Songs for this chapter are:

Tessa's POV.

"That's impossible," I stand to my feet but quickly sit back down on the bench when the grass underneath me feels sways unsteadily.

"It's true, Hardin is Christian's son," Kimberly says, her blue eyes bright and focused.

"But Ken.. Hardin looks just like him," I remember the first time I met Ken Scott inside of a yogurt shop. I immediately knew he was Hardin's father, his dark hair and his height brought me to the easy conclusion.

"Does he? I don't really see it, except the hair color. Hardin has the same eyes as Christian, the same facial structure.." She says.

Does he? I struggle to picture the three faces. Christian has dimples like Hardin and the same eyes.. but it just doesn't make sense. Ken Scott is Hardin's father, he has to be. Christian looks so young compared to Ken. I know they are the same age but Ken's alcoholism took a toll on his appearance. He's still a handsome man but the liquor has aged him.

"This is.." I struggle for words and air.

"I know. I've wanted to tell you so bad. I hated keeping this from you but it wasn't my place." she puts her hand on mine and squeezes gently. "Christian assured me that as soon as Anne gave him permission he would tell Hardin," Kimberly's expression is apologetic as she removes her hand and picks at her fingernails.

"I just.." I take a deep breath, "that's what Christian is doing now? He's telling Hardin now?" I stand up again. "I have to go to him. He is going to-" I can't even begin to fathom how Hardin will react to the news, especially after finding Anne and Christian together last night.

"He is. Anne hasn't agreed fully but Christian said she was close enough," Kim sighs. I can't believe Anne would hide this from Hardin. I thought more of her, much more.

"Do you want to know the backstory? How it all came to be this way?" My friend asks me. My phone is already pressed to my cheek, Hardin's line ringing in my ear.

"I told Christian that he shouldn't separate you two when he told him but Anne recommended that if he does it, he needed to do it alone," Kimberly's mouth presses into a hard line at the seocnd mention of Anne's name.

I reach the dull tone of the automated system on Hardin's voicemail for the second time. "Can you take me to him? Please? You can tell me the story on the way but I have to be there for him."

"Yes. Of course," Kimberly joins me on her feet and calls for Smith.

"Does Smith know?" I ask.

Smith is Hardin's brother. Hardin has a little brother. Landon.. what does that mean for Landon and Hardin? Will Hardin want anything to do with him now that he doesn't have any family ties? And Karen, what about sweet Karen and her baked goods. And Ken, what about the man who tries to hard to make up for  the terrible childhood of a boy who isn't his son. Does Ken know? My head is spinning and I need to see him. I need to make sure that Hardin knows I am here for him and we will figure this out together.

"No," Kimberly answers after a few beats of silence. "We thought he did because of the way he is with Hardin but he couldn't. I won't be able to tell you on the way but maybe we will catch Christian in time," I feel for Kimberly. She already has to deal with her fiancé's infidelity now this. Smith approaches us and follows to the car without saying a word.

The panic in my chest rises and falls, rises and falls, as we drive through Hampstead to find Hardin and his father.

Hardin's POV.

I look at the panicked man in front of me, his green eyes on fire, and his frantic fingers are running over his hair. It takes me a moment to realize that my hands are doing the exact same thing.

I drop my hands quickly and look back to the table. Robin's eyes are cast down and Max has dragged his whore out of the place, leaving the scene before the bomb she dropped explodes.

This makes no sense to me. What she said isn't possible.

"This isn't how I wanted you to find out," Vance says.

"I-" I begin to speak. "You're saying-" my mind is moving too quickly for my mouth. "You're saying that she's right? That you are.."

"Yes," he says, cutting in. "That's what I'm saying. I wanted to sit you down and tell you before something like this happened. It's all been spiraling lately," he says in frustration.

The sound of snapping wood sounds throughout the bar.

"Hardin, stop!" Vance's voice echoes through the space. Another snap, followed by the sound of breaking glass.

Several screams are heard through the bar, breaking me out of my trance. I look down at my hands and find the splintered end of an expensive wooden chair leg. I drop it quickly as if it burned my skin.

"Get him out of here before they call the police!" Robin says, his voice louder than I've ever heard it before.

"Get the fuck off of me!" I shrug away from Vance's arms as he tries to wrap them around me in an attempt to expel me from the bar.

"Do you want to go to jail?" He shouts, only inches from my face. I want to tackle him to the ground and wrap my hands around his neck.

I look around the expensive bar, noting the shattered tumblers on the floor, the broken chair, the horrified expressions of the luxurious patrons. They must be pissed that I disrupted their overpriced pursuit of happiness.

"Get in my car and I'll explain everything to you," Christian is by my side again as I storm out of Gabriel's before the police arrive.

