Chapter 186

Chapter 186
Alexander's POV

I watched Emma dart away from the fountain where she'd been happily splashing, her little feet carrying her toward where I stood partially hidden behind the decorative shrubs. Morgan's voice called out behind her, the panic in her tone growing more evident with each repetition of Emma's name.

"Emma!" Morgan called. "Emma, where are you?"

My heart raced as Emma spotted me. I remained motionless, feeling my eyes widen slightly as my daughter approached. Her face lit up with recognition, and something inside me both soared and sank simultaneously.

"Morgan mommy—" Emma began to call back over her shoulder.

"Shh, please don't call out," I said quickly, kneeling down to her level. "We can't let her see me, my dear Emma. You're a good girl, aren't you?"

Emma considered this question seriously, her small brow furrowing in a way that reminded me painfully of Morgan. She nodded and pressed her chubby little hands over her mouth, looking up at me with curiosity dancing in her eyes. She tilted her head, clearly confused about why we were hiding from Morgan.

"You don't like Morgan mommy?" she asked, her green eyes wide with innocent concern.

My breath caught in my throat. Those eyes. Emma's eyes were the exact shade of green as Morgan's—from their innocent doe shape to their clear, luminous quality. They were the same eyes that had once looked at me with adoration instead of disappointment or hatred. A sharp pain twisted in my chest.

I carefully observed Morgan's frantic movements by the fountain while asking, "Who told you to call her Morgan mommy?"

Emma's lower lip jutted out slightly. "She is Morgan mommy..." Her voice held the unmistakable certainty of a child stating what she believed to be an obvious truth.

I swallowed hard. "Does she know I'm your daddy?"

I already knew the answer. If Morgan knew I was Emma's father, she would have put everything together by now. The timing, the age, everything would have clicked into place in that brilliant mind of hers. The fact that she hadn't confronted me about it meant she had no idea.

I couldn't tell her. Not now. Not yet. And it wasn't because of Ethan—I'd investigated him thoroughly. His real name was John Smith, a name so ordinary it was almost comical. His background seemed clean, but there was definitely history with the Montgomery family—Robert's company had destroyed his family's business years ago.

No, my hostility toward Ethan stemmed mostly from the fact that he was a man Morgan allowed close to her. But that wasn't why I couldn't tell Morgan the truth.

The real reason was what I'd recently discovered about Morgan's dark three years away—the postpartum depression. It was something I never anticipated, something that happened to the woman I cared about most in the world. I'd hoped it wasn't true. But Lilith had confirmed it, telling me Morgan had contacted her only after she'd started to improve.

The knowledge crushed me. Morgan had suffered alone in the darkness for years, just like she had been trapped in the Montgomery mansion all those years ago. But this time, I hadn't found her—she had pulled herself out.

I didn't know how to heal Morgan enough to give our daughter back to her. But right now, I needed to get Emma—our daughter—safely back to Morgan.

I gripped Emma's small shoulders gently. "Emma, I need you to do me a favor. This is very important," I said, my voice barely above a whisper.

"Okay, daddy?" she replied, the word sending a wave of both joy and pain through me.

"I can't see your Morgan mommy right now. Could you not tell her you saw me here?" I glanced over at Morgan, anxiety churning in my stomach, my heartbeat quickening.

Emma pouted, her delicate eyebrows scrunching together like tiny caterpillars. "Okay..." she agreed reluctantly, then looked up at me with piercing honesty. "But why don't you like Morgan mommy?"

I smiled sadly, brushing a strand of hair from her forehead. "I do like her, my little angel," I said softly. "It's just... daddy did something wrong, and your Morgan mommy is very angry at daddy right now."

Emma nodded sagely, as if dispensing ancient wisdom. "If you did something wrong, you should say sorry and make it better," she instructed, her expression serious.

"I will, baby," I promised, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead. "Now go, please don't wander away from your mommy like this again. You'll worry her."

I watched as Emma ran back toward the fountain where Morgan was frantically searching, feeling as though a piece of my heart was running away with her. Morgan rushed forward, dropping to her knees and wrapping Emma in a tight embrace. I could see her legs nearly giving out, her body practically hanging onto Emma to keep from collapsing.

"Where did you go?!" Morgan's voice carried to me, thick with emotion. "You scared me to death!"

Emma's small hand started to point in my direction, but then she remembered our secret and quickly covered her mouth. "Daddy—" she began, before catching herself.

I saw Morgan freeze, her body going rigid as she heard that word. She frowned, looking toward the corner where I stood hidden, suspicion and alarm evident in her posture. My stomach dropped as I saw her quickly pull out her phone and dial a number.

"Lilith?" Morgan's voice was tight, controlled. "Emma's back, she's safe. But Liam might be here too, so—"