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When he wrenches the nursery door open and storms through, it isn’t to come scoop up Violet out of my arms. It’s to yank the curtains so goddamn hard that he rips them clean off the wall. The curtain rod comes with it, clattering to the ground and tearing chunks of drywall down with it.
The sound sends Violet into a crying spree.
“What the hell?—”
“What were you thinking?” Reese snarls, rounding on me like a wild animal. “Are you stupid?”
I stand there in complete shock.
Did I miss something?
18
REESE
I feel like my chest is about to burst. I was careful. I was so fucking careful. Meticulously planning everything so that the world would keep its filthy paws off of Olivia and my daughter.
My mind races. Someone probably saw them. Someone’s almost certainly already speculating. There’s going to be pictures on the all the gossip blogs in under an hour.
We’ve hit nuclear and I haven’t been home for all of five minutes.
Olivia says nothing, standing there gawking at me like a fish out of water with her mouth open and her eyes wide. I take a quarter of a second to notice how absurdly, unfairly good she looks like that—with my daughter in her arms, the dawn sunlight filtering in through the window behind her and lighting up her hair like a halo, those pink plump lips parted.
Then I lay into her.
“What the hell compelled you to come shove your face up against the glass like that?” I snarl.
“We were just waiting for you to come?—”
“You couldn’t do that somewhere else? Someone could have seen you! Seen her!” I jab my finger in Violet’s direction. She’s howling up a storm. She certainly got her set of lungs from me. The sound of it makes my eardrums cry right along with her.
“It’s, like, six in the morning. Who was going to see us in the window?” she bites back as she starts to bounce Violet on her hip and shush her.
“Anyone! Paparazzi, crazy stalker chicks who wanna fuck me, people who don’t like me and want to find anything to ruin me! Why do you think I had you sign an NDA? Why do you think I want you to keep her here at all times?”
Olivia scoffs. “I dunno, maybe you’re a controlling piece of shit with a paranoia issue that sounds like a therapist’s problem?”
Her words hit home way harder than she realizes. A hundred scenes just like this one fly through my mind. But these aren’t paranoid delusions.
These are memories.
My father, raging out of his fucking mind. Yelling at my mother even when she was sick. Belittling all those women he ran through when she was gone. Screaming until the veins in his neck stood out like drawbridge cables and his booze-stained saliva speckled my face.
And then, on the heels of all that shit I’ve spent years trying to forget, comes the worst thought of all.
You turned out just like him.
No. No, this is different. Olivia actually fucked up. I’m not going after her for nothing.
I’m not that man.
I shake my head. “Nah, nah, you’re not turning this on me. I hired you, didn’t I? I told you exactly what you needed to do, didn’t I? I made it very fucking clear that I didn’t want anyone knowing about this!”
Olivia’s jaw is locked tight, those deep brown eyes molten with anger. I’m not the only one with rage; she’s got some of her own. It’s so goddamn hot—and so goddamn inconvenient right now.
She puts Violet, still wailing, into her crib. When her hands are free, she plants them on her hips and fixes me with a stare that could reignite dead stars. “If you were so worried about paparazzi, or stalkers, or some mortal freaking nemesis coming around, why wasn’t that something you mentioned? If it was so important to you, why didn’t you tell me about that from the jump? Am I supposed to be watching my back every time I leave to go home on the weekends?” She shakes her head. “I’m fine with a few of your stipulations, but I’m not going to sit here and treat this little girl like she’s some princess to be locked inside a tower for her entire life, not allowed to see anyone or experience anything! That’s insane! It’s ridiculous!”
My nostrils flare. My brain seems to flip over in my skull. She’s not wrong. It isn’t right, is it, to expect Violet to stay hidden forever? What am I going to do when she gets older? Do I keep her locked up forever?
