I stare at the walls of my kitchen bleakly, my mind constantly replaying that smug asshole telling me that I’m going to pay him or he’ll expose Carsen to public scrutiny. Like any teenage girl needs that! I’m furious at Donnie, but maybe even more at myself.

I couldn’t sleep at all last night, racked by anger and punishing myself for being a total dumbass. I was so worked up by what Donnie said, and my anger at the situation, that I took it out on Elise. I know that was a really shitty thing to do. She didn’t deserve to have me give her shit, especially since she never intended for this to happen.

But I have to push that to the back burner and figure out what the fuck I’m going to do about Donnie’s threat. The problem is, I’ve drawn a blank as to any course of action.

I can’t sue him. He’s right that it wouldn’t do any good because it would be too slow-moving to stop him, and he is telling the truth.

I can’t go beat his ass into a pulp. That’d get the cops involved and only get Donnie what he wants, a fat payout in the form of a civil suit.

I even had a dark few minutes late last night, well, early this morning, where I thought about hiring a hitman and taking Donnie out. Problem solved. But that’s not who I am, nor is it the legacy I want to leave to my daughter. And as much as it sounds like a solution, I know it’s just one for a TV show ending where the good guy gets away scot-free every time. Reality is a lot different, and as the hours go on, I’m still trying to figure out my way past the harshness of that reality.

I’m still stumped, slamming my fourth coffee at eleven in the morning when Sarah and Carsen come blowing in, all girly giggles and excitement. “Daddy, oh, God, I had the best time! You wanna hear about it?”

My head is pounding and I’m worried as shit, but I can see the swoony hearts in her eyes like some old-school cartoon.

Still, it’s hard to find the will to be happy for her. All I can think about is that my baby’s first dance was probably going to be her last because by the next one, she’ll need security guards and won’t know whether to trust people’s friendship because of who she is or because of who I am.

It makes my blood boil, and I realize it’s carrying over as Carsen and Sarah have stopped giggling, looking at me worriedly.

“Daddy?” Carsen asks, her smile disappearing and breaking my heart. “What’s wrong?”

I thought about telling Sarah during one of my more desperate moments of trying to sort this all out, but I held off, hoping I’d be able to find a solution before scaring her with all of this. But she can see things aren’t right. “What happened?”

I try to school my face into a calm mask and shake my head. “Nothing, everything’s fine. Hey, Carsen, can you go hang out upstairs for a few minutes? I need to talk to Aunt Sarah about something, and then you can tell me all about the dance, okay?”

She nods, but I can see that she’s not fooled by my forced calmness. “Sure, Dad. Holler when you’re done and I’ll tell you about it.”

“I can’t wait, baby,” I reply, giving her a hug as she passes me to head upstairs. It hurts, because I know even as she hugs me that her world’s about to shatter, and that like Humpty Dumpty, it can’t be put back together again.

“So tell me what’s going on,” Sarah says, going over to the cabinet next to the plates where she gets out the Tylenol she keeps there. “And take these. I can see you wincing every time the sunlight sparkles in the window, and you kept wincing every time Carsen laughed. Guess you didn’t sleep?”

I shake my head slowly, taking three Tylenol along with a glass of water, which somehow tastes a lot better than it should. “That fucking bastard is trying to blackmail me.”

“What?” Sarah asks, shocked but trying to keep her voice down. “Back up, start slow, and omit nothing.”

I actually don’t tell her everything, just giving her the basics because I just don’t have it in me right now. “And in the end, that jellybean loving motherfucker said if I don’t pay up by five tomorrow, he’s going to publish.”

Sarah nods, biting her lip as she thinks. “And Elise? What does she say about this?”

Fuck. I thought my headache was doing better after telling the story, but Sarah’s reminder brings back the pain around my temples. “Well, I was so fucking furious that I might’ve said some things . . .”

“Keith, you stupid son of a bitch,” Sarah says softly, reprovingly. She sighs, waving her hand. “What did you do?”

“I might’ve blamed her for starting this whole mess with her first article and told her that if I’d just done the damn articles and kept her at arm’s length, I wouldn’t be in this mess now . . . and that I knew better than to date her,” I reply. “It hurt her, and I dropped her off at her place. I haven’t heard from her since then.”

“This isn’t her fault and you know it!” Sarah says, still trying to keep her voice down but managing to yell at me all the same. “From what you just said, she’s been putting her own career at risk to keep this secret. She’s done everything she can. It’s not her fault a coworker got suspicious when she saw us at the mall.”

