“What’s that supposed to mean?”she demanded.
Zayn turned around, his expression hardening.“It’s nothing, Azlyn.We need to discuss—”
“We need to discuss whatever else you’re hiding!”she snapped.“What are you not telling me, Zayn?”
He planted his fists on his hips, jaw tight.She could see it—the internal war in his eyes.And then, just like that, he lost.
“Maybe Iamangry you hid our son from me,” he ground out, voice low and tight.“Maybe if you’d told me you were pregnant, he wouldn’t have been in danger.Maybe I wouldn’t be standing here wondering how the hell I failed to protect you both.”
His voice rose, the words spilling faster.
“And maybe—just maybe—if you hadn’t been so stubborn, so irrational—” Now he was shouting.“We’d be married, and I wouldn’t have missed the first three months of my son’s life!”
The silence that followed was thunderous.
Finally, Azlyn nodded, her eyes dropping.“You’re right.”
He froze, thrown completely off course.“What?”
She looked up at him again, her face pale but steady.“I’ve already told you I was wrong, Zayn.What more do you want me to say?”Her hand rested gently on Griffin’s back, a protective reflex.“I was angry and prideful, and I made the wrong call.Iwas wrong.”
“Thank you,” he snapped—too fast, too sharp.
“Oh,that’swhat this is?”she shot back.“You needed to hear it again?The first apology wasn’t enough?”
“Yes!”he shouted.“Yes, Idid!Turn the tables, Azlyn.Imagine ifyouhad missed the first months of his life.Ifno onetold you he existed.If theonlyreason you found out was a fluke—because I happened to still be obsessed with you and happened to watch a news briefing that just happened to show you sobbing in the shadows of a murder scene!”
She stared at him.That wasn’t just anger in his voice—it was anguish.
And damn it…when he put it that way, she had nothing.
“You’re right,” she whispered, shame crawling across her skin.“You’re absolutely right.I didn’t think of it from your point of view.I should have.”
Zayn let out a breath and rubbed a hand down his face.She didn’t need to look to know that.
“Azlyn, the past is done,” he said, voice softer now.“What matters is the future.”
She lifted her gaze, heart pounding.“You’re right.”
“So will you please agree to marry me?”he asked.“We need to make this right.Griffin needs a father—and the world needs to see us as a family.”
Azlyn’s entire body stiffened.
Marry him?
Everything inside her rebelled at the idea.Not because of him.Not because she didn’t care.But because this wasn’t love.It was duty.Image.Protection.Practicality.
He hadn’t loved her a year ago.He’d wanted a mistress, not a wife.A companion he could keep in the background.He hadn’t asked for more.
And back then, she wouldn’t have said yes even if he had.
She would have been a kept woman—no income, no freedom, no purpose.Her entire world would’ve revolved around Zayn and whatever work he did for his country.Would she even be allowed to keep working?To keep doing the work sheloved?
Was it selfish to want something for herself?
Probably.But still—shouldn’t Griffin come first?
“I get it, Azlyn,” Zayn murmured, watching her struggle.
