Chapter 12
Cassian met Lucas for the first time seven weeks after the gala.
Neutral therapist’s office.
Leah present.
No security team in the room.
No gifts.
Katherine had advised against arriving with anything expensive.
Cassian agreed.
He brought nothing.
Lucas was taller than Cassian expected.
Brown hair.
Serious eyes.
He looked like Leah until he frowned.
Then Cassian saw himself.
That was uncomfortable.
Lucas sat with his arms crossed.
“So.”
Cassian almost smiled.
“So.”
“You’re really him.”
“Apparently.”
Lucas looked at the therapist.
“He jokes?”
“Rarely,” Cassian said.
Leah nearly laughed.
The tension dropped by one degree.
Then Lucas looked directly at Cassian.
“Why didn’t you look for me?”
Cassian did not say:
Because I didn’t know.
Not yet.
The question deserved more.
“I didn’t know you existed.”
Lucas’s jaw tightened.
“That sounds convenient.”
“It does.”
“Grandpa had your signature.”
“He had access to it.”
“Lucinda did too.”
“Yes.”
“So everybody could pretend to be you?”
Cassian looked down.
“In some systems, yes.”
“That’s stupid.”
“Yes.”
Lucas seemed surprised.
“You’re admitting that?”
“Yes.”
“Mom says you’re never wrong.”
Leah immediately said:
“I did not say that.”
Lucas looked at her.
“You said he acts like he’s never wrong.”
“That’s different.”
Cassian nodded.
“Very different.”
The therapist let them continue.
Lucas asked:
“Did you want me?”
Cassian had thought about this question for weeks.
He could not say he had wanted a child he did not know existed.
So he told the truth.
“I didn’t get the chance to want or not want you when you were born.”
Lucas looked away.
Cassian continued.
“But I want to know you now.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re my son.”
“That’s just DNA.”
“Yes.”
Cassian leaned back.
“That gets me the responsibility. It doesn’t automatically get me the relationship.”
Lucas looked at him again.
That answer landed.
Cassian continued.
“If you want nothing from me except accurate medical history and support, I’ll provide that.”
“What if I want money?”
“You’ll get support because I’m your father. Not because you agree to like me.”
Lucas almost smiled.
“What if I think you’re terrible?”
“Then you’d have something in common with several judges.”
Leah laughed before she could stop herself.
Lucas finally smiled.
Only for a second.
Enough.
After the meeting, Leah remained behind.
“I hated you for twelve years.”
Cassian nodded.
“I know.”
“You know what’s embarrassing?”
“What?”
“Finding out I hated the wrong person doesn’t make the hate disappear.”
Cassian understood.
“You don’t have to fix that for me.”
Leah looked at him.
“That might be the first decent thing you’ve said.”
“I said several in there.”
“Debatable.”
They were not friends.
They did not need to become friends.
May you like
They needed to parent the same child honestly.
That was already more than the previous generation managed.
