she hate Henrik? Resent him? Had Emma been another mistake?
Fuck. “What about Emma?” he asked, hating the question but needing to know. “Is she...” He swallowed the sour disgust from his mouth. “Dad’s?”
“Of course.” Soren shot him a look that said exactly what he thought of Henrik’s intelligence. “She was the cover-the-oops baby. The one Mother had to have to cover her mistake.”
Had to have. Mistake. Him.
His mind spun, the room tilting before he shook his head to straighten it. Hold it together.
Without another word, he turned away and started the long trek across the room. Sweat clung to his temples and nape, soaked his underarms. He counted his steps, ignoring everyone and everything except his escape.
He cleared the wide doorway, sucked in a gulp of needed air and kept moving toward the front door. Every movement was made on autopilot. Requesting his coat and the driver. Waiting for the car to be brought around. Breathing when he wanted to scream.
He calmly slipped his coat on and turned to the maid who’d brought it. “Can you please tell my mother I had to leave?” The courtesy was too ingrained to ignore. And maybe he wanted to see if she’d contact him to find out why.
“Henrik?” His eyes squeezed closed at the sound of his mother’s voice echoing up the hallway. “Are you leaving?”
He opened his eyes, gave a tight smile to the maid who hurried away then turned to face his mother. Words evaded him though. Not one sound would come out.
Her frown tugged her brows down but the accompanying wrinkles were missing from her forehead. “Is everything okay?”
For once, he believed the concern he heard. Or was it his wishful thinking? Hearing what he wanted instead of the truth?
The truth. He needed that from her.
He glanced around the empty foyer, still conscious of prying ears and the Grenick image. “Is—” His voice cracked and he stopped to clear his throat. “Is it true? I’m not really a Grenick?”
The blood rushed from her face in a visual crash of truth that sank through his chest and balled around the aching rejection. He wet his lips, spine painfully straight. He still needed to hear her admit it. Was it even possible for her to explain?
Her hand snaked out to clutch his arm, but she didn’t sway or pretend a weakness. She met his gaze, those damn brown eyes he’d never suspected or scrutinized, holding his with a strength that shouldn’t have surprised him yet did. “Soren is spreading stories that aren’t his to tell.”
“This isn’t about him.”
“No,” she agreed, glancing over her shoulder. “And this isn’t the time or place to discuss it.”
“Just tell me if it’s true.”
“It’s not that simple.”
His laugh was so dry it had to claw its way out. “Yes or no. That’s all I need.”
“And that’s not all I want to give you.”
“So, yes then.” He inclined his head, lips compressed around the bitterness that threatened to spill out.
“Yes. Okay,” she snapped, eyes blazing. “Yes. It’s true.” Her grip became a steel clamp when he tried to turn away. “No. You don’t get to walk away after you made me say that. You want the truth, then you get to hear all of it.”
The fire in his mother’s eyes and voice froze him. He’d never seen her this worked up and adamant about anything. He stared down at her, analyzing all the things he’d dismissed before. From eye color to lip shapes to height, he didn’t take after either of his parents. He’d only seen what he’d been willing to see.
“You’re far from being a child,” she said, the uncharacteristic firmness holding him captive better than her grasp on his arm. “And I should hope you have no illusions about the kind of marriage I have with your father. And yes,” she rushed on with emphasis, “Kurt is your father, if not by blood then everything else. He gave you his name and all that came with it when he could’ve thrown us both out in a disgraced heap. He may be a cold bastard, but he isn’t heartless.” She sucked in a breath, shoulders rising and falling in a graceful decline that lifted her chin and tempered her smile along with her voice. “I did what I could for you, what I thought was best. There are so many reasons I was distant with you growing up, the least of which was I never wanted to give Kurt reason to disown you.” She blinked rapidly before