The paternity test kit sat on Jasper's desk like a loaded gun.
He'd ordered it the moment he left the lawyer's office three days ago, overnight shipping from some discreet medical company that promised "99.9% accuracy and complete confidentiality." The box was sleek, clinical, impersonal. Everything he'd trained himself to be.
Everything Lily had called him out for being.
*"You don't want a child. You want a problem you can solve."*
Jasper pushed back from his desk, the Manhattan skyline glittering behind him through floor-to-ceiling windows. Forty-three stories up, and he still felt like he was falling.
He hadn't opened the kit. Hadn't even broken the seal.
Because somewhere between the lawyer's office and now, a traitorous thought had taken root: *What if she's right?*
His phone buzzed. Another email from his assistant about the Singapore acquisition. Another board meeting he was missing while he obsessed over a woman who wanted nothing to do with him and a child who might not even be-
No. He wouldn't finish that thought.
The intercom crackled. "Mr. Sterling? Your mother is here."
Jasper's blood turned to ice. "My mother is dead."
A pause. "I'm sorry, sir. I meant your... Ms. Vivian Sterling is here to see you."
Vivian. His stepmother. The woman who'd married his father six months after his mother's funeral, then proceeded to redecorate their childhood home and pretend the first Mrs. Sterling had never existed.
"Tell her I'm in a meeting."
"She says it's about a pregnant woman you've been harassing."
Of course she did.
---
Vivian Sterling wore her charity luncheon armor: Chanel suit, statement pearls, a smile that could cut glass. She swept into his office like she owned it, which, technically, she owned twenty percent of the company his father had left her.
"Jasper, darling. You look terrible."
"Always a pleasure, Vivian." He didn't stand. Didn't offer her a seat. "How did you hear about Lily?"
"Oh please. Marcus Williams is on the hospital board with me. His daughter married your brother, and apparently, you caused quite a scene at their wedding." She settled into the chair across from him uninvited, crossing her legs with practiced elegance. "Then you dragged some poor girl to Robert Chen's office? Robert's wife plays tennis with my bridge partner. Really, darling, if you wanted discretion, you should have chosen a lawyer who wasn't so well-connected."
Jasper's jaw tightened. "This is none of your business."
"It became my business when you started threatening paternity tests and custody arrangements. The Sterling name may not mean much to you, but it means everything to the foundation, the board, the shareholders." She leaned forward, her voice dropping. "Tell me you're not actually considering bringing a bastard into this family."
The word hung in the air like poison.
"Get out."
"Jasper-"
"Get. Out." He stood now, his voice deadly quiet. "Before I have security escort you out."
Vivian's smile never wavered, but something sharp flickered in her eyes. "Your father would be ashamed of you. Throwing away everything he built for some gold-digging blogger who probably-"
"My father," Jasper interrupted, his hands flat on the desk to keep them from shaking, "spent my entire childhood building hotels instead of coming to my school plays. He missed my high school graduation for a ribbon-cutting in Dubai. He wasn't there when my mother died because he was too busy securing a deal in Tokyo." He straightened, buttoning his suit jacket with deliberate calm. "So forgive me if I don't particularly care what would shame him."
Vivian stood, smoothing her skirt. "Fine. Ruin your reputation. But don't come crying to the board when this scandal tanks our stock price." She paused at the door. "And Jasper? That girl will bleed you dry. They always do."
When she left, the office felt too large and too small all at once.
Jasper walked to the window, pressing his forehead against the cool glass. Below, the city moved on, indifferent. Millions of people living their lives, none of them aware that his entire world had shifted eight weeks ago in Santorini.
He hadn't been planning to sleep with Lily Rodriguez. Hadn't been planning to feel anything at all.
But then she'd made some joke about his brother's pretentious wine selection, and she'd laughed with her whole body, and for the first time in years, Jasper had felt... untethered. Like he could be someone other than Richard Sterling's disappointing eldest son or the CEO who'd increased profits by eighteen percent year over year.
He'd been just Jasper. And she'd been just Lily.
And for one perfect night, that had been enough.
His phone rang. Unknown number.
"Jasper Sterling."
"It's me." Lily's voice was strained, slightly breathless. "Don't talk. Just listen. I'm at Lenox Hill Hospital. There was some bleeding, and the doctor wants to run tests, and I know I said I didn't want you involved, but-" Her voice cracked. "I'm scared. I'm really scared, and I don't have anyone else to call."
Jasper was already grabbing his coat. "I'm on my way. Twenty minutes."
"Jasper-"
"*Don't move.*" He was running now, past his startled assistant, toward the elevators. "Do you hear me? Don't move, don't sign anything, don't let them do anything until I get there."
"It might not be serious. The doctor said it might just be-"
"Lily." He punched the elevator button repeatedly, uselessly. "I'm coming. Just... hold on."
The line went quiet except for her breathing.
Then: "Fourth floor. Maternity wing. Room 412."
The elevator dinged open.
"I'm coming," he said again, stepping inside.
But the line was already dead.
And as the doors slid shut, Jasper caught his reflection in the polished steel-a man who'd spent his entire life building walls now watching them crumble, one emergency room call at a time.
