AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Save the tears for someone that buys your bullshit, Krista. I’ve known you too damn long for them to faze me.”
“Y-you used to c-care, Liam.” Her voice quakes as the tears spill down her cheeks.
She’s right. There was a time I would’ve fallen for every tear. Believed the crack in her voice was genuine. I loved her so much I ignored all the glowing red flags—the narcissism and complete lack of care for anyone but herself. I let her tear me apart little by little because, in my heart, she was the little girl I split my PB&J with in Kindergarten. The girl I shared my first kiss with at thirteen at the junior high formal. She was my first everything, and our history blinded me. So much so, I never realized how she chipped away at my self-worth until I was convinced I could never be enough for anyone. That I was incapable of making someone happy. Like poison ivy, her words wound themselves around my heart and mind, creating roots so deep that it took me nearly thirty years to remove them, and they cost me the girl I wanted. The girl I fell in love with on the beach. She wanted one thing—me. And I didn’t give that to her because I thought she’d eventually leave, too. And then she did leave, and it’s because I let Krista poison that, too.
“I would still care if you weren’t such an insufferable, manipulative bitch determined to make everyone as miserable as you obviously are, but you lost whatever remaining consideration I had for you when you hurt Casey. You fucking used her to carry out your damn scheme.”
She wipes away her fake tears and rolls her eyes. “Take your self-righteous bullshit and shove it up your ass, Liam. I didn’t hurt Casey. She looked perfectly fine to me.” Her callous attitude toward Casey burns my chest. In her mind, she’s done nothing wrong; therefore, Casey couldn’t possibly be upset. “And I wonder how doting your baby girl would be if she knew you fucked her friend. Do-no-wrong-daddy would take a fall from grace, I think.” Her brow lifts, and a smug smile stretches her overly injected lips. She thinks she’s got something on me. Maybe a few months ago, I would’ve panicked, but now…
“Are you trying to blackmail me, Krista? Is that what this is? You want something from me?”
“Blackmail is such a nasty word, Liam. I like to think of it as a mutual concern for our daughter’s well-being.” She tries to run her fingers over my chest, but I grab her hand and push it away. “I keep your secret, and you get Casey to talk to me.”
“Why are you so desperate for Casey to talk to you? She’s avoided you for months. Why do you want her now?”
“Because she’s my daughter,” she snaps, her dark blue eyes blazing with anger, but there’s something she’s not saying. I just have no idea what.
I chuckle, dragging my hand over my mouth as I shake my head. “Nah.” My curiosity is piqued for Casey’s sake alone, but I know Krista; she’ll never tell me. “You’re on your own with Casey. I’m not pushing her.”
“Then maybe I should tell her that her slut roommate fucked her daddy.” The smug smirk returns as my fists clench at my sides so I don’t wrap them around her throat. She sees it, and her smile grows. No doubt she believes she’s won this argument, but I couldn’t care less if she told Casey, even though I know Lily would freak out.
“I’m warning you: call Lily that or anything else, and I will blow up your world. If you want to tell Casey, by all fucking means.”
The smirk drops from her face as it turns the color of beets, and her eyes bulge from their sockets. She spits and splutters for a moment before she composes herself. Another smirk lifts the corner of her mouth, but it’s not as confident as before. “You’d never let that happen. Casey has always been your priority.” My eyes narrow, and I wonder how I never noticed before. Never saw the jealousy in her eyes until now. I knew she wouldn’t win any parenting awards, but hell, I wasn’t a front-runner either. I just never thought she was jealous of her own child. “You’d never risk your relationship with her for a little fling with some…” Her words trail when my brow pops, daring her to finish that sentence.
My head drops for a second, and I sigh. “You’re right. I wouldn’t.” When I lift it back up, a satisfied smile is spread across her face. I lean in close, getting right in her ear. “But who said she was a fling?”
When I lean back, Krista’s head shakes back and forth in denial. She thought she knew something but never had a clue. “N-no. I don’t… No!”
