CAMERON

She’s crying.

That plaintive, desperate plea jerked me from my sleep. I threw back the sheets, pulling on some shorts as I raced into her room to see her. I pushed open her door and—

There.

That moment was one of my favourites of the entire day.

We made eye contact, and she broke into a smile, four little teeth on display. “Gah,” she said, pointing to me.

“Piper, Piper.” I walked over and lifted her up. Joy, pure joy filled me as I held her close. I loved her. I’d do anything for her. And everything would be okay.

Okay?

Okay because—

Memories of the night prior crashed around me. Everly’s lie. Piper’s father.

I stiffened. Piper pulled back. Two blue eyes met my own, so full of confusion. She reached forward and poked my nose. “Gah,” she said again, and I managed half a smile.

Damn it.

Maybe I was always going to lose her.

Maybe something this sweet could never be mine.

My hands felt heavy as I changed her nappy, got her dressed for the day.

She wasn’t mine.

This beautiful girl I’d come to love and adore … wasn’t mine.

But why would Giselle have lied? Why would she have led me down this path? Why me?

She needed someone to mind her kid. That answer was glaringly obvious. And from the Facebook stalking I’d done last night, it didn’t seem as if Wayne, who seemed to live with a group of men who could double for members of a motorcycle gang, was a suitable candidate. Each picture I clicked through seemed to outdo the rest, with shots of him holding a deer carcass, chugging down a beer bong, and licking the chest of a woman whose head didn’t make it into the frame. There was even a photo of him in a shirt that read I eat pussy for breakfast. Tasteless.

As I spooned cereal into Piper’s mouth, my heart ached. It hurt like hell, and the worst part? It made sense. It explained why Giselle hadn’t contacted me earlier. Sure, she’d said she didn’t do it because she was worried I’d file for custody, but a lowlife like her? Worried about a little thing like that when instead she could have got herself a few extra grand, maybe a nice new flat-screen TV with the sort of money my co-parenting payments would provide? I would have been a true ‘baby bonus’, a convenient cash injection to add to the lump sum she received from the government when Piper was born.

No. She didn’t contact me because I wasn’t the father. Wayne, with his hunting photos and obscene T-shirts, was. She probably only came up with the idea to use me when she found out she was being sent to prison.

Honestly, if she’d contacted me nine months ago, I didn’t know if I would have welcomed Piper into my life. Back then, the pain was still so raw. Hell, it was raw now—only sometime during the last few weeks it had changed. It hurt, but it was an ache lurking in the back of my mind, waiting for me to call it forth, mostly forgotten when Piper smiled. Forgotten when Everly made me laugh or joked with Dad about his latest order at the café, her stunning aqua eyes, her sun-kissed long brown hair.

Everly.

Another wound.

Another gaping hole in my chest.

“Piper. What are we gonna do?” I asked her as she gulped down another mouthful of Weet-Bix. Blonde curls danced about her head. “The problem is, I still …” Love you. I still love you. “I can’t just turn off my feelings. But you’re … you’re not mine. And if I’m not going to see you again when your mamma gets out …”

My chest tightened. That thought hurt even more than the last. I’d have to say goodbye to Piper, just like I’d had to say goodbye to Bella. Just like I’d said goodbye to Everly.

I was so fucking sick of saying goodbye.

The ironic thing was, as much as I hated this situation, as much as I was mad at Everly for lying—all I wanted to do was talk it over with her. And not just because of her studies in counselling, or because she was so good when it came to reading people—Dad was clear proof of that. But because she truly listened. She didn’t offer judgement—she’d been there to listen when I’d needed it. Even as I told her the story of Bella’s death, she’d supported me.

It’s easy to support someone when you know how the story’s gonna end.

The spoon scraped the bottom of the bowl.

If only I knew the right thing to do. If only I knew how this story was going to wind up so I could make the right decisions for everyone—for me. For Dad. For Piper.

But not for Everly.

She took my trust and she threw it away. She lied, damn it. The spoon clanked against the bowl as I dropped it in the sink with a little too much force. As I ran the tap at full bore, my lips rose in a cruel smirk. So much for honest love.

* * *

“Back so soon?” The woman in the prison uniform gave a kindly smile as I scribbled my details on the sign-in register.