"You can't be my father, it's not possible." I approach his rental car, pulling the handle open the moment the doors are unlocked.

I don't know how to feel or what to say. Despite the confession, I can't wrap my mind around this. It makes no sense.

"It doesn't make  a bit of sense, none of it." I sit in the passenger seat of his rental car. Did he rent a separate car for Kimberly or is Tessa stranded at that damn park? "Kimberly has a car right?" I ask, temporarily changing the subject. Christian looks over at me with an incredulous look.

"Yes of course she does," the low purr of the expensive rental heightens as he zips through traffic. "I'm sorry that you found out this way. Everything was coming together for a while but then it started to slip," he sighs. I stay silent, knowing I will lose my shit if I open my mouth.

"I'm going to explain it to you but you have to keep an open mind, okay?"

"Don't fucking talk to me like a god damned child," I hiss.

 He sighs, "you know that I grew up with your dad- Ken, we were mates since I can remember."

"Actually I didn't know that, I don't know shit about anything apparently," I stare out the window.

"Well it's true, we grew up almost as brothers,"

"Then you fucked his wife?" I interrupt his bedtime story.

"Look," he nearly growls. His hands are white knuckled, tightly gripping the steering wheel. "I'm trying to explain it to you so please just let me speak," he takes a deep breath. "To answer your question, it wasn't like that. Your mum and Ken began dating in high school when your mum moved to Hampstead. She was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen," my stomach turns at the memory of his mouth on hers.

"But Ken swept her off her feet immediately. They spent every moment of every day together, Max and his wife Denise as well. The five of us had formed a little clique you could say," he sighs, his voice is distant, lost in the ridiculous memory.

"She was witty, smart, and head over heels for your dad-, fuck. I'm not going to be able to stop calling him that," he groans. "but when Ken got into university with a full scholarship and early admission, he became busy. Too busy for her. He would spend hours upon hours at the school. It quickly became the four of us and things between your mum and I.. well my feelings grew tremendously and hers began. I always loved her, she knew that, but she loved him and he was my best friend," Vance takes a momentary break to switch lanes and turn the air conditioning on. The air is heavy and thick and my mind is fucking whirling.

"As the days and nights went by we became.. intimate, not sexually at this point but we were both giving into our feelings and not holding back,"

"Spare me the fucking details," I clench my fists on my lap, forcing my mouth to close so he can finish.

"Okay," he stares ahead out the windshield, "well one thing led to another and we were having a full blown affair at this point. Ken had no idea. Max and Denise suspected something but neither of them spoke up,"

"Your father got an even earlier admission due to his high test scores and he was gone even more. I begged your mum to leave him for neglecting her. I know it's fucked up but I loved her. She was the only escape I had from my own self destructive behaviors," his brows knit together.

"I cared about Ken but I couldn't see past my love for her. I never could see past it."

"And.." I press him to continue.

"And so when she announced that she was pregnant, I thought we would run away together and that she would marry me instead of him. I promised her that if she chose me I would quit fucking off and I would be there for her.. for you," I feel his eyes on me but I refuse to look into them.

 "Your mum felt I wasn't stable enough for her and I sat there biting my tongue while her and your- Ken, announced that they were expecting and that they would be married that same week,"

What the fuck?

"I wanted the best for her and I couldn't drag her through the mud and ruin her reputation by telling ken, or anyone else, the truth of what happened between us. I kept telling myself that he had to know deep down that it wasn't his child inside of her. Your mum swore that he had not touched her in months," his shoulders shake lightly as an evident chill runs through him.

"I stood there in my suit at their small wedding as his best man. I knew he would give her what I couldn't. I wasn't even planning to go to university. All I did with my time was pawn after a married woman and memorize pages from old novels that would never become my life. I had no plan, no money, and she needed both of those things,"

"So basically my mum used you for her entertainment and tossed you aside because you had no money?" I don't recognize my voice as I ask the question.

"No. She didn't use me," he lets out a deep breath, "I know it seems that way and it's such a fucked up situation but she had to think of you and your future. I was a fuck up, I had nothing going for me."

"And now you have millions," I bitterly remark. How can he defend my mum after all this shit? What is wrong with him?

"Yes, but there was no way to know how I would turn out. Ken had his shit together and I didn't. Period."

"Until he started getting shitfaced every night," my anger is building again. I feel as if I will never escape this anger as the sharp sting of betrayal cuts through me. I spent my childhood with a fucking drunk while Vance was living the high life.

"That was another one of my fuck ups," Christian says. "I went through a lot of shit after you were born but I enrolled in university and loved her from afar.."

"Until?"

