When Derek showed me the tablet I couldn’t comprehend what I saw. It didn’t make sense. Why would she have had this kind of money deposited into her account? And then it dawned on me. She wouldn’t, not unless Killian got something in return. I’d told her so much about myself. I’d spilled my guts and opened old wounds to her and she hadn’t told me much about herself. I didn’t know much more than what was in her file Derek gathered for me. Did I even know her? Was everything I felt, just me playing pretend?

My heart pounded in my chest, like it was trying to escape. Trying to run away from what this meant. Killian would have to get something substantial. But it was the folded letter that nearly sent me to my knees.

A letter from a lawyer demanding a paternity test. They had to be connected, there was no way they couldn’t be. I looked up at the woman I’d opened my heart to, the woman I’d just been inside. I saw nothing but a viper. I didn’t want to believe what I saw, but how could I doubt it? She disappeared today, Derek saw her leave. She has a mountain of cash deposited into her account and now this. A demand for me to submit to a paternity test.

Everything I’ve worked for every day. To keep my little girl safe, to protect her from where she could have ended up with a dead mother and a junkie father. And now it was all crashing down. It would all come out. Every single thing I’d tried to hide. The past reared its ugly head and Mel was at the center of it all. I shoved the letter to her, wanting her to see the ugliness that she brought into my life.

“That was him in the park, wasn’t it?” she asked, playing her part perfectly.

“Of course, it was him. And what type of coincidence is it that you come into our lives and he shows up. Did Killian contact you and tell you to bring her out there? Did you think he’d just be able to take her?” She shook her head and tried to speak, but I didn’t want to hear her denials. “You were using me, just like everyone else.” I couldn’t breathe. I thought she loved me. I thought if anyone could love me for who I was, it was her, not for what I could do for them or give them, just my love. It hadn’t been enough for my parents or anyone else I knew. I thought she was different.

“Rhys, I’m not lying. I’d never lie to you about something like this. I…I love you. I love Esme,” she said, tears in her eyes. Love. I rolled that around in my mind. I thought I loved her. I’d been so ready that I put my daughter at risk. The one person who loved me more than anything. It was my fault. I let her in.

I had enough to deal with. Enough to handle. Enough to protect and I wasn’t going to be pulled even deeper into her web. I’d finally let myself feel. Let myself get comfortable that she was mine, finally mine and now she would rip that all away from me. Help them take my little girl.

“You played me.” The veins in my neck throbbed and I hung on by a thread.

“I haven’t. I wouldn’t. Why would I do that?”

“Because of the payday Killian promised you.” Was she screwing him, too? Like Rachel? Was any of this real? My mind raced as I tried to make sense of everything.

“I would never. I’ve only met him once. I haven’t had anything to do with him.”

“Get out,” I roared. She jumped and blanched under my glare. Good. I gritted my teeth. She’d lied. She wasn’t mine at all, she was like every other user who’d ever danced their way into my life. But this time I’d extended the invitation. I let her do this to me. Mel’s lip quivered, and I chained up my heart and closed my eyes. The control slid back on, like a warm comforting coat.

“I would never do anything to put her in jeopardy,” Mel pleaded. “I’d die before I let anything happen to her. The fact that you don’t believe me. That you don’t trust me shows me you’re not thinking straight. You’re doing this because you’re scared. You’re scared because what we have is something neither of us have experienced before. You don’t think I’m scared? That I know which way is up around you? That the thought of losing Esme makes me want to wrap her up and run out of here with her?”

“Do you know how I knew you wanted to do that? Because the same exact thought ran through my head. The minute you said it.”

I can’t look at her. This is what she and Killian planned. Maybe trying to wring a bit more out of me.

Mel sniffed, wiping at her face with her sleeve and choked out, “You’re going to realize you were wrong. You’re going to see how much hurt you’ve caused us both, just because you couldn’t face the fact that I love you. That I love Esme. I would never hurt either of you, but if you can’t look past your past, then it will never work.”

I didn’t care about her pain, I can’t care about it. The fate of my little girl hung in the balance. I don’t know why I thought things would be different. That she could return the love I had for her. My selfishness created this mess. She dug that knife in deep, her scent lingered on my skin and I wanted to scrub it off.

“Leave Mel, there’s nothing left for you to take now. You’ve taken it all.”