Chapter 162 WHY?

Chapter 162 WHY?
OWAIN

"I'm sorry, Mr. Marco," Karima said, her tone clipped. "Whatever it is you want to say will have to wait. I don't want to talk to you right now."

She moved to walk past me. For a second, I didn't move. Collins' words kept echoing in my head, louder than the music still drifting from the ballroom.

Julian is your son. He said… The thought refused to leave me.
Rage. Guilt. Confusion. They churned together until I could barely tell one from the other.

I looked at her, searching her face, praying Collins had lied.
Because if he hadn't… God.

"Karry.” She stopped but didn't look back. "Why?" I asked quietly, every ounce of restraint I had holding my voice together.

She let out a slow breath. "I don't owe you an answer."

She took another step. A bitter laugh escaped me. "I don't care if I have to follow you into that restroom." My voice stayed calm, but there was steel beneath it now. "So don't push me."

My pulse pounded against my ribs. Between Collins' confession... and the pain steadily ripping through my side... I wasn't sure how much longer I could keep pretending I was in control.

"Why won't you just leave me alone?" she snapped. "You already saw it. I'm with someone else. Whatever it is you're planning isn't going to work. Not even that pathetic story you had Collins feed Isaiah."

My brows pulled together. "What?"

"Oh, stop it, Owain." She folded her arms tightly across her chest. "Stop acting like you don't know what I'm talking about." She laughed bitterly. "You disappeared. Four years, Owain. Four damn years. And now I'm supposed to believe you were locked away somewhere this whole time?"

My chest tightened. "So..." I said quietly. The word barely left my mouth. "You know."

She frowned. "Know what?"

"About the prison."

"I know what Collins claimed."

Silence stretched between us. Then something clicked. The little boy. His eyes. His age. The way she'd lied to me. My voice dropped into something I barely recognized. "So that's why."

Her expression faltered.

"You let me believe he belonged to another man."

That's it… She froze.

I took one slow step toward her. "He's mine, isn't he?”

She didn't say a word. She didn't have to. The answer was written all over her face. Every last piece of it. Julian… He was mine.

A hollow ache spread through my chest, somehow worse than the pain tearing through my side.

My jaw locked so tightly it hurt. "You know what," I said quietly, struggling to keep my voice steady beneath the weight of everything crashing down on me. "I spent years trying to understand why you hated me so much." I let out a bitter laugh. "Why every time I reached out... you pushed me away."

I shook my head slowly. "I kept telling myself I deserved it." I took one step closer. Then another. "I told myself I had no right to explain. No right to ask you for anything." I stopped in front of her, my eyes refusing to leave hers. "I fucking tried, Karry."

My voice cracked for the first time. "You have no idea what it cost me to watch you hate me..." I swallowed hard, forcing the words out. "But this?" I shook my head in disbelief. "You let me spend years not knowing I had a son."

A long silence hung between us. "Why, Karry?"