“Yep.” I nodded curtly, then softened my tone. My life might have been shitty, but it wasn’t this woman’s fault. “It’s nice for her to see her mother.” I tilted my head toward Piper in her pram, and the woman smiled.

“I bet. She sure is lucky to have a father like you.”

A father like me. Damn it. Damn it to hell.

I pushed Piper into the visiting room. My arms trembled, and I couldn’t tell whether it was anger or nerves. Answers. I’d come here for answers, and all I could do was hope Giselle would be willing to give them to me.

A noise sounded at the door, and I turned my head. Giselle’s smile split her face so wide, and she rushed to the table, unclipping Piper and clutching her tight to her chest. She breathed in her hair, and for once, it didn’t send that rush of something through me. That mix of warmth at knowing I was letting Piper see her mother, that strange feeling of admiration for them having the sort of relationship we were still growing, that satisfaction in knowing that she might have made a mistake, but that Giselle Scott was still a good person.

As she lowered into the chair, Piper on her knee, I knew the truth. Good wasn’t a word to describe her.

“Well, this is an unexpected surprise.” She bounced Piper, and the little girl’s blonde curls bobbed up and down. I smiled a small smile. Damn it. Soon I won’t see those again … “To what do I owe the pleasure? More custody discussions, no doubt?”

“That depends.” I laced my fingers together and leaned forward on the table. “On whether I’m the father or not.”

Giselle blinked, her brow furrowed. “Pardon? What do you—”

“Your friend Wayne sent me a message last night. Told me the truth. You’re—you—” Pain stabbed at my chest. How could that little girl not be mine when she’d grown to become a part of me? “You used me, Giselle. You used me back then, with your threats of going to the media, and you’ve used me now.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Lord, give me strength. I closed my eyes. Clenched my jaw. Took a deep breath. Opened my eyes. “I’m not Piper’s father, am I?”

Giselle’s eyes widened. She leaned back, a wide, satisfied grin eating up her entire face, and I wanted to wipe it the hell off. “Wayne told you.”

“Yes,” I seethed, my hand clenching into a fist then slamming down on the metal table. “And I came here, because I need to know, and I’m not in the habit of taking men like him at face value. Am I her dad or not?”

Piper squawked. Shit.

“Hey, hey.” I reached down and grabbed my pack, zipping it open and pulling out her favourite toy of the moment, a stuffed unicorn. “Want Sparkles?”

Her eyes lit up. Two little hands jerked out.

“Here.” I placed the toy in her grasp and she squealed, pulling it tight to her body.

“Huh.”

I zipped the bag closed, barely looking at Giselle. “What?”

“You really like her, don’t you?”

The bag dropped to the ground. Anger fired through me. Really liked her? For fuck’s sake. I’d told Giselle I wanted to file for partial custody. I took Piper into my home when her mother went to jail, goddamn it. Really like her? “Damn it, I love her.” I slammed both hands on the table. It shook under my weight. “You asked me to care for her, I treated her like my own, and now you’re fucking ripping that away from me while asking if I like her?”

“Well, I—”

“Don’t you give me some bullshit excuse, Giselle. You’re nothing but a cheap whore out to gain whatever she can. I’ll bet you’re just devastated you didn’t come up with this bullshit scheme earlier. You could have really milked me for child support if it’d been on your agenda from the get-go.”

“Don’t talk to me like that in front of her.” Giselle covered Piper’s ears.

Piper. Oh God, Piper.

She looked up at me with those big innocent eyes. Her lower lip wobbled, and damn it, what had I done?

“Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to calm down.” The security guard touched my arm.

I flinched. “It’s fine. I’m fine.”

Slowly, I lowered back into my seat. “Giselle, I need to know. Just tell me the truth, please.”

“You’re …” She pressed a kiss to Piper’s head. “You’re looking after her when I can’t. I’m sorry, Cameron.”

Every muscle in my body tightened. They shook, as if I might explode from the force of emotion surging through me.

All of a sudden, I didn’t want to hear those words. I wanted to snatch Piper up from Giselle’s arms and take her away, far away. I wanted to never have opened that message from Wayne last night, to instead be spending the day at the beach with Piper, my daughter, by my side.

But try as I might, I couldn’t stop her from speaking. Couldn’t stop the inevitable bitter truth from coming out.

Giselle’s parting shot.

“You’re not the father.”