I can’t wait for New Year’s!” Haley says with her eyes locked on her phone in her hand. She shovels some cereal into her mouth with the other and a bit of milk drips over her chin. “Max and Phoebe live just a few blocks away from Times Square! Isn’t that cool?”

“You know…” I look up from my morning coffee, “I haven’t agreed to this New York trip yet.”

She looks at me across the table with little puppy eyes. “Come on, Dad. It’s Max.”

I raise a brow. “Exactly.”

“He used to babysit me!” she argues.

“Clearly an error in parental judgment on my part.”

She scoffs. “Pleeeeeeease.”

I laugh. Honestly, I already had a long, pointed discussion about this trip with Max while he was here. He assured me that she won’t be exposed to anything too sultry — his word, not mine. I agreed to the trip but there’s nothing I like more than torturing her about it.

“I’ll think about it,” I say.

She glares at me for a moment before turning back to her phone. “You could always come along, you know,” she adds. “Maybe planning a fun vacation is just what you need to get out of your funk.”

I stifle a yawn. “I’m not in a funk.”

“You’re the mayor of Funkytown, Dad.”

“There’s no funk in my town.”

“Still, I don’t think Max will mind you taking a couch. He said I could have their roommate’s room and their roommate could share their room, so I guess they have a pull-out in there or something.”

I nearly choke on my coffee.

The doorbell rings. Haley drops her spoon into her bowl and hops out of her chair.

“I’ll get it,” she says.

I wipe the coffee off my chin, happy for the sudden distraction away from that conversation. Maybe I should have been more specific when I discussed with Max exactly what sultry meant.

That said, going along on this trip doesn’t sound like a bad idea. Maybe it will do me some good to get away for a few days. Someplace where I don’t have to think about—

“Trix!”

I twist around to see Trix standing in the open doorway. She smiles at Haley’s enthusiastic welcome but her lips slowly fall as she catches sight of me.

Haley folds her arms in amusement. “What are you doing here?” she asks.

Trix finds that polite smile again. “I need to talk to your dad,” she answers.

“About what?”

“Hal,” I say, quickly crossing the room. “Can you give us a minute?”

She sighs with disappointment but her lips stay curled. “I guess.”

I wait until Haley grabs her cereal bowl and heads upstairs with it. I feel Trix’s eyes on me the entire time but I take slow, careful breaths to shake that familiar ache off my senses.

Stay calm, I tell myself. Don’t do anything stupid here.

I look at Trix, instantly finding those beautiful, hypnotic eyes and full, red lips. It’s Trix. The real Trix. Not that ice princess who told me she’d see me in court.

“What’s up?” I ask, clearing my throat.

Her eyes wander the porch. “Can I come in first?” she asks.

My fingers twitch on the knob. I shouldn’t let her in but I take a step back anyway. “Yeah, sure,” I say.

As she walks in, I notice her white-knuckle grip on her purse strap. Even her step is stilted, far tenser than her usual confident stride. She pauses just a few feet into the living room and stays standing as she lingers by the couch.

I close the front door. “Did you want some coffee, or...?”

“No, thank you,” she says, chuckling nervously. “I’ve had enough today already.”

I slide my hands into my jean pockets, watching her chest shake as she breathes in and out. Our interview yesterday must have terrified her. If so, then I’m on the right track. Did she come here to beg me to give it up? To let it all go?

“Trix, if you’re here to discuss the case, I’d prefer it if we didn’t do it here,” I say, keeping a solid tone. “I can spare a few minutes tomorrow for you at the office but—”

“I didn’t come here to talk about the case. I would have waited until Monday for a professional matter.” Her lips twitch with sudden amusement. “Oddly enough, today is about simple biology.”

“How so?” I ask.

Trix lifts her head, glancing at me for a second before her eyes close and she exhales hard. She turns her purse and snaps open the enclosure.

“Never done this before,” she says, her voice low. “Figured the best way to tell you would be to just show you, so...”

She withdraws a white plastic stick and holds it out to me.

My mind flashes back to a pose so familiar it makes my guts churn. I’m suddenly sixteen again, standing in front of a terrified girl I adore as she drops the weight of the world on my shoulders.

I slide the test from her hand and turn it over to read the screen.

Pregnant.

“Are you sure?” I ask.

“I took two more this morning just to be positive,” Trix says, quickly cringing. “Pun not intended... but annoyingly accurate.”

I don’t laugh. Or smile. Or, hell, even breathe. I can only feel.

