“What do you want me to say?” he demands, and I stiffen at his tone. The harsh, bitter cadence is a damn near match for Magda’s. Their anger is as chilling as their hostility, erected like an invisible brick wall against anyone who dares approach them.
Even if that person has their heart laid bare.
“What should you say?” I hiss incredulously. “Maybe that you have a daughter!”
He’s silent, his hand on the doorknob. Despite my anger, a tiny bit of unease bites through, making me falter in my descent. Would he really try to keep me here? Trap me here?
To rebel against that very possibility, I force myself down onto the next step. Then another.
“You have a daughter, and you abandoned her,” I add to twist the knife, parroting the word Ms. Anderson had used. “You put her in foster care? So now what? You yank her back out? Is that what you wanted your fake wife for? A decoy to game the system to regain custody of your own child? Answer me! I swear to God—”
“She doesn’t know I exist.”
My shoulders deflate at the raw pain in his tone, and dizzying confusion displaces some of the anger. “So why…”
“I didn’t know she did either until two years ago,” he explains, turning to face me. His eyes trace the floor rather than meet mine directly. He cradles his temples in the palm of his hands, his jaw clenched. “One day, someone went through great lengths to slip me an envelope that contained only the picture of a five-year-old little girl and her location in an orphanage upstate. I only had to see her face, and I knew. Those eyes…” He shakes his head, clearing away the memory. “There was nothing else—no information on who left her or why. I arranged to have our DNA matched, but the results were no surprise. Afterward, I intervened to have her brought here, where she could receive an education. I secured her safety…”
The raw pain in his voice makes me sway, and I grasp for the banister, gripping it so tightly my knuckles whiten. At the same time, I grit my teeth to keep my expression from faltering. “You learned of her years ago, but you let her go into the foster care system?”
He flinches, leaning against the door as if it’s the only thing keeping him upright. “I didn’t know what to do. I… I couldn’t take care of her—not then.” He sounds so earnest about that. His tone, paired with Ena’s vague hints of his mental state, makes me wonder just how unstable he had to be at that point.
It doesn’t take rocket science to come up with the answer—so unhinged, he didn’t trust himself around his own child.
“And her mother?” I descend another step but don’t approach him.
He meets my gaze, and I know whatever he’s about to say is anything but a lie. “I can’t explain that right now. You need to trust me on that.”
But I can’t. There’s something in how his eyes shift, darkening in that way he does when his wall is up. When he’s hiding something. When he’s pushing me away.
“A one-night stand?” I prod. Somehow that possibility stings more than him having a genuine relationship. I couldn’t convince him to let me suck him off during our first meeting, and yet some other woman managed to snag his child in one go.
Lucky her.
“No,” he says, confusing me further. “It is…complicated. More than you can imagine.” His jaw clenches in that telltale hallmark of when he’s reflecting on that which haunts him the most—his past. As angry as I am now, I can’t seem to broach that topic.
So, I do the next best thing and march over to my makeshift suitcase. As I stoop for the strap, his voice rings out.
“Don’t.”
“Why not?” I hiss, placing my hand on my hip instead. “Give me one reason why I should stay? I didn’t sign up for this. You may enjoy treating people like toys, but I won’t serve as your smiling Barbie so you can acquire some poor little girl—”
“I can’t do this alone. I can’t.” His voice is so guttural each word resonates in my bones, sinking deep. “I can’t do this by myself, and I’ve worked too damn hard to secure her placement. I… I need your help. It’s why I wanted to hire…” He grits his teeth, his expression grim with determination. “Stay. I’ll give you whatever you want—”
“I want honesty!” I snap, but my voice rings out hollower than I’m used to. Broken. “I want you to tell me more than the basic, generic damn answers. Tell me the truth!”
“I will,” he counters, raising his tone to match mine. “I will. But you yourself stated that you had a perfect childhood. I was not so lucky. So do not doubt that my sole concern is Magdalene, and I will do whatever it takes to ensure that she is safe with me.”
“Is that a threat?” I try to sound nonchalant—like I’m not afraid. But when he looks as he does now…I am. His eyes blaze, ruthlessly determined.
And not for the first time, I’m forced to reconcile the fact that I have no idea what he’s capable of.
“Stay with me,” he commands, his voice slightly softer. “I cannot risk losing her to some bureaucratic miscalculation. I’ve worked too damn hard… The sacrifices I’ve made for her? You think I’ve betrayed you, fine. But understand that I can’t risk losing her placement. I can’t.”
And he’s begging me to prevent just that from happening.
“Fine.” Overwhelmed, I lift my hands in surrender. “I’ll stay until she’s placed with you—but I’m leaving after that.”
He sighs in relief. “Thank you—”
“But that is all you’re getting out of me,” I say over him, desperate to put distance between us—any petty way I can. “Forget our ‘relationship.’ There isn’t one. And I suggest you find somewhere else to sleep. Don’t touch me. Don’t talk to me. I don’t want anything to do with you.”
“S’il
