Harper’s living room felt like a dentist’s office with its bland interior, large fish tank, and impersonal feel. He didn’t see her living here. She was wild and bright, not muted and dull. He’d always envisioned her room in gold with glitter, or some sequin shit.

Seated on an uncomfortable, pale blue loveseat the woman had called it, he waited impatiently with his leg bouncing. The last thing he wanted to do was give her father the wrong impression, so he sat up straight and tried to act the part of a worthy male.

The large man finally made his way into the room and Trent started to stand.

“No need. This won’t take long.” His voice was hard and unkind.

Trent knew he was in trouble, but he and Harper could handle this. She was his rock, and with her they could get through anything. As if summoned by his thoughts Harper appeared in the doorway, arms across her middle and head down as she walked through the door to stand beside her father. Even though Trent felt the heavy weight of the situation on his shoulders, the sight of Harper made his heart rate spike and his head swim.

“My daughter is pregnant.” Her dad said with no preamble. Just a quick sucker punch to the kidneys.

Trent’s gaze swung to Harper who was still eyeing the ground. They’d been so careful and used protection every time except once. Just one time. And he’d pulled out! Panic filled his chest and his plans for a life with Harper seemed to come crashing to the floor.

His words jumbled in his throat as he tried to speak. “Sir, I—I didn’t think . . .” Trent had never felt so stupid in his life. He shoved his hands through his hair. Though he’d expected anger and yelling, Harper’s dad did nothing of the sort.

“I will tell you how this is going to work out.” Crossing his arms over his chest, he leaned back on the chair behind him.

The smirk on his face told Trent all he needed to know. But Trent wouldn’t be pushed away. He wasn’t ready for a kid, but he’d still be in Harper’s life.

“My daughter is going to have this kid, and her aunt or grandmother is going to take care of it while she is in college upstate—”

“Wait, what?” Trent considered himself a smart person. He knew her father would be pissed about their relationship, and with Harper being pregnant things had gotten even further out of control. But Trent had never expected Harper to be moved out of the state. Maybe he should have, but with Harper’s eighteenth birthday just next year, Trent settled just a bit. She would be in control of her future and not her father. But that was so long away, what about his kid?

The man took a step forward. “Harper applied for MIT and was accepted.”

Trent’s gaze moved to Harper, but still, she didn’t meet his gaze. He didn’t know how far Massachusetts was from Kentucky, but he knew it was a hell of a lot farther than she’d ever told him she was going.

“Harper?” Trent called and finally she looked up at him. Her eyes were red from crying and he felt damned close to breaking down. She’d probably just been too nervous to tell him about the college, or maybe her father had forced her to apply; either way, he wanted to be with her. If that meant being apart for a few months until he could raise the money to get to her and his kid, he’d do just that.

She took a small step forward. “Trent—”

Her father stopped her by putting out his hand. Looking at Trent, he said, “I’m sorry, but there is no easy way to say this. You clearly don’t belong here. And my daughter certainly deserves better than you. You understand me?”

Trent almost chuckled. He’d heard that so many times, it no longer made him angry. Everyone thought he didn’t belong, but none of those people mattered. When he had needed someone most, Harper appeared out of the darkness and healed old wounds and loneliness. He’d given her every piece of himself without fear.

“Sir, I know I don’t—”

“Well, I’m glad we agree on something,” he spoke over Trent.

Trent shook his head, looking to Harper for help, but she only stood silently staring out the window. He knew this could be the last time he was able to see her, but he didn’t want to believe they would be dismantled so easily.

“Now, if you come near Harper again, I will go to the police and explain how my daughter was raped in my own home . . .”

Trent was so shocked he jumped to his feet. It wasn’t even the words that had him stunned the most, but how casually he threw around false claims of rape. And to top it off, his girlfriend just stood idly by, seemingly not affected by the words. Was this some bad dream gone wrong?

