I Met Four Boys Who Looked Exactly Like Me—Then Their Mother Said I’d Disappeared Six Years Ago.

Adrian turned to look at her. The anger in his face softened slightly, replaced by an intense, possessive determination.

"I'm not taking them from you, Mara," Adrian said, walking toward her until he was standing just inches away. "I am putting my name on their birth certificates. I am putting five hundred million dollars into a trust for each of them. And I am making sure no one—not my family's old enemies, not the Cartwrights—can ever touch them."

"I don't want your money!" Mara cried out, tears finally breaking past her long lashes. "I raised them alone for six years! We survived without a single dime from the Blackwood family!"

"And you shouldn't have had to!" Adrian roared softly, his emotional control completely snapping for the first time. "I would have given you everything! I would have burned this city to the ground six years ago if I knew you were carrying my children!"

Mara stared up at him, stunned by the raw intensity in his voice. The dark-haired billionaire who intimidated senators and mob bosses was standing in front of her with raw, bleeding guilt in his gray-blue eyes.

"They needed a father," Mara whispered, her voice breaking. "Every time Milo brushed his hair back... every time Mason asked why we didn't have a family... I had to pretend you were dead because it was easier than telling them you didn't want them."

Adrian reached out, his large, warm hand cupping the side of her pale face. His thumb gently wiped away a fallen tear.

"I am not dead," Adrian murmured, his voice thick with emotion. "And I am never letting you go again."