“When Casey finds out, she will get over it because she knows I love her, and she knows Lily loves her. And she loves Lily. But don’t pretend you didn’t know. Do you really think I haven’t figured out why you lied to her? That you didn’t plan that moment to ensure Lily heard you say you were pregnant with my baby?”
She brushes her hair from her face while plastering on a look of apathy. “So, I knew. It was two birds, one stone. I wanted her away from you, and I needed you to believe the baby was yours.”
Throbbing begins at my temples. Her voice, the lies… all of it is the equivalent of waterboarding for me. I’ve heard her bullshit story already, but I need her to say it again. So I ignore the irritation and anger slithering over my skin, the grating of her voice, and the pain that’s pulsing in my head. “Why? Why did you care if I was with her or anyone else? Why did you need me to believe it?”
“You know why!” She stomps her foot, jamming her nail into my chest. “I didn’t care who you fucked, but you weren’t supposed to want anyone other than me. You stopped taking my calls! You weren’t there when I needed you.” She huffs, throwing her hair back. “I needed you on the hook for the baby because I knew when Maxwell found out, he’d leave me, and, Liam, you are nothing if not loyal to your kids, but I had to get rid of whoever took you away from me in the first place. Except I didn’t know who it was, so I had to find out. I tried asking Casey, but she swore you weren’t seeing anyone. So I did what I had to. I had my suspicion at the Grammy party. I saw how you reacted to her and Blaze Erikson, but imagine my surprise when I saw our daughter’s roommate slinking away from your building before the sun came up. Slipping into the club for your birthday was easy. It only took a minute to realize there was trouble in paradise. You taking Casey’s phone by mistake was fate.” She snorts and rolls her eyes. “Or I thought so. Good damn thing I didn’t actually need to get pregnant since you couldn’t get your whiskey dick up.”
I cross my arms and take a step back over the carpeted lift, then reach over and hit the button to make the car start moving again before looking her dead in the eyes. “Kind of hard to get your dick up when you’re passed out from being drugged. You know you could’ve fucking killed me, right? And ever think it wasn’t whiskey dick? Maybe it was just you.”
“Oh, please. People take that shit all the time, and they’re fine. And you’ve always wanted me.”
“Then why did I block your number the day I met her? And I met her long before she and Casey became roommates, Krista. Long before she and I were even a thing. Because the minute I met her, you weren’t even an afterthought.”
She looks like she might explode. It’s not the first time I’ve told her this in the last few months, but I pray it’s the last.
A ding signals we’ve reached the ground floor. I grab her arm and drag her out. People stop and stare as we cross the marble-floored lobby. Whispers can be heard as we pass by the rich and outraged.
My daughter lives in a better apartment than I ever have, thanks to her stepfather, and while it kills a small piece of my soul, I choke it down because my baby deserves it.
The Uber I ordered for Krista is already waiting when we exit the building. I don’t let go of her until we’re at the car, and I have her shoved inside despite her upturned nose. Before I shut the door, I lean in to say one last thing. “Until Casey contacts you, leave her the fuck alone. She is not your toy, so if you so much as think about trying to use her as your next payday or setting her up with some rich stockbroker to get a payday, you will deal with me. And stay the fuck away from Lily. This is your last warning if you want to keep getting those fat checks from Davis.”
I slam the door and tap the roof. When the car pulls away, I grab my phone from my pocket, turn off the recorder app, and punch in Henry’s number.
I stand on the sidewalk, pulling my jacket closer to my body to ward off the brisk wind that blows as I listen to it ring. “What’s up?” he says instead of a normal greeting.
“I got her.”
I hear shuffling, and then a door closes before he says, “Are you serious?” He knows without me telling him what I mean. I’ve been trying to get her confession recorded for a while, but the opportunities seldom presented themselves because being in the same room with her makes my skin crawl. “How’d you do that?”