“And, as you know,” he continued, “I am a judge, who is friends with all the other judges in the area. Harper tells me the night you took advantage of her was on your birthday, and you are what now?” He didn’t wait for Trent to answer. “Eighteen. Eighteen makes you a legal adult. Do you know what kind of time you’d be looking at as an adult?”

“I didn’t rape anyone!” He turned to Harper. “Tell him. Tell him what happened that night!” Trent moved until he stood directly in front of her. “Tell him that you took me there. You wanted to be with me.” Trent ran his hands through his hair. He didn’t understand what was happening. Her silence was killing him. Her father’s indifference to his words only made matters worse.

“Harper, tell the young man what you told me,” her father asked in a soft voice.

Trent looked to Harper and waited. His heart stuttered in his chest when she looked at him.

“I didn’t want to go there that night. You’d pressured me over the past year, so I finally gave in.” Her words sounded rehearsed—staged.

It was as if the magical string holding Trent up for the past year had been cut with her sharp words. He stumbled back, nearly collapsing on the floor.

It wasn’t that he thought she believed the words coming out of her mouth. No, what he couldn’t believe was the empty girl standing in front of him. The fight had been completely erased and she was no longer Harper. The outspoken, lively, and bright woman he’d known was gone.

“Did he tell you to say that?” he spat.

Harper paused, looking up to her father before looking back. Tears fled her eyes and he wanted to reach for her. He wanted to hold her and take her away, but he didn’t. If she wasn’t going to fight for him, how would they ever win? Her father did have connections, but Trent needed Harper on his side because he couldn’t do this without her.

She shook her head. “It’s not even that.”

Confused, he asked, “Then what?” He knew he sounded broken, but he just couldn’t bring himself to care.

She sighed. “You can’t take care of this kid, and I can’t either. I want to go to college. I don’t want my kid to have the life you did.”

Hearing those words pass her lips sobered him up. What was she saying? Trent would be like his father and walk out on her? He thought she knew him better than that.

“I mean, if we stay together, I’d have to sacrifice more than you would.”

Appalled at the idea, Trent said, “And why is that? Why would you have to give anything up?” She could go to college. He’d follow her. Yes, it’d be hard and stressful, but Trent believed Harper was worth it. He was just now realizing Harper didn’t feel the same about his worth.

She moved next to him. Trent glanced at her father to gauge his reaction. “I’d end up like your mother,” she continued. “At home raising a kid, while you worked all day. You wouldn’t want to come home to the stress of a wife and kid after a long, hard day. This just wouldn’t work, Trent. We have to realize that.”

His heartache transformed to anger. “You actually believe that pile of shit, or are you just parroting your dad’s words?” He nodded over at her father who happily sat by, watching his daughter crush what was left of Trent’s heart and dreams.

She tried to take his hand but Trent pulled back. “I’m just telling the truth. You know I am.”

Trent stood. It was clear she wasn’t going to fight for them, and even if he got her alone he wasn’t sure he could change her mind. Fear was a great motivator. And the thought she’d become like his mother must have overpowered any love she harbored for him.

“Imagine what people would say if they found out my bloodline, my own flesh and blood, was sullied with some white trash nobody?” Her father chuckled. “They would lose all respect for our family, and I’d see you in jail before I let that happen.”

“You’d let him do that?” Trent asked Harper. Even as he now questioned her love for him he didn’t think she agreed with what her father wanted to do, but he didn’t think she’d try hard to stop him either.

She shook her head. “No Trent, but my dad worked hard to move his way up and become a judge. Those who supported him along the way won’t be happy about this. I’m not saying what he is trying to do is right. I just think we should listen to him. You and I don’t mix. People aren’t going to understand it.” Tears streamed down her face.

Now he got it. It wasn’t just a money thing, it was also a race issue. Their struggle was harder than his, and they couldn’t be caught mixing with the people who’d helped hold them down. As Trent stood and headed for the door, he understood what they were both telling him.

Message received loud and clear.

But one thing was for certain . . . history had proven time and time again that being white was right, and no matter how much that family thought otherwise, Trent knew the truth was worth something.