Marrying My Secret Baby Daddy

POV Audrey

"You'd make an exceptional CEO, Audrey. But it's not that simple."

The words hang in my grandfather’s mahogany-paneled office like a blade suspended over my head.

For one breathless moment, joy floods through me—validation of years bleeding myself dry for Lennox Industries, recognition of every sixteen-hour day, every sacrificed weekend with Oliver. Then the second part registers.

Not that simple.

The joy curdles into something bitter and familiar. Because with my grandfather, nothing ever is.

I sit across from him, quarterly reports spread between us—numbers that prove my brilliance, my dedication, my worth.

Years of proving myself, and still—not that fucking simple.

Apparently with William Lennox, simplicity is a privilege, never a policy.

"The Pacific route transformation was remarkable," Grandfather says, his fingers tracing the profit margins. "Revenue up forty percent in eighteen months. The board was impressed."

The compliment tastes like honeyed praise. I lean forward, matching his calculating gaze. "Then they should be ready to make the right decision. Name me the CEO."

"You could appeal to the board for consideration." His pause stretches between us, heavy with unspoken conditions. "But there are... requirements they would expect met first."

My pulse hammers against my throat. "What requirements? My numbers speak for themselves. The Singapore expansion alone—"

"The board won't even consider an unmarried woman with an illegitimate child for CEO." The words drop between us like stones into still water. "I can’t put your name forward while you remain unwed, Audrey. They see it as instability, a liability in our traditional world."

Illegitimate. The word might as well be ‘bastard’ dripping from his patrician lips.

My hands curl into fists beneath the antique desk—the same desk where I used to sit as a girl, dreaming of the day I'd earn my place in this empire.