Chapter 149 THE PART YOU DON’T KNOW

Chapter 149 THE PART YOU DON’T KNOW
MAYA’S POV

Anger rose in my chest so fast it almost stole my breath. The quiet brunch restaurant, the untouched food, the polite morning light. None of it mattered anymore. Luca sat across from me, calm as ever, and the fact that he had gone behind my back to dig into my life made the air between us feel sharp.

“You ran a search on me,” I repeated, my voice low and tight. “You had Claire look into my private life instead of just asking.”

Luca did not look away. “I did. After the message at the resort. After every time you started to tell me something and then stopped. I needed to understand what you were carrying. I needed an assurance. It was obvious you were hiding something. And it hurts that you didn't trust me enough to tell me.”

I swallowed. He was right about that. 

He told me everything he had found. The birth record. Damon’s name. The school enrollment. The fact that no father was listed. He spoke in that same controlled tone he used in boardrooms, laying out facts as if they were simple. Each detail landed like a stone.

When he finished, the anger in me only burned hotter.

“Then you could have asked me,” I said. My hands were clenched in my lap. “You could have sat me down and asked instead of treating me like one of your investigations.”

Luca’s jaw tightened slightly. “Would you have told me?”

The question hung between us. The air grew heavier. Other people in the restaurant continued their quiet conversations, completely unaware that the table in the corner was cracking open.

I stared at him. The honest answer was no. I would have delayed again. I would have found another weak explanation. I would have protected the last piece of the secret for as long as I could. The truth of that made the anger twist into something more complicated.

“Then you must know what’s about to come next,” I said.

Luca’s brows drew together. “What?”

I took a breath that felt too thin. The final door was still closed, but I could feel myself reaching for the handle.

“What happened four years ago. The night.”

Something shifted in his face. The controlled calm cracked for the first time. Confusion, then the beginning of understanding, then something that looked like dread moved across his features. He had known about Damon. He had known I was the mother. But the full weight of that night, the drugging, the switch, the fact that it had been him and not Sebastian had not fully landed until this moment.

I watched the change happen in real time. My stomach dropped.

“You didn’t know,” I whispered.

The words left my mouth and silence settled between us like a held breath. Luca stared at me, the color shifting in his face, the careful distance of the past weeks collapsing under the one truth he had not yet pieced together.

The restaurant noise faded. The coffee went cold. The only thing left was the look in his eyes and the knowledge that the last secret was finally about to surface.

Luca’s voice came out low and careful. His brows furrowed.
“What do you mean?”

I stared at him across the table, the anger from earlier still simmering under a sudden wave of disbelief. He didn't know? The brunch crowd continued around us, but the space between Luca and me felt completely separate from the rest of the room.

“Wait,” I said, my voice thinner than I expected. “You don’t know?”

His brows pulled together. Confusion settled over the controlled expression he usually wore. 
“Know what?”

The question hung there. For a moment I could only look at him. All the digging, all the files, all the quiet investigation, and he still had not reached the final piece. The most important part.The realization made my chest tighten. 

“You don’t know who the father is?” I asked.

Luca shook his head slowly. “The files didn’t show any father. There was no name listed. Are you still talking to him? Is he in Damon’s life? What happened between you both?”

The questions landed one after another. Each one made it clearer that the truth I had been carrying alone for four years had never fully reached him. He knew Damon was my son. He had confirmed the timeline. He had seen the boy with his own eyes. But the last, most important connection was still missing.

I felt the anger drain away, replaced by something quieter and heavier. My hands rested on the edge of the table. I looked down at them for a second, then forced myself to meet his eyes again. I'm going to put it out there. But I was going to fight him of he wants to take my son.

When I spoke, my voice was the softest it had been all morning.

“You’re the father.”

The words left my mouth and the entire restaurant seemed to fall away. Luca went completely still. The color shifted in his face. His lips parted, but no sound came out. The careful distance, the polite conversations, the weeks of half-truths and growing suspicion, all of it collapsed into the single sentence that now sat between us.

I watched him process it. The shock. The beginning of understanding. The weight of four years arriving all at once. My heart pounded so hard I could feel it in my throat. The secret that had shaped every decision since that night was finally out in the open.

Luca stared at me as if the ground beneath the table had moved. The brunch, the coffee, the quiet morning light. None of it mattered anymore. Only the truth remained, raw and irreversible, hanging in the air between us.