The Billionaire Playboy’s Secret Family
Chapter 61

When?

How?

"H-how is this possible?"

"I certainly hope I don't have to go through the birds and the bees talk with you," Miles sighed giving his grandson a weary glance.

Marcus felt his face warm, "How did you know about Regina?"

"I bumped into her when she tried to make her escape," Miles said thinking back to that night.

Usually after an event he had no trouble falling asleep from utter exhaustion but for some reason that night he was restless. He had gotten up to slowly make his way to the kitchen for a drink when a young woman brushed past him with a quick apology. It had not been easy trying to keep up. When he did manage to catch up to where she parked her car there was a police officer speaking with her.

Miles managed to get the officer's attention and signed for him to let her go. He was able to write down her license plate number and her name for Miles then agreed to follow her to make sure she made it to the highway all right. After that Miles devoted quite a bit of resources to track her down. The more he learned about her the more impressed he became. She wasn't like the usual women that caught Marcus's attention.

Miles let the memory run through his mind and said, "I managed to get her license plate and a name before she disappeared into the night."

"You've known where to find her this entire time? And you didn't..." Marcus hesitated looking at the profiles. "The triplets are mine? I'm a...they are...and you didn't tell me?"

"What was I going to say?" Miles asked. "Pardon your hangover but there's something you should know?"

Marcus felt his embarrassment rise again, "H-how did you even get this done?"

Miles sighed sitting in his chair, "I've always kept an eye on your-bed partners-just in case your nightly escapades led to something. Regina is the first that actually did. From the very start she was different: clever, independent. I'm not even sure how you two ended up together...but that's none of my business. I almost lost track of her. Luckily she came to the Children's Hospital for her prenatal checkups and the birth. Made it easier to get samples. A doctor friend I knew helped and kept it under wraps." Marcus felt himself shaking. He couldn't process it all. Carlos, Tony and Gabriella were his? His babies and their mother had been raising them alone without him. He missed their birth. He missed everything. And his grandfather knew! Not only did he know he even sent Marcus away! He glared at the man sitting across from him. As if unaware of Marcus's inner turmoil Miles leaned forward reaching for a picture that always sat there.

"All this time...all this time you knew. You knew I was...and you sent me away!"

"You were immature, a drunk. That wasn't the kind of man Regina or those kids needed. You needed to grow up and realize what you really needed out of life. But I didn't know how to show that to you. So I got some advice."

Miles turned the picture toward him even though Marcus had seen it a hundred times before. It was a black and white image with a small company of soldiers posing in their jungle fatigues holding their firearms.

"This tall one here, that's Tailor," Miles pointed. "And this one sort of on his own, that's Carl. And this one here, that's me. I was the oldest of the bunch. And this here, this is Augustus. He was our CO. Natural leader though he had his moments of indecision. I sort of became his confidant since I was older and because I was the medic I didn't do the fighting so he could afford to be friendlier with me. We were thick as thieves."

Marcus's expression didn't change. He heard all of this before on various occasions. His grandfather loved to tell him stories about his army buddies. But those weren't the stories he wanted to hear.

"So...I went to see Augustus for advice," Miles said. "He said the best thing to do was send you away, away from the environment that you were locked in. He said to send you somewhere you could spread your wings without all the pressures suffocating you, somewhere you could get some practice being a father and he had the perfect place in mind."

"Paris."

"You would be far away from your mother and could intern at Julius's company. We could tell people you were learning business skills. It wouldn't be a lie. But the important part was that as Julius's assistant you would have daily contact with his children. You could get experience with them and maybe see what you were missing."

"And Julius knew about this?"

"He knew I wanted you to get some practice with children. We never told him about," Miles nodded to the papers, "but he's a smart man...he probably figured it out on his own."

Marcus frowned. Julius never said a word but there were times he saw a strange smile on Julius's face when Marcus was with the kids. Was Julius imagining Marcus with his own little brood?

"And you told no one else?"

"Just Tailor."

"Tailor knows!"

"I needed to make adjustments to my will," Miles said. "I didn't know how you were going to turn out or how long it would take for a breakthrough. I needed to make sure Regina and the children were taken care of." "And yet you left in that...neighborhood?"

"You don't think I wanted to scoop them up and bring them home?" Miles scoffed. "The day they were born I snuck into the maternity ward like a thief to hold them. I watched little Savannah doting on her baby siblings while her mother napped. But if I brought them here the world would know. Your mother would know. Elizabeth would know. I couldn't do that to Regina. She was outnumbered. She needed you beside her ready and willing to fight for her and the children before she faced them." Marcus clenched his jaw imaging the hell Elizabeth would have put her through knowing the kids were untouchable and his mother... Marcus found himself shaking at the thought of his mother being anywhere near the precocious, little Gabriella. "...So, you got to hold them?" Marcus asked.

"For a few minutes."

"You held them before me."

Miles grimaced. Under any other circumstances and by all rights Marcus should have been the first to hold them after Regina. It was a privilege he had been denied.

"I did what I could without drawing attention to them," Miles sighed. "I tried to keep their medical bills up-to-date. It was easy since she kept using the Children's Hospital for their care. I would have simply paid it off but people would have definitely noticed. Regina would have noticed. I didn't want her getting spooked and taking the kids elsewhere."

"That's why you started sponsoring STEM educational projects," Marcus said.

Miles smiled, "Savannah's brilliant, isn't she? That girl will either save the world or destroy it. Best to stay on her good side. Her father doesn't know what he gave up when he turned his back on them."

"So all of that about her high school boyfriend...that's all true?"

Miles nodded, "I had Tailor look into it."

Marcus gritted his teeth at how much Regina suffered because of that imbecile. First he pressured Regina to have sex then abandoned her the moment there were consequences. While she had help from her family it wasn't the same as the support of a caring partner.

And for five years he hadn't done much better. Forget the fact he didn't know...it was small comfort. He had seen the kids numerous times and not once did he feel anything but a desire to see them more. The boys bore a remarkable resemblance to him. Why didn't he notice it until now? There were so many signs...

The boys' features, their allergy to strawberries...

His immediate attachment to Gabriella who suffered from a cardiovascular disease threatening her life that even Bernice warned could have a genetic basis...

Why didn't he put any of it together?