And then it hit me, like a grand piano pushed from the thirtieth floor. My stomach lurched and the picture became crystal clear. How much more important all this was, than just some board election. It wasn’t about the money or reputation or any other bullshit. It was about Esme.

“She’s not yours,” I whispered. A plunging sensation overwhelmed me, like I’d been thrown up in the air and came crashing back down. Everything tunnel-visioned around me. Rhys rounded on me with more fire in his eyes than I’d ever seen before and a mixture of so many other emotions.

“She is mine. She is mine in every way that counts,” he shouted, but then his shoulders rounded and he splayed his hand across his forehead. “But biologically, no. She isn’t. I didn’t find out until she was almost one,” he said, grabbing a glass off the bar and pouring himself a drink.

“How did you find out?” I sat on the edge of his desk, gripping the sides so tight my knuckles turned white.

“She was out playing in the park. Beth was supposed to be watching her. She took a nasty fall. We rushed her to the hospital and they didn’t know if they’d need to do a blood transfusion, so they recommended I go down and give some. I’m O-negative. My wife was O-negative. Esme is A+. It’s genetically impossible. And then I had a paternity test done,” he said, gulping down the amber liquid, his Adam’s apple bobbing.

“My loving doting, junkie wife,” he said, throwing the glass against the far wall. It exploded with shards flying across the room. I didn’t even jump. I was numb. This was a secret he’d held for years, something he’d lived with every day. The idea that someone might find out. Someone might take her from him.

“Someone knows,” I said, my stomach dropping.

“Yes, someone knows. Killian took it upon himself to do a little digging. Wants to expose me for the fraud I am, but what he doesn’t realize is that he unearthed something far worse. Something I’ve dreaded since the day I found out the truth.”

“She’s your daughter,” I said, vehemently. She was his in every way that mattered. “You can’t let anyone take her,” my voice raising up an octave. The room swam as my breathing increased. They couldn’t take her. He couldn’t let them take her. My vision blinked in and out and my chest constricted like someone was crushing me. I could barely breathe. What the hell was happening to me?

Then he was there, in front of me, holding my face in his hands. Tears prickled the backs of my eyes. They couldn’t take her away from him. What kind of father would they even be sending her to? A shudder ripped through me.

“Mel,” he said, standing right in front of me, but it sounded like he was a mile away.

“Mel!” He shook me and a ragged sob ripped through my chest. I buried my head into Rhys’s shoulder. They couldn’t take her away from us. His strong arms wrapped around me, holding me up when all I wanted to do was sink into the floor and disappear. Was this how my mom felt when they came for me? My real mom, she might have only been in my life for a year, but it was the best year of my childhood. Shannon. I can still smell her warm strawberry smell and see her bright smile. And then she was gone. Forces beyond my control ripped me away from her and threw me back to the wolves.

It was almost cruel. To get a glimpse of what could have been. What my life could have been like if I hadn’t been born to Colleen. But those memories were a lifeline I needed so many times growing up, like a girl who dreamed she was a princess who waited for her parents to come back and claim her. My sobs grew louder and my fingers dug into his shoulders as I wrapped my arms under his. Please don’t let this be happening.

“Mel, don’t worry. They won’t take her away. I won’t let them. I’ll do whatever it takes,” he said, pressing his lips to mine. I grasped onto him like a lifeline as my life story replayed in front of me in excruciating detail. I should be the one holding him up, comforting him. But I was a wreck, I couldn’t imagine watching them walk in and take Esme away.

* * *

Derek walked into the office like I wasn’t even there. No head nod or anything.

“You’re going to want to see this, boss,” he said, handing a tablet to Rhys, along with a stack of papers. I leaned forward in my seat. He glanced at the tablet before scrolling across the screen and dropping it onto the desk. The energy in the room shifted. What the hell was on the tablet?

“You took money from Killian?” Rhys growled, glaring at me.

“No. No, I didn’t,” I said, trying to piece together what was happening.

“Then what do you call this?” He held the tablet up and right there, on the screen in living color was my bank account. Extra zeroes and all.

My heart stopped. How did he know? How the hell had he gotten into my bank account? I’d been trying my best to figure out where the money came from, and the bank had been beyond useless, but now it all fell into place. I shook my head. This couldn’t be happening.

“I didn’t, Rhys. I swear to you I didn’t. The money just showed up in my account.”

“When?”

“Today. It completely slipped my mind with everything going on. I didn’t even know it was him. I didn't know what was going on,” I said, hoping he would believe me. I should have told him, but with everything going on, there wasn’t time. I figured the bank would figure it out, take the money back and case closed. I didn’t plan on spending it. It wasn’t mine and I forgot about it.

“Are you sure it wasn’t for services rendered? First Rachel, then you. I’ve been so blind. Stupid to fall for your tricks. You must have all had a good laugh at how fucking stupid I am.”

“Rhys, it isn’t like that. I haven’t met Killian except for that once at the gala. That’s it. I don’t know why or even how he would deposit money into my account.”

“Maybe to help him make the case for why they should take Esme? Get as much insider information as he needed to destroy me and take her away? But I’m not going to let anyone take her.”