I wince at the sound of my ex-wife's melodramatic voice on the other end of the phone. It's the same words she said the night she told me she fucked her co-star in our bed. I close my office door all too aware that Olivia might hear us. The memory of that day still assaults me with a vengeance. I'm tempted to disconnect the call but I know something must be wrong because Scarlett almost never calls.

"Parker, are you there?" she calls again. "I know you're there I can practically hear you grinding your teeth."

Fucking hell. What does she want now? This woman still has her claws in me after all of this time. The wounds from that day are as fresh as if she ripped my heart out just yesterday. It takes all of my strength not to throw my cell phone across the room. If getting rid of it meant I'd never have to speak to her again, I'd destroy the damn thing in a heart beat.

Completely avoiding Scarlett is nearly impossible when you share a daughter together. She and I will be tied forever.

"Is that mommy?" Olivia asks, walking into the room and looking up at me with a beaming smile. "I want to talk to mommy."

My attention snaps back to the phone just as Scarlett's voice grows louder. She begins to call to our daughter, but I place my hand on the mic and shake my head.

"Please!" Olivia asks with a toothy smile.

The little angel has me wrapped around her delicate finger. Her eyes shine with excitement and I nearly give in to her request. Leaning down I run my fingers through her blonde curls and land a kiss on her forehead. To my amusement, she crinkles her nose and wipes my kiss from her head. I knew this day was coming. I just never expected it to happen this soon. She grew up in the blink of an eye.

"You can talk to her tomorrow morning," I say, turning back to the phone in hand. "Olivia is getting ready for bed."

My girl looks up at me with a pout that could move mountains. I would do anything for her and she fucking knows it. She takes after her mother and it's painfully obvious. Olivia has the same blonde hair and gorgeous smile, but her eyes are mine. As much as I want to hate my ex-wife, I can't even do that properly. Our daughter is a miniature replica of my ex-wife.

"Bed. Now," I command.

Olivia surrenders but not before stomping on the wood floor and giving me the cutest death glare. I can't help but chuckle. Even in her defiance she's adorable. I can think of another defiant female in my life who compels a similar reaction out of me. A certain student of mine who I can't seem to stop thinking about. Was she really meeting someone at the movies? Why was she walking in alone?

"Parker, are we going to talk?"

Scarlett's voice slices through my thoughts. My tempter gets the better of me as I growl into the phone.

"I have no idea why you're calling Scarlett but if it doesn't pertain to our daughter then I don't want to hear it."

"Parker, I think I made a mistake."

I'm tempted to ask which mistake, when there's been so many.

"Scarlett, we agreed to joint custody as long as we had limited contact." I repeat the same boilerplate language from our contract in an attempt to push her off the phone.

"You're not even going to give me a chance are you?" Her voice is on edge. It cuts through the phone and straight to my chest. The emotion displayed is fleeting. It doesn't take her long to turn her voice to the sultry liar I've come to know.

"Please, give me a chance."

"Fuck no," I growl. The shocked inhale on the other line tells me my words had the biting affect I wanted.

"What happened to you, Parker? You used to be so sweet."

You happened. I want to scream the words into the phone, words I've longed to scream for so long, but I don't bother. There's no point in dwelling over the bullshit.

"Should I call my lawyer?" I ask.

"For fuck sakes, Parker. You can be so cruel."

"Just spit it out, woman. I need to put our daughter to bed."

My words are greeted with a silent sob on the other end. The sound of her crying leaves me feeling frustrated.

"What's wrong?" I blurt.

"Oh, so now you fucking care?"

I don't care or at least that's what I tell myself. It's only half a lie. I care enough because of Olivia not because of some school boy fantasy regarding my ex-wife. In the words of Taylor Swift, my daughter's favorite singer, we are never ever getting back together.

"I'm only asking this one more time. If you don't give me a straight fucking answer I'm hanging up," I warn.

The sob on the other end of the line abruptly stops. Scarlett sniffles into the phone a few times before finally speaking again.

"I left Miles."

Miles. Fucking. Storm. Just the name is enough to send me off the deep end. Anger erupts from my chest and it takes every inch of willpower not to throw something across the room. I've never wanted someone to fall off the face of the earth, until him.

I've read the tabloids. Miles had a fiancee before he slept with my wife. I was tempted on several occasions to reach out to the woman. To convince her to take part in a twisted revenge fuck, but it didn't take me long to realize I didn't care enough to really hurt Scarlett or to lower myself to her level. Hating her takes effort. Ambivalence has always been the better play.

"Let me guess, he got bored playing house with you? Or did he finally realize you're the cold fucking succubus that you are."

"He slept with the maid and got her pregnant."

I'm not fucking surprised. The little I know about their relationship isn't good.

"Where should I pass on my congratulations?"

"You're such an ass."

"You put your bets on the wrong horse, Scarlett. As I recall, a few years ago, he went off to win back his ex-fiancee's heart. You made the mistake of taking him back. Did you think he would ever really love you?"

"I guess you and him have a lot more in common than you think," she taunts.

"We have nothing in common. Don't compare me to your dimwitted boyfriend. Or should I say ex-boyfriend."

"You never cared, Parker. You never chased me. When you found out about Miles, you just gave up on us."

If only Scarlett could see how hard I'm rolling my eyes right now. Her voice grates my ears as it begins to break again. Why would I run after a woman who didn't love me back? Who didn't respect me enough to keep her vows?

"What was I supposed to do? Forgive you for fucking him in our bed?" I ask.

"You never even confronted him."

"Why did I need to? I already knew the truth. Straight from the horse's mouth. You had no qualms about ruining the life we had together."

"If you really loved me, you would've confronted him. You would've been pissed. Yelled at me. Cursed me out. Something. Instead you just walked away. You completely shut me out and you just left. As if it meant nothing."

"Has it occurred to you that perhaps the reason why I left was because I didn't want to see you two together? That your actions gutted me?"

"You pushed me away. And in a way you pushed me to do this," she says.

"Sure, like I pushed you on top of his dick, right?"

"I would've done anything for you, Parker."

"You couldn't even keep your vows to me. What about the things you promised?" I seethe.

A creak on the floorboards tells me I'm not the only one in the room anymore. I turn to see Olivia standing in the hallway again, pajamas on and hair brushed back. Her eyes glittering with tears. The one person I never wanted to hurt is the only one who truly matters in this mess. I drop the phone to my side, trying to think of what to say to comfort her.

"Daddy, stop yelling at mommy."

Guilt plagues me as I take in her tear-stained cheeks and trembling lip. I'm not sure how long she's been listening but even a minute is too much. The hate that spewed from my lips is not something I ever wanted her to hear. It's something I've tried to keep hidden and well away from her ears.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart. Come here."

Her small little frame drops into my arms and I hold her tight against me. The smell of her shampoo fills my senses as she nuzzles her face against my neck. A simple act that pulls my heart strings.

"Daddy's sorry. It won't happen again," I say, kissing her forehead.

I mumble a goodbye to Scarlett and then hang up the phone. I know the longer I stay on the line with her, the harder it'll be to keep my promise. Besides, I'm not sure what Scarlett expects me to do with this next information. I swoop down and pick up Olivia in my arms. I'm her knight in shinning armor. Only hers.