I rage. “I didn’t even know about that! Until I saw the pictures of the three of you out shopping. Why didn’t you tell me?”

Sarah grimaces. “We thought it was just bad luck. It’s a mall, Keith. We thought the woman was shopping.”

“That wasn’t a coincidence. She followed Elise there and Elise didn’t know it. Hell, she followed us all, and none of us caught her. She had pictures of us all.” I huff, fuming as I remember the stack of photos.

Sarah snorts, shaking her head. “So you’re mad at Elise because she should’ve recognized something you didn’t even notice. How many times has she been followed before? What about you?”

I rub across my head, the calluses on my hands scratching on the smooth skin up there. “I know! I fucked up. I know that, and I spent most of the night divided between wanting to tear this Donnie asshole’s head off and wanting to tear my own off for hurting Elise. What am I going to do?”

Sarah studies me for a moment, then comes over, putting a hand on my shoulder. “You’re going to man up, like you always do. Call her, have her come over, and the three of us are going to figure out what to do . . . together. That’s what family does, Keith. We’ll stick together, through the good times and the fucking bad times.”

I nod, knowing she’s right, and I grab my phone, dialing Elise’s number. It rings and rings, my hand drumming on the countertop in frustration as my mind runs in a hundred different exhaustion-and-caffeine-fueled directions before switching over to her voicemail. “Hey, this is Elise. Leave me a message or send me a text. Check ya later!”

“Uh, hey, Elise,” I say, clearing my throat before I can continue. “I just wanted to say that I’m sorry. Can you call me back, please? We need to figure this out . . . and I need you.”

I hang up, looking at Sarah, knowing my face shows my disappointment, my anger, and my sadness. She pats my shoulder again before giving me a little side hug. “She’ll call back. She loves you, brother.”

The reassurance feels empty even as it gives me a little whisper of useless hope. “But what if—”

Before I can finish my sentence, the doorbell rings. Sarah and I look at each other, and she gives me a nod. “I’ll get it in case it’s reporters.”

There’s a brief silence as she walks to the door, but when it opens, she laughs before calling out. “Hey, Keith? It is a reporter, but I think you’ll want to see this one.”

My heart speeds up and my jaw drops as Elise walks into the kitchen. She looks stressed, dark smudges under her eyes and her skin pale. Honestly, it looks like she had just as rough of a night as I did, and I know I look like hell too.

Still, I’ve never seen anything more beautiful in my life as I get up, crossing the kitchen to stand in front of her, wanting to embrace her but knowing there’s something I need to do first. But I have to touch her, reassure myself that she’s really here and not some insomnia-induced hallucination. Holding her upper arms gently, I wait for her to look up at me, needing her to see the truth in my words as I speak. “Elise, I’m so fucking sorry. I was scared and mad and I took it out on you. I shouldn’t have. I love you.”

I lift my head to look her in the eyes, and she’s smiling a little, but it’s tremulous and her eyes are a little sad. “I know, Keith. I’m sorry too. For starting this whole mess. If I hadn’t put you on Donnie’s radar, you wouldn’t be in this situation now.”

“We,” I correct her, reaching out and taking her hands.

“Huh?” she asks, looking confused.

For the first time in what feels like a year but has only been less than twenty-four hours, a smile that isn’t one of bitterness comes to my face. “We are in this situation. You, me, Sarah, and Carsen. You’ve made a place in this family, and I want to work with you to figure out what to do. This affects us all.”

Elise stutters, a single tear rolling down her cheek as I gather her in, and she hugs me hard before stepping back. Wiping at her face, she takes a big breath and I can see her putting her emotions away, at least for now, and getting down to business. “Okay, good. Good, because I’ve got a plan and it’ll work. But you’re going to hate it. Can we sit down?”

I nod, gesturing to the living room, and we all sit down. I make sure to guide Elise to my side on the couch, needing to be in contact with her. Sarah sits across from us in one of her favorite easy chairs, leaning forward, her eyes darting between the two of us. “Judging by appearances, you two look like you got about thirty minutes of sleep last night . . . combined.”

“Actually, I got about an hour,” Elise admits. “But it sorta sucked. I was too busy trying to think and working some angles. I wanted to come over here to talk about it with you . . . but I wanted a full plan in place before I did. I was just worried you’d say no outright if I didn’t have a full plan.”

“Why do I feel like I’m repeating myself?” Sarah asks the sky, then sighs. “Start at the beginning, omit nothing.”

