Chapter 4 - The Knees of a TitanThe silence in the East Parlor was so absolute that the crackling of the fireplace sounded like gunshots.
Meredith blinked, her smile faltering as Edward marched past her without breaking his stride. She opened her mouth to speak, but the sheer, crushing aura radiating from the billionaire froze the words in her throat.
Edward stopped two feet away from the twins.
Emily stood her ground, placing herself slightly in front of Sophie, her small chest puffed out, ready to fight for her sister. She looked up into the terrifying, towering face of the man everyone in the building whispered about.
Edward looked down.
And for the first time in ten years, the unbreakable machine of a man completely broke.
Slowly, deliberately, the billionaire lowered himself. He didn't care about the imported wool of his Italian trousers or the expensive dust on the marble floor. He dropped hard onto both knees, bringing his face level with the two little girls.
His lower lip trembled. A single tear, hot and heavy, broke from his lash and cut a clean path down his stubbled cheek.
"Emily," Edward whispered, his voice breaking into a ragged, desperate sob. "Sophie..."
Sophie peeked out from behind her sister’s shoulder. Her big, watery blue eyes widened. "You... you know our names?"
Edward reached out with hands that shook uncontrollably. He hovered them in the air, terrified that if he touched them, they would vanish like smoke—that this was just another cruel hallucination manufactured by a guilty conscience.
"I know everything, sweethearts," Edward choked out, his voice thick with a lifetime of pent-up agony and instantaneous, fierce love. "I am... I'm your daddy."
Emily stared at him, her hard little defenses slowly crumbling under the weight of the raw, undeniable pain carved into the man's face. She looked at the blue crayon letter she had clutched so tightly, and then back at Edward's eyes.
"Mommy said you had eyes like a stormy sea," Emily whispered, her lower lip wobbling. "She said you wouldn't let the wolves get us."
"Never," Edward swore, his voice rising with a ferocious, binding oath as he finally pulled them both into his arms, crushing them against his chest. "Never again. I am right here. Your daddy is right here."
Behind them, Meredith gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. "Edward... are you out of your mind? Those are random vagrants! You can't possibly—"
"Get out," Edward said.
His voice wasn't loud. It was a terrifying, dead whisper that made the temperature in the room plunge below freezing.
Meredith stepped back, horrified. "What?"
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Edward slowly turned his head, his eyes burning with the cold, merciless wrath of a predator whose den had been threatened. "If you ever look at my daughters again. If you ever speak another word in their presence. I will strip you of every asset, every diamond, and every privilege you hold, and I will throw you out onto the street with less than the clothes on your back. Get out."
Meredith didn't wait for a second warning. She turned and fled the room, her heels clicking frantically against the marble.
