Stripped Bare (Vegas Billionaire 1)

“Hey,” I say because that is the only word my brain can formulate at the moment.

“My mom says you have something to tell me.”

My eyes go from Morgan’s to Macey’s and she’s cocking her eyebrow as if to tell me she’s holding me accountable for everything.

“We both do,” I counter and point to the kitchen table. Even though it seats only two, I don’t need to sit.

We walk over there and Macey sits, pulling Morgan into her lap, leaving me the vacant chair. With my hands folded I look at the two of them, each about to destroy me in different ways.

“Morgan, I’m not sure there is an easy way to say this or if I’m supposed to blurt it out.”

“Mom says being honest and kind and always telling the truth is what makes you a good person.”

“Your mom is right, never forget that.” I take a deep breath and look at my daughter, ready to spill the beans. “Morgan, I’m your dad.”

The room goes silent and I watch her face morph from content to confusion and maybe even anger. Shit, maybe Macey was right and we should’ve waited until later, but I didn’t want to keep putting it off. I didn’t want to keep finding excuses as to why it’s not the right time to tell her.

“Morgan,” Macey hedges, but she doesn’t say anything. My daughter sets her steely blue eyes onto me and glares. She has to know that if I knew I would’ve been here. I believe that in my heart.

She opens her mouth to say something, but tears take over instead and she buries her head into Macey’s shoulder. Morgan mumbles something about food and living, hitting home the magnitude of the situation. Macey let me buy her to give our daughter a better life and if this is the life, I don’t want to know where they were living before.

“Morgan, I promise you from this point forward you will have no worries. None whatsoever. I’m sorry I wasn’t here. Your mom tried to tell me, but someone prevented me from knowing about you.” I touch her arm lightly and return to the sofa, letting her and Macey have their moment together. I fight back the tears as I imagine the squalor they lived in, remembering what the house was like when I dropped Macey off after our first night together.

Anger bubbles within. I’m pissed at my mom for keeping this from me. For keeping Morgan from our family and for single-handedly ensuring they would live in the slums. Yes, that is my mother’s fault. All she had to do was tell me about Macey and the baby and I would’ve taken care of them.

“You know what,” I say, standing and coming over to them. “I’m sorry, Morgan. I’m sorry that you’ve lived in . . . I don’t even know the right words, but that will never ever happen again. If you want to hate me, you can, but know that I’m going to make sure you’re the happiest kid in the world. And if your mom never wants to work again, she doesn’t have to.”

“How? Are you rich or something?”

I stand tall and proud. “So rich and you can have it all.”

23

Macey

It doesn’t take much coaxing to get Morgan out of the house, especially once Finn told her that we’d be going out on a yacht and he’d teach her to ride a Jet Ski. I balked because she doesn’t know how to swim, but that didn’t seem to faze Finn. It may have Morgan, but I think she’s excited to experience something she never has. He also mentioned taking her shopping later, which I really shook my head at, but Finn ignored me. Having him in her life, which I know is going to be a good thing for her, is going to be hard for me to take. I can’t offer her the material things he can and while I don’t want her to become spoiled, I do want her to have things the other kids do. I want her to fit in and know that she’s loved. Not that money and love go hand in hand, but for a kid it does. For a kid it means everything, especially when you’ve grown up with nothing.

Never in a million years would I expect to be riding in a car with Finn and Morgan; only in my wildest dreams have I even imagined this scenario, us as a family, even if we’re a broken one, spending the day together. I tried to be strong and tell Finn no, but the problem with Finn is that the word no doesn’t exist in his vocabulary unless he’s the one saying it. I could tell him no until I’m blue in the face and he’ll try a different approach until he has me whittled down to a pile of mush and saying yes. Finn is a master manipulator and he knows it.