Elise starts, telling us about visiting her friend at a strip club. “You told your friend about us? At a strip club?” I ask incredulously. “But . . . why?”

“Maggie’s one of the smartest people I know,” Elise replies. “I edited things and didn’t say a thing about Carsen, and Maggie’s someone who will respect that. And she gave me the idea that we’ve got to get out in front of this.”

“What do you mean?” Sarah asks. “Get in front of it how?”

“Right now, Donnie’s power lies in one thing only,” Elise explains. “He thinks you’re only going to consider one of two options. Let it blow up in your face and maybe try and deny . . . or pay up. But there’s a third option.”

“What?” I ask, even though I see Sarah’s face dawning in realization. “Okay, guys, little words, haven’t slept.”

“We go public first,” Sarah says, nodding. “Then we’re in control.”

Elise nods. “Keith, Carsen’s going to become public knowledge one way or another. I don’t trust Donnie not to take the money and then publish anyway. He’s got zero fucks to give and nothing to lose. Hell, he’ll come out way ahead that way and I’m sure that’s his idea already. But if you go first, get out there and tell the story, then Donnie’s going to have nothing. And you get to control the narrative.”

“But . . .” I answer, taking a deep breath, trying to get my brain to line the fuck up and think straight. “It means going public.”

“And we do it the right way . . . talking about Donnie’s blackmail attempt,” Elise explains. “Don’t you see? This isn’t just about you and Carsen. He’s done this before and he’ll do it again. You have a chance to control your narrative, but you also have a chance to control Donnie’s narrative too. Let everyone know what a sleazeball he is, blackmailing and threatening people to create tabloid gossip headlines for cash. Get in front of both stories. It’s the only way.”

I shake my head, feeling desperate as my whole world seems to be turning to quicksand that’s slipping through my fingers before sucking me down to my doom. “No. That defeats the whole purpose. The only thing I care about is keeping Carsen’s life how she’s used to. I’ll just pay the money and pray that he keeps his word about not publishing the story. He’s gotta have at least a little honor among thieves. If he’s done this before and breaks his word now, nobody’ll trust him in the future when he pulls the same shit, don’t you see? It’s the only scenario where she has any chance at being left alone.”

Suddenly, Carsen steps in from the hallway, where she’s obviously been eavesdropping. Part of me wonders for how long, and I’m too exhausted to be upset. “No, Dad. This guy’s a bully, and the only way to stop him from hurting other people is if we stop him. Just tell people about me. That’s what he’s holding over your head? Who cares if people know you’re my dad? I’m proud of being your daughter and I don’t care if everyone knows.”

If only it were that easy. “Carsen, you don’t understand, baby. If everyone knows you’re my daughter, it’ll change your whole life. You might have to get security, change schools, always be on the watch, and never know who your real friends are. It’ll change everything.”

“I know, Dad. I understand, really, I do,” Carsen says, coming over and sitting on the other side of me and Elise. “But, it’s the right thing to do. Don’t let a bully win. You’re stronger than he is, and I’ll be okay with whatever we have to do.”

I’m torn. Carsen looks so certain, sitting next to me so tall and proud. I know she’s strong, but she’s still just a little girl and I wanted her to make this decision when she was a little older. I look at Sarah and Elise, and they’re both nodding, agreeing with Carsen.

“Keith, she’s right. It’s the right thing to do. And you said we’re a family, so we can do this together, support each other through whatever this storm brings,” Elise says.

I look at Carsen, searching her eyes. Keeping her a secret has been my main focus for so long, and that’s coming to an end, apparently. I’m terrified. Most of my instincts are telling me to just grab her up and go hide, leave music and everything behind. But she’s right, I’m stronger than that.

And I don’t want to leave.

I want to have a life with my daughter, my woman, and my sister, this crazy family unit we’ve created where we all fit together somehow, bringing happiness and growth and love into each of our lives in a way I never expected.

“Okay, I’ll do it,” I reply, leaning forward and putting my face in my hands, exhausted and knowing I can’t wait. “Elise, set it up.”

I thought she’d be happy, but she knows what this is costing me. Not in terms of money like Donnie wants, but it’s costing me all the same in my peace of mind, which is going to be sorely lacking for a long time, I suspect.

Elise’s eyes are somber, serious as she reaches into her purse and pulls out her phone, dialing quickly. “Maggie, it’s a go,” she says simply when the line’s picked up. “Work your magic.”

I hug Carsen to me tightly, hating that her world is about to change but knowing it’s the only way.

Donnie needs to be stopped, and I can do that.