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He scrubbed his hands over his face. “I’m a dad.”
“Whoa, slow down there.” I held up my hand. “You’re a father. You gotta be involved in being a dad.”
“Well, what the fuck do you think I plan to do?” He leaned forward on the table.
“Okay, you’re planning to be involved.” I held up his hands again. “Don’t get married. Not because of Frankie.” I couldn’t stop the anguish from showing on my face. “Marry for love.”
He sat back, and the sadness returned. “Did you get cornered?”
“Yeah.” I chuffed. “Her mom, dad, and my mom. Can’t have a child out of wedlock. Think about our family’s name.” I mocked. “Victoria didn’t give a shit about me. She liked the money. She hated Dillon, partied all the time.”
“Damn.”
“Yeah.” I leaned back to see inside the playroom, smiling at Dillon. “We’re better off without her.”
“What happened?” Ethan drained his beer.
“She…” I broke down. “I didn’t know she had a coke addiction. She plowed through her trust and then plowed through everything I earned from working. She cleaned up while she was pregnant since her mom coddled her the entire time. Hard to go get a fix when someone’s up your ass.”
“Damn.” His shoulders dropped. “Is that what killed her?”
I nodded my head slowly. “The day dad had his one-year anniversary of sobriety I came home to Dillon alone in his high chair, screaming. She wasn’t home, no messages, no note. I got my son cleaned up. She came home, and we fought, then we went to the celebration.” Picking up my bottle, I tilted it back, draining it. “When we got home, she’d trashed the apartment. Hardcore trashed it. Then the cops came, and it was a small nightmare.”
A frown grew on his face. “Was she already gone?”
I nodded. “I’m a dick. The first thing I felt was relief.”
“I don’t think that makes you a dick.”
I dropped my head into my hands. “It’s not how I wanted things to go.”
“Henry, I know you.” He got up and went to the fridge, taking out two bottles of water. “You wouldn’t ever wish something so harsh on anyone.”
Ethan handed me a water.
“Her parents were trying to have her made into a saint.” A sardonic laugh came out. “They know who she really was, but they won’t admit it.”
“Wow.” He chuffed. “And I’m over here pissed that she lied to me.”
“Viv?”
He nodded.
“Yeah. Word had it Jackson got protective of her when she turned up pregnant. He was damn proud he had her, and she was carrying his kid.”
He drank his water down, then crushed the bottle. “And then?”
“And thenshewas born. He didn’t want a girl, and when he saw her eyes …youreyes … none of us heard much from her after that.”
“Why tell me this now? Why didn’t you tell me when it was happening?”
“Ethan.” I shook my head. “Would you have listened then?”
“I would…” His head dropped. “Not have listened.”
“Her pregnant with his kid meant you were off the guilt hook.” I tossed the empty beer bottle in the trash. “Her moving out of your house meant you didn’t have to look at her. Didn’t have to think about her.”
“I can’t trust her.”
