“Maya—”
Rachel stopped him.
“Did you also believe Simone’s arrest might make it easier for Maya to obtain custody of Leah?”
Darius stared at her.
Silence.
That silence terrified me.
Rachel repeated the question.
His lawyer whispered urgently.
Darius finally answered.
“Yes.”
Something inside me went still.
Not angry.
Not broken.
Still.
Because I finally understood.
Darius had not been protecting me.
He had not even primarily been protecting Caleb.
He had been trying to manage the outcome.
He wanted Leah.
His biological daughter.
And he wanted to control when the truth about Simone emerged so that he could position himself favorably in whatever custody battle followed.
I looked at him.
“Was the airplane announcement part of that?”
His expression changed.
Rachel immediately asked, “Answer her.”
Darius swallowed.
“I wanted a record.”
“A record of what?”
“That Simone and I had publicly acknowledged the situation before the legal process began.”
