Logan stood frozen, the city around him a blur of relentless motion, while his gaze locked onto the face of a woman he never thought hed see againnot like this.
Emily Carter. His first love. His only love, if he were honest.
The girl whod once dared him to climb the old clock tower, who danced barefoot in summer storms, who kissed him under the bleachers after school and whispered dreams of London, poetry, and a world far bigger than their quiet hometown.
But shed vanished after graduation. No note. No call. Just gone.
And now she was here, clutching two shivering little girls on the pavement outside Harrods, looking as if the world had left her behind.
He knelt.
Right there, in his Savile Row suit and Italian leather shoes, on the grimy streets of Mayfair.
Emily His voice cracked, softer this time.
She couldnt meet his eyes.
I didnt want you to see me like this, she murmured, her voice rough. I nearly ran when I recognised you.
The twins stared up at him with wide, frightened eyes. One of them tugged at Emilys sleeve.
Mummy, Im cold.
His chest tightened. *Mummy.*
He looked at Emily, his voice gentler than she remembered. Are they yours?
She nodded once. Charlotte and Lily. Theyre three.
The breath left him.
*Three years.*
They had her face, but there was something familiar in the shape of their chins. The way Lily squinted in the sunlight, just as he used to as a boy.
His heart pounded.
Are they mine?
Emily finally lifted her gaze, tears glistening. I didnt know how to find you. I tried but when I learned who youd become, I thought Her voice wavered. I thought you wouldnt want this. Me. Them.
A silence heavier than any hed ever known settled between them.
He wasnt sure how long they stayed like that.
Then, slowlyas if the decision had already been made somewhere deep inside himhe shrugged off his coat and wrapped it around Emilys shoulders. He lifted Charlotte into his arms with care, then reached for Lilys hand.
Come on, he said firmly. Lets go home.
In the days that followed, the media erupted.
*Tech billionaire Logan Bennett spotted with unknown woman and children in central London.*
*The secret family of the reclusive tycoon?*
*From the streets to a penthouse: the woman who broke Logan Bennetts silence.*
But Logan didnt care.
He didnt care about the headlines.
He didnt care about the board members calling in panic.
He didnt care about the whispers at high-society galas.
Because Emily and the girls were upstairs, in his penthouse, warm, safe, fed.
And for the first time in years, he felt something again.
Weeks later, Emily stood before the floor-to-ceiling windows, staring at the skyline.
I dont belong in this world, Logan, she said quietly. Youre you. And Im just
Youre their mother, he interrupted. Youre the only person who ever really knew me. You belong here more than anyone.
She turned to him, eyes damp. I was scared.
So was I, he whispered. But not anymore.
Then he kneltnot with a ring, not yetbut with his heart laid bare.
Stay. Lets figure this out. Together.
And Emily stayed.
Not for the money. Not for the penthouse, the press, or the luxury.
But because the boy whod once held her hand in a school corridor had found her againthis time on the coldest street, in the darkest moment of her life.
And instead of turning away
He had come home.
To her.
To their daughters.
To the life they were meant to live.
