Chapter 47
Lucas leaned back in his chair, his expression calm once more.
"Tomorrow, I'll arrange for Damian and Bianca to take a paternity test."
Just from his mother's reaction, he already understood. But he wanted something more concrete.
Only after Lucas's figure had completely disappeared from the doorway did Ashley collapse onto the sofa as if all her strength had been drained away.
A moment later, she called Bianca.
"Hello?"
"Lucas... he knows. He wants to do a paternity test between you and Dami."
On the other end, Bianca's perfect smile instantly froze. She glanced at Matthew, sitting quietly on the sofa, and lowered her voice. "How could this happen! You said it was foolproof!"
"Leave the country now. Make up some excuse and avoid this as long as you can."
Bianca hung up and immediately put on an expression of extreme urgency, turning to her mother Emily who stood nearby. "Mom, I have to leave right now! The company has an emergency—the penalty for backing out would be astronomical. I have to go immediately!"
She didn't even spare a glance for the child on the sofa she was supposed to be "bonding" with.
Seeing her daughter like this, Emily understood everything. She sighed and walked over to Matthew, speaking gently. "Dami, your mommy has an emergency. Let me take you back to preschool, okay?"
Matthew closed his book. "Okay."
Lucas's plans were temporarily derailed by Bianca's "emergency."
That evening, there was a knock on his door. Juliana walked in carrying a medical kit.
"I'm here to change your dressing."
Lucas said nothing, just turned and removed his shirt before lying on the bed.
Juliana took out cotton swabs and ointment. The room was quiet except for the soft sound of cotton against skin.
They were very close—close enough that Lucas could smell the faint, clean scent of antiseptic on her.
"I want to meet your son."
His sudden words made Juliana's hand shake violently. The ointment on her fingertip pressed hard against his wound with uncontrolled force.
Lucas let out a muffled groan of pain but didn't pull away. Instead, he grabbed her ice-cold wrist.
Her wrist was slender, trembling in his palm.
"What are you afraid of?"
The man's gaze was like an airtight net, trapping her completely.
"I'm not." Juliana tried to pull her hand back, but he only gripped it tighter.
"Not?" Lucas let out a low laugh, though the amusement didn't reach his eyes. "I just want to meet your child, and you're this nervous."
He leaned closer, his warm breath falling on her ear, his voice dropping to a low murmur like a devil's whisper.
"Juliana, tell me—besides looking exactly like Damian, what other secrets is your son hiding?"
Her wrist hurt where he gripped it, that warm touch burning through her skin all the way to her heart, making her entire body tense.
She tried hard to pull her hand back, but he held it like an iron vice. Finally, she gave up struggling and looked up, meeting his eyes directly. "Mr. Sharp, what earth-shattering secrets do you think a seven-year-old child could possibly have?"
Lucas saw the red veins in her eyes and the exhaustion she couldn't hide. Something caught in his chest. His grip unconsciously loosened.
"Damian really likes you." Lucas released her hand, changing the subject, his voice softening.
Juliana rubbed her reddened wrist but didn't respond.
"He wasn't like this before. He'd throw things, fight with everyone. Bianca couldn't handle him at all."
Was he... explaining something to her? Or trying to probe for information?
Juliana remained guarded. "Children just need companionship. If you treat him as an equal individual who deserves respect and show him genuine care, he'll naturally respond to it."
"Genuine care?" Lucas mulled over those words.
"Yes." Juliana warmed to the topic, speaking more freely. "What he likes, what he dislikes, why he suddenly gets upset, why he smiles secretly. All of this takes time to understand—not imposing rules like 'you should do this' or 'you can't do that' to box him in."
Lucas fell silent.
All these years, he'd given Damian the most privileged material life, the best educational resources, but he'd forgotten one thing—the boy was just a child who needed his parents' companionship.
He'd thought Bianca would fulfill her role as a mother. Now he saw it was just his own wishful thinking.
And this woman before him—she'd known Damian for just a few short days, yet understood his son better than he did after seven years of being a father.
Looking at her, he suddenly thought that even if that child Matthew was adopted, she was still a qualified mother.
The inexplicable irritation in Lucas's heart was gradually replaced by something more complex. He stared at her as if trying to see into her soul, then suddenly threw out a question.
"If one day your son's biological father showed up and wanted to take him back, what would you do?"
Juliana's hands, packing up the medical kit, froze.
Did he know?
Did he know Matty was his son?
The thought exploded in her mind, sending all her blood rushing to her head. She jerked her head up.
"Over my dead body!" Her voice shook, each word squeezed through gritted teeth. "Unless I'm dead, no one is taking the son I raised from scratch away from me!"
Her reaction was even more intense than Lucas had anticipated.
Something in Lucas's chest was hit hard by the sight of her like this. His throat worked, the words tumbling out almost involuntarily. "Then... have you ever thought about marrying into the family?"
In his view, this was the simplest, most direct solution. She'd marry him, both children could stay together legitimately, the family would be reunited—everyone would be happy.
Juliana froze.
A full three seconds passed before she processed what he'd just said.
Looking at Lucas's face with its expression of 'That's a pretty good idea, right?', she suddenly found it absurdly ridiculous and couldn't help but laugh coldly.