"Until you were about five years old. It was your birthday and you came running into the kitchen yelling for your daddy," his voice cracks and I ball my fists tighter. "You had a book clutched to your chest and for a second I forgot that you weren't talking to me."

"Let me out of the car," I demand. I can't listen to this anymore. This is so fucked up. It's too much for me to comprehend at once.

He ignores my requests and keeps driving along the residential street, "I lost it that day. I demanded that your mum tell Ken the truth. I was sick of watching you grow up and by then I had already secured my plans to move to America. I begged her to come with me, and to bring you, my son."

My son.

My stomach lurches. I should just jump out of the moving car. I will take physical pain over this any day.

"But she refused and told me that she had some testing done and.. and you weren't my child after all."

"What?" I reach up to rub my temples.

"She panicked I guess, I don't know.  I knew she was lying, she admitted there were no tests many years later. But at the time she was adamant, she told me to leave it alone and apologized for making me think you were mine." He's running every stoplight, I'm sure it's his way to ensure that I don't jump out of the car.

"Another year went by and we began speaking again.." something is off in his tone.

"You began fucking again," I assume.

"Yes.. every time we were near one another, we made the same mistake. Ken was working a lot, studying for his master's and she was home with you. You were always so much like me, every time I came over you had your face buried between pages. I don't know if you remember but I would always bring books to you. I gave you my copy of The Gatsby,"

"Stop," I cringe at the adoration in his voice while distorted memories fog my mind.

"We kept this going on and off for years and we thought everyone was oblivious. It was my fault, I could never stop loving her. No matter what I did, she haunted me. I moved closer to their house, directly across the street. Your father knew, I don't know how he knew but it became clear that he did. He started drinking then."

"So you left me there with an alcoholic father who was only an alcoholic because of you and my mum?" I seethe.

"I tried to convince her Hardin. I don't want you blaming her but I tried to tell her to bring you to live with me but she wouldn't," his hands run over his hair and he tugs at the roots. "His drinking became heavier and more frequent every week but she still wouldn't admit that you were mine, not even to me, so I left. I had to leave." He stops talking and when I look over at him his eyes are blinking rapidly. I reach for the door handle but he presses his foot on the gas.

"I moved to America and I didn't hear from your mum for years until Ken finally left. She had no money and was working herself to the bone. I had already started bringing in money, not nearly as much as I have now, but I had enough to spare. I came back here and got a place for us, the three of us, and I took care of her in his absence but she grew more and more distant from me. Ken sent divorce papers from wherever the hell he ran off to and she still didn't want anything permanent from me. After all I did, I still wasn't enough," Christian frowns.

I remember knowing that he took us in and took care of us after my dad left but I never thought too much into it. I had no idea that he had a history with my mum or that I could be his son. My already tattered view of my mum is completely shredded now. I have lost all respect for her.

 "So when she moved back into that house I still took care of both of you financially, but I went back to America. Your mum started returning my checks each month and I had assumed that she found someone else."

"She didn't. She just spent every hour of every day working." I remark. My teenage years were lonely at home, that's why I found company with the wrong crowd.

"I think she was waiting for him to come back," he says. "But he never did. He stayed a drunk year after year until he finally decided he had enough. I didn't talk to him for years until he contacted me when he moved to the states. He was sober and I had just lost Rose," he explains.

"Rose was the first woman since your mum that I could look at and not see Anne's face. She was the sweetest woman and she made me happy. I knew I would never love anyone as bright as I did your mum but I was content with Rose. We were happy and I was building a life with her but I was damned and she grew sick. She gave birth to Smith and I lost her,"

"Smith," I gape. I've been too busy trying to put the fucked up pieces together to even think about the boy. What does this mean? Fuck.

"I thought of him as my second chance to be a father. He made me whole again after his mother died. I was always reminded of you as a boy, he looks just like you did when you were young, only lighter hair and eyes." I remember Tessa claiming the same thing after we met the kid but I don't see it.

"This is.. this is fucked up," is all I can think to say. My phone vibrates in my pocket but I can't seem to move to answer it.

"I know it is and I'm sorry. When you moved to America I thought I would be able to be close with  you without being a father figure. I stayed in contact with your mum, hired you on at Vance, and tried to grow as close to you as you would let me. I repaired my relationship with Ken, even though there will always be hostility, he pitied me after I lost my wife and he has changed so much. I only wanted to be close to you, I would take anything I could get. I know you hate me now but I would like to think I accomplished that for a little while at least,"

"You've been lying to me my entire life,"

"I know,"

"So have my mum and my- Ken,"

"Your mum is still in denial." He makes another excuse for her. "She will barely admit it now and as for Ken, he always had his suspicions but your mum has never confirmed it. He still holds on to the slight chance that you are his son,"

"You're telling me that Ken Scott is stupid enough to believe that I'm his child after all the years of you two fucking around behind his back?"

