Millionaire Daddy (Freeman Brothers 2)

Back then I was able to cover myself by saying we weren’t living in the same country. I didn’t have any contact information for him. I didn’t even know his last name. Those made sense. They were perfectly viable reasons I couldn’t get in touch with Darren and tell him about our baby. She accepted that begrudgingly, but still insisted I do whatever I could to figure out a way.

Now, I was out of excuses. Darren was no longer living in a different country because I packed up everything and moved down here with the express purpose of eventually finding him and telling him the truth. I absolutely had contact information for him, right down to knowing exactly where he worked on a daily basis. Because it was right across the garage from me. And I was very familiar with his last name. There was nothing left to hold me back except my own fear and uncertainty, and I couldn’t give in to that anymore.

And it was exactly that fear that brought me to tears and made me feel like there was no way I was going to be able to handle this. It was too much and crushing down on me too hard.

But Kira was there with me now, and I felt stronger just to have my twin beside me. She knew everything I’d gone through and what I was feeling. She also was going to be the one to not let me waver on my mission to finally get this out. If I started to hesitate or stopped before I got it all out, she would be there to make sure I kept going. It was truly the point of no return when he knocked on the door and I realized he was just a few feet away. Not just from me, but from where my two-year-old was sleeping. Where our two-year-old was sleeping. There was no turning back now. I couldn’t just let him in and pretend I had some other reason for inviting him over.

He could tell something was wrong as soon as he walked in the house. That was probably for the better. I wouldn’t want to trail him along any more than I already had. When he sat down on the couch in the living room, it felt like every word I’d ever come up with, everything I’d ever planned on saying to him, just evaporated. I’d practiced ahead of time. More times than I could even count, I came up with ways I broach the topic or how I would ease into the conversation with him. But all that disappeared as soon as he sat down.

So now I was pacing back and forth, trying to find my words again. Finally, there was really nothing else I could do. The whole thing was already a shitshow, so I didn’t know what else to do but rip off the Band-Aid. I stopped in front of Darren and stared right into his eyes.

“You have a daughter,” I blurted out. Then I drew in a breath to clarify. “We have a daughter.”

It was the moment I’d been dreading for more than two years. It was out there now. I’d said the words, and there was no way to gather them back up out of the air and stuff them back into my mouth. The announcement hung there in between us. It wasn’t in my control anymore. I’d transferred it over to him, and all I could do was wait to see what he would say. If he would say anything. It was entirely possible he would just get up and walk out of the apartment, call Quentin, and have my notice of termination emailed to me before I could get the dead bolt locked.

Darren didn’t do either. He just sat there. All he did was look at me, not speaking, not blinking. Possibly not even breathing. I took that as my cue to just keep going. I was waiting to give him more of an explanation of what happened for after he had a chance to respond, but since he didn’t do that, I just went on with it.

“Her name is Willa. She’s a little over two years old. Obviously. I fully understand if you want to do a DNA test to make sure I’m telling you the truth. But I can assure you, there is absolutely no chance whatsoever she is anybody’s but yours. At this point, I know I really don’t have a bargaining chip of any kind, but I just want to go on record as asking… can you please not take her from me? She’s my everything.”

Darren just went right on staring at me, not saying anything, not seeming to react in any way. I looked over at my sister, who moved toward the edge of the seat cushion and leaned forward toward Darren.