Anger. Disappointment. Sadness. Desperation. All of it bolts through me in a span of three seconds before it doubles back and sucker-punches me all over again twice as stronger.

“Lance?”

I turn away from her, letting my feet move as they please back and forth along the same stretch of carpet.

“Lance, could you say something please?” she asks.

I stop mid-stride. “The last woman I got pregnant died in my arms. Excuse me if I’m not exactly jumping for joy right now, Trix.”

She recoils a step back.

“How did this happen?” I ask.

Her throat bounces. “Well, that’s... that’s the other thing.” She furrows her brow, hesitating. “Marcus messed with my stash of condoms.”

I grit my teeth. “What do you mean, messed with?”

“I found holes poked through them. He must have done it in the hopes I’d...” She doesn’t finish the thought. “He wanted to get me pregnant.”

“How do I know he didn’t?”

She blinks. “Excuse me?”

“You’ve slept with him before,” I say, my anger spiking.

“Lance, you’re the only man I’ve been with in months,” she says, narrowing her eyes. “I understand that you’re probably feeling a lot right now but taking it out on me isn’t fair. I didn’t do this on purpose!”

“I don’t know that,” I say. “How do I know this wasn’t your master plan from the beginning?”

Her jaw drops. “My what?”

I seethe as rage takes over me. “I’ve been a pain in your father’s ass for a while now and, all of a sudden, his daughter starts getting close to me? I should have known something was up.”

“You think I tricked you?” she asks, her eyes brimming with tears. “Lance, I wouldn’t do that...”

“You’re the fucking mob, Trix,” I say, gesturing at her shoulder. “You’ve done a whole lot worse and you know it. Just admit it. You did this on purpose in the hopes I’d turn around and give up the case.”

“No, I didn’t, I...” Her voice cracks. “Okay, can we slow down for a second here?”

“That’s a yes.”

“That’s a can we slow down and talk about this, please?” She takes a step forward. “Lance, I would like nothing more than for us to work out the case in a way that pleases everybody but I would never get pregnant on the sly. That’s insane!”

I hear the logic. I understand it. Hell, I might even believe it but my blood still boils.

What’s insane is that her alleged plan is actually working. That anger in my gut twists into reckless doubt. My unwavering determination to rid Chicago of bullies and gangsters has suddenly been overshadowed by this damned woman and her plastic stick.

But I can’t go through this again.

“Get out,” I hear myself say.

Trix pauses. “Lance, please...”

“Just...” I stare at the floor. “Get out.”

She takes another step toward me. “Lance, this baby is an Argento whether we like it or not. We have an opportunity here to make that something to be proud of.”

“So, you’re a proud Argento now?” I say, biting down. “You really do cave the moment anyone gives you attention, don’t you?”

Her face hardens. “You know what? Never mind. I was wrong.” She wipes a tear away as it falls down her cheek. “You are a prick.”

She crosses the room in a few quick strides and slams the door behind her.

I look down, realizing that the pregnancy test is still clutched in my palm. My stiff knuckles hurt as I unravel my fist. I read the result again, staring at the word until it’s nothing but a bunch of jumbled letters that don’t make sense.

“Dad?”

I flip my hand over and lower it to my side. Haley stands on the stairwell with a few fingers hovering on the banister with Layla sitting by her side with protective eyes.

“Hey,” I say, slipping the test into my pocket.

She takes a few steps down. “Are you okay?” she asks. “Heard the door slam...”

“I’m fine.” I clear my throat. “Everything’s fine. Go back upstairs.”

Her eyes wander to the door, unconvinced. “Are you going after her?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

I exhale hard. “Hal, not now.”

She raises a brow, a quick show of attitude but she doesn’t say anything else. She turns around and snaps her fingers twice on her way back upstairs, signaling for Layla to follow her up and she does as she’s told.

I collapse onto the couch alone, sliding down to stare up at the ceiling.

All the work I’ve done, every decision I’ve made since was a teenager, has been to build what I have now. Life could easily have gone another direction. It certainly tried its best to fuck me over on plenty of occasions but I’m still here. Haley is here, happy and healthy. My career is not only on track, it’s building toward something so much more than I thought it’d be.

Still, something was missing. For a hot minute, I thought Trix was the last piece to bring it all together.

But I was in denial.

I knew the risks but I ignored my gut because she reminded me what it felt like to put my needs first. I ignored the past, conveniently forgetting that the last time I did that I lost the girl I loved in a heartbeat.

I always told myself it was worth it to make myself feel better. I had Haley; a walking, talking, attitude-giving piece of my wife. She made all the painful days worth it in the end.