"No," the car finally stops. "He's not stupid. He's hopeful. He loved you, he still loves you and you are the only reason he stopped drinking and went back to finish his degree. Even though he knew the possibility was there, he still did all of that for you. He regrets all the hell he put you through and all the shit that happened to your mum," I flinch at the haunting images flowing behind my eyes.

"There wasn't any testing done? How do you know your even my father?" I can't believe this question is being asked.

"I know it. You know it too." He says, "everyone always said how much you looked like Ken but I know it's my blood that runs through your veins. The timeline doesn't add up for him to be your father. There is no way that she was pregnant by him,"

My phone continues to buzz.

"Why now? Why are you telling me this now?" I ask him, my voice raising, my barely existent patience evaporating.

"Because your mum has grown paranoid. Ken mentioned something to me two weeks ago, asking you to get some blood testing done to help Karen and I brought it up to your mum,"  

"Testing for what? What does Karen have to do with any of this?" The insistent buzzing in my pocket hasn't stopped.

"You should answer that. Kimberly is calling me as well," he glances at the cell phone resting on the console. I shake my head at him. I will call her as soon as I am out of this car.

"I really am sorry for all of this. I shouldn't have went to her house last night. I don't know what I was thinking. She called me and I just.. I don't know what the hell I was thinking. Kimberly is to be my wife. I love her more than anything, even more than I ever loved your mum. It's a different type of love, it's reciprocated and she is everything to me. I made a huge mistake by seeing your mum again and I will spend my life making up for that. I won't be surprised if Kim leaves me but I will do what I can to prevent that from happening,"

"You probably shouldn't have been trying to fuck my mum on the counter,"

"I know that. She sounded panicked and she said she wanted to make sure her past was in the past before her wedding and I am a poster for terrible decisions." He taps his fingers on the steering wheel, shame clear in his voice. 

"So am I," I mumble to myself and reach for the handle.

"Hardin," he reaches for my arm.

"Don't," I pull my arm away and step out of his car. I need time to process all of this shit. I have just been bombarded with too many answers to questions I never even knew to ask. I need to breath, I need to calm down, I need to get away from him and get to her.

I look around the street, instantly recognizing it. I'm only blocks from my mum's house. My blood is pounding behind my ears as I reach into my pocket to call her. I need to hear her voice, I need her to bring me back to reality.

My demons are battling inside of me, pulling me into the comfortable darkness. The pull is stronger and deeper with each unanswered ring, my feet carry me down the street and across the block.

I push my phone back into my pocket and walk into the familiar scenery of my past.

Tessa's POV.

"Where is he?" Broken glass crunches under my feet.

"He left with Christian Vance," Robin says, his eyes void of all emotion. This is his wedding day and it's been ruined.

"Where did they go?" I look around at the broken wood and ignore the whispers coming from the nosey onlookers. My stomach is in knots and I try to hold myself together.

"I don't know," he buries his head in his hands.

"The police are here," Kimberly says, tapping my shoulder. I glance back and forth between the door and Robin before following Kimberly outside to prevent any attention to myself from the officials. 

 "Can you try Christian again? I'm sorry, I just need to talk to Hardin," I shiver despite the warm spring air.

"I'll try again," she promises and we walk across the parking lot to the car.

A slow sinking feeling sets in my stomach as I watch a police officer enter the swanky bar. I'm terrified for Hardin, not because of the police, but because I am afraid of how he will handle this information especially when he's alone with Christian.

Smith is sitting quietly in the backseat of the car and I lean my elbows onto the trunk and close my eyes.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Kimberly shouts, breaking me from my thoughts. "Well find him," she snaps and ends the call.

"What's happening?" I ask her. My heart is pounding so loud that I'm afraid I won't hear her answer.

"Hardin got out of the car and Christian doesn't know where he is," she gathers her hair and pulls it into a ponytail. "It's almost time for that damn wedding," she says, looking toward the door of the bar where Robin stands, alone.

"This is a disaster," I groan, sending a silent prayer that Hardin is on his way here. I grab my phone again and some of the panic decreases when I see his name on the missed call list. With shaking hands, I dial him back and wait. And wait. I call back, again and again, only to get his voicemail each time.

(thank you for over 100 million! well 101mill now! I hope everyone had a good weekend, I did! It went too fast of course, but it was good! I love you guys so much! And for those of you who aren't fans of One Direction and have asked who Anne is cast as, I picture her as Hardin Scott actual mother but you are free to cast her (or anyone else really) yourself! Especially now that Anne isn't the most favorable character!