was a risk of losing the other one. I told Charlotte I wanted DNA run, and we did, and baby came back as mine.”

The quartet all held their breaths confused because this was not what they were expecting. If the DNA said the child was his what was Sawyer’s angle?

“Charlotte’s eyes are blue. My mother’s eyes are blue. It’s not a stretch from a genetic perspective for my kid to have blue eyes. I knew from Charlotte how much you said over and over you weren’t ready for a kid and were meticulous with your condoms. Gracie was blonde until she was about seven or eight when her hair started getting darker. I always thought her blonde hair was the only thing of mine she possessed but even it was gone by the time she was ten but I the DNA proved she was mine. I never gave it another thought.”

He inhaled noisily.

“Gracie is my world. Everything I have built I did for her. We struggled. Trying to get off the ground when my reputation was screwed like it was, was hard.”

“Are you expecting a pity party for you?”

“No. Not at all. I’m nervous,” Sawyer gave a chuckle. “Gracie said earlier I raised her alone and I did. Charlotte was caught in another situation worse than what we did to you which made her a laughingstock. Her response was to double down on how horrible she was. I caught her hitting Gracie and filed for divorce. Her father moved her away from us for Gracie’s safety. She got into drugs bad, Grady. She’s been in and out of more rehab facilities than anyone I know. Many paragraphs are missing. Read the complete book on Jo b ni b.c o m. She’s back on the drugs again. Six months ago, she called me for money, as she does when she’s using, and I declined. In a fit of rage, she confessed she got her father to screw with the DNA test. She took immense pleasure in telling me I raised someone else’s kid for over thirty-two years.” He blinked tears shaking his head. “I have no regrets, so we’re clear. I would do it all again without a second thought because despite DNA she is my daughter and I love her.”

Lark felt her father’s breathing as erratic as her own.

“No.” Grady pushed back from the table and walked to the window overlooking the parking lot. His breathing erratic.

Lark observed as Bobbie immediately followed him, rubbing his back softly.

“No. I told her two months ago I had an inkling who her father was, and I was trying to locate him. She said she didn’t want to know anything until it was time to test DNA.”

“I want it done today.” Grady turned to face him. “I need to go call my wife and tell her what is going on. If she turns out to be my daughter,” he looked to Lark with a sad expression, “then I want her to meet my wife and girls.”

“She’s a wonderful girl, Grady.” Sawyer whispered. “For all the bad in my life she is the good. She has the sweetest heart and the kindest soul. She’s gentle and loving. She doesn’t even swear,” he chuckled sniffing and reaching for a tissue.” Take everything about who I am and flip it, and you have her. Her last boyfriend ended things with her because he said it was impossible to be with a woman who is nice all the time. Her heart was broken because she’s too nice.”

Grady grunted, “what did you do to him?”

Sawyer flicked a glance at him and then shrugged, “I may or may not have hired a couple of guys to rough him up.” He rubbed the back of his neck, “and burned his house down.”

Lark looked to her father, “you can’t say anything. It took an entire security team to get you away from Doug when he showed up.”

“You should have hired a hitman.” Sawyer snorted and looked at Max, “I am sorry for taking your money.”

“Don’t be. I was willing to pay way more than I did for punching the fucker out.” Max stood and motioned to the door, “why don’t we head out. Sawyer can have a chat with Gracie and let her know about the DNA testing. I have a friend here in Houston who runs a lab. I’ll call in a favor and see if we can’t get a rush on the results. He actually got into the field thanks to the girl in my first year of university. She tried to baby trap me, him and three other guys. Turned out the baby belonged to a professor.”

Grady took a business card out and wrote on the back. “This is where we’re staying. Olivier Villeneuve owns the hotel. Our privacy will be secured. My cell number is here. Let me know when you’re on your way and we’ll meet.”

Lark noticed her father wasn’t looking at Sawyer at all as he slid the card across the table and then headed to the door. She couldn’t imagine what he was going through but as Max draped his arm over her shoulder to guide her to follow him, she was glad at least part of the family was there for him. They would get through this together.