I never thought I’d have to go through all of that twice.

I glance at the front door. Trix is long gone now, surely. But she’s not gone. She’s still out there, beautiful baggage and all. I should have listened to her but my sense of hearing was vastly outdone by the lingering smell of blood on my hands.

I stand up and slowly make my way upstairs.

Haley’s door is ajar so she might not be as pissed at me as I fear. I knock on the doorframe and wait for a response.

“Yeah?”

I nudge the door open with my foot. Haley sits cross-legged on her bed with Layla lying next to her with her head on her lap. She tosses her phone down as I walk in, eyes wide and expectant.

“I’m sorry,” I say.

She nods.

“I didn’t mean to snap at you.”

“It’s all right.” She scratches behind Layla’s ear. “I’m more worried about Trix.”

I exhale and lower down onto her desk chair. “Yeah. Me, too.”

“Go talk to her, then.”

“It’s not that—”

“Simple?” she says with me, grinning wide. “It is, actually. Do you like her or not?”

“Yes. I do. But—”

“No buts. If love be rough with you, be rough with love,” she quotes. “If Romeo hadn’t have taken that advice, he never would have met Juliet.”

“You know they killed themselves, right?” I joke.

“Yeah because Romeo didn’t get the message that her death wasn’t real,” she argues.

“Or because they were irresponsible, impulsive children.”

Her head tilts. “Pot. Kettle. Black.”

“Shaddup.”

“Dad, don’t give up. Okay?” she says. “I mean, you can blow me off as an irresponsible, impulsive child all you want but I know happiness when I see it and you two were happy. I really like it when you’re happy.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah, I get away with a lot more.”

I laugh. “Fair point.”

Her phone chimes and she reaches for it to read her text message.

My eyes wander from her to the floor to her desk beside me. I catch sight of a small, black tube of lipstick propped up next to her computer monitor. I pick it up, curious to see what shade my daughter wears when I’m not looking.

I pop the cap and twist, feeling a jolt in my spine as I recognize Trix’s deep red color.

“She gave it to me,” Haley says quickly.

“She did, huh?” I put it back on the desk. “Didn’t realize you two spoke when I wasn’t around.”

“We understood each other. I’ll put it that way. I really liked her.”

“I did, too.”

“And she liked you.” She smiles. “But it’s not that simple, right?”

I shake my head once. “I wish it were.”

“So, un-complicate it.”

I admire my daughter. It’s honestly shocking that I managed to raise her into the stubborn, strong, and determined woman she is now.

“How?” I ask her, feeling curious.

She shrugs. “Romeo risked his life to be with Juliet. She turned down Paris’ marriage proposal against her father’s wishes to be with him instead. No good love story happens without sacrifice.”

I pause as Haley’s phone chimes again.

I suppose I have to hand it to old Billy on this one. He makes a decent point.

Trix risked a lot to help me. She went out of her way to answer my questions. She cut ties with her family and ran to me instead. She chose me over the life she always wanted.

And what have I done? What have I given up for her sake?

Jack shit, that’s what.

“Anyway...” Haley stands up and waves her phone. “I’m going out.”

“Where?” I ask.

“Having lunch with a friend,” she says.

“What friend?”

“Just a friend from school.”

“A boy friend from school?”

“Dad.”

I raise my hands in surrender. “Okay, fine. I won’t pry.”

She eyes me with suspicion. “Thank you.”

I snatch the lipstick off the desk. “I’m keeping this though.”

Her jaw drops as I rush out of the room. “Dad, no—!”

“You’re too young for this shade,” I shout as I close the door behind me. “I’ll give it back when you turn twenty-five.”

I hear her frustrated growl behind the door and I chuckle smugly to myself as I head down the hall and back downstairs. I pause in the living room, my nose suddenly twitching with the faint scent of Trix still lingering in the air. Or maybe I’m just imagining what I want to smell. Either way, I don’t care.

I begin to slide the lipstick into my pocket but I immediately hit the object already hidden inside. I pull out the pregnancy test, that positive result still glaring back at me with the subtlety of a nightclub bouncer wielding a sledgehammer.

In a way, my decision was already made the moment she told me. Trix and I are having a baby. My soul bleeds in more ways than one about that but the silver lining is hard to ignore. Eighteen years ago, I was a terrified kid with an infant but I looked into my daughter’s barely open eyes and I knew what had to be done. Now is no different.

Trix said we had the opportunity to make the Argento name something to be proud of.

Well, I’m listening.