Second Chances: A Romance Writers of America Collection (Stark World 2.50)

"You could have fooled me."

He deserved the bite in her words. "Things got complicated after I left," he said, reaching for the words to explain.

"You think?"

"With everything going on--" His father's fraud arrest ... His mother's flight to a non-extradition country ... And him struggling to keep his head above water in law school... "I thought a clean break was better."

"Better for whom?" She held up a hand. "Never mind. It doesn't matter. You'll be gone on Monday. Just stay away from me until then."

She stalked past him, but he caught her arm, sliding his hand down until he held her fingers. "Tori--"

A hidden door he hadn't seen in the north wall creaked open.

"Mom? Are we going soon? I'm done with my homework, and the wedding people are leaving."

The girl looked about ten. The skinny arms and legs sticking out of a school uniform were brown as a beechnut. Her hair was Victoria's wild midnight mop--and her eyes were the color of whiskey.

About ten.

Nick stared, his mouth going dry as realization slammed into his gut.

I have a kid.

VICTORIA STARED AT NICK, willing him to keep his mouth shut. All it would take was one careless word for Lorelei to realize he was her absentee father. Lore had always wondered about her daddy. It was only natural. But Tori had kept her answers vague--loved him very much but circumstances pulled us apart before we even knew you were on the way.

Standing in the vestry of First Presbyterian wasn't how she wanted her daughter to learn her father was actually a self-centered asshole who'd abandoned them both.

"I'm almost done," she said to her daughter, amazed her voice didn't crack under the strain. "Why don't you wait for me in the entry? I'll be out in a minute."

She spoke to Lorelei, but her gaze stayed on Nick, silently pleading with him not to speak. Not to ask. Either her psychic powers were improving or he was silenced by shock, because he didn't say a word as Lorelei mumbled okay and trudged out with her bulging backpack slung over one shoulder.

His gaze followed Lorelei, staring after her long after the door clicked shut and her footsteps faded away.

When he swung to face Victoria, his eyes were hard. "How could you fail to tell me I had a child?"

She tugged her hand free. "I told you I was pregnant. A kid is the standard result."

His amber eyes flared like he was the injured party. "You never told me. It's not the kind of thing I'm likely to forget."

"Are you kidding? I called. I emailed. For five weeks, I did nothing but tell you."

He opened his mouth to retort, anger sharpening the lines of his face, but realization rolled over his face like a cloud, and he went still. "I deleted them," he whispered.

"What?"

"It was September. My father had been indicted, my mom skipped the country, and I was about to flunk out of my first semester of law school. I knew if I heard your voice or saw even a single word of sympathy from you, I'd give up and run back to California with nothing, so I deleted everything without opening them." He stepped away, falling onto a chair as if his legs would no longer hold him. "I never thought--Christ. It was for the best. I was so sure--"

"So you ignored me until I went away."

"I was twenty-two and my life was falling apart."

"Funny. So was mine."

"I didn't know you were pregnant."

"Would it have made a difference?"

"Of course it would have!" He surged to his feet, pacing in the tight space. "You know it would have. You know me."