A Secret Birthright(57)

Fareed felt his head about to explode.

It almost did when Gwen said, “It’s still pending.” That imploring that compromised his sanity intensified. “That’s what I was trying to tell you. I expected you to find out when your legal team discovered I’m not the birth mother, and my adoption hasn’t been finalized. But they somehow got your adoption approved without this coming to light.”

His daze deepened. “I told them not to bother me with details, to just do anything to get my adoption through.”

His father tsked. “Seems anything included falsifying data. Once a discrepancy is found, the adoption might be invalidated.”

He erupted. “No, it won’t. Go ahead. Do your worst, Father. I’m getting this fixed, and Ryan will be Gwen’s and mine, legally, anywhere in the world, no matter what you do. I’ll fight you, I’ll fight Jizaan and Durrah and the whole world for him, for Gwen’s right to be his mother. And I’ll win. Ryan will never be anyone’s but Gwen’s, the one who loves him, who sacrificed all for him.”

His father only sighed. “Have I ever told you how much I wish you were my heir?”

“You know better than to try to appeal to my ego, Father.”

“No, you’re right. What I wish is irrelevant. In matters of state, it always is. I hope Abbas will come around when it’s time for him to take my place. He might not think so, but he’d make a formidable king. While you are more beneficial to Jizaan and the world being who you are, where you are.”

“We’re not talking matters of state here. I mean it, Father. I won’t let you near Ryan.”

“But it’s not up to you.” He turned to Gwen. “I would see my grandson now, ya marat ebni.”

At hearing his father calling her “my son’s wife,” Gwen’s eyes filled.

Fareed stopped her as she moved. “You don’t have to.”

Those eyes that were his world glittered with too much that they took his breath away. “He has more right to Ryan than I do.”

“That’s not true,” he gritted. “You are his mother.”

Twin tears slithered down her face as she tore her gaze away and hurried out of the room.

He stood glaring at his father as they waited for her to come back. She did in minutes, hugging a flushed-with-sleep Ryan.

At the sight of him, Ryan perked up with the smiles and sounds he bestowed on no one else. He was endlessly thankful for that, for he did love Ryan as if he were his own.

Then Ryan realized Gwen was taking him elsewhere and turned to investigate his new destination.

Ryan blinked and looked back at Fareed as if to make sure he hadn’t teleported.

Fareed’s jaw bunched. Surely Ryan didn’t think he resembled his father that much? And even if they did share much of their looks, he couldn’t possibly feel the same vibes from him!

Next moment, Ryan buried his face into Gwen’s bosom.

That was more like it.

Before satisfaction seethed inside Fareed’s chest, he saw Ryan peeking shyly, inquisitively, interestedly at his father from the depths of Gwen’s chest, and his tension roared back.

His father spoke, his voice rough with emotion, “Ya Ullah, this is Hesham as an infant all over again.”

“That’s not true,” Fareed hissed. “Ryan is a replica of Gwen…of her sister, his mother.”

His father turned to him with dazed eyes shimmering with what suspiciously looked like tears. “His coloring is throwing you off and that dimpled chin. But I am the one who hung on Hesham’s every detail from birth. He has his same bone structure, the shape of his features. And wait until his hair grows out. It will be the exact color and curl as Hesham’s. He’ll also be like his father in many other ways. Isn’t that right, ya ebni?”

Ryan squirmed excitedly in Gwen’s arms as if he understood what the king was saying, and that he’d called him “my son.” Then the king reached out to him, and with one last look at Gwen and Fareed, as if he was asking their permission, Ryan reached back.

Fareed’s mind almost snapped when a tiny whimper escaped Gwen as she let Ryan go. He was about to snatch him back when her hand on his arm stopped him. He wouldn’t have stopped if he’d seen dread filling her eyes. But what he saw there…it was something truly feminine, knowing, almost…serene.

He stood beside her, confounded, watched his father caress Ryan, murmur things for his ears only, what Ryan clearly liked.