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“All right,” he says, raising his hands, “all right. I’m not Craig Moss.”
“Then who are you?”
“I’m his brother. Teagan’s dad.”
I take a step back from the other man to glance between him and Teagan. How had I missed the resemblance? The pair could be the same song written in different languages.
Teagan’s eyes go wide. “You’re...my dad?”
He refuses to meet her gaze.
“Yeah,” he says. “I guess I am.”
“You stole your own brother’s identity?” I ask.
The guy shrugs. “It’s not like he was using it.”
“You lied to me,” Teagan says, her hands balling into fists. “You took my money, and you let me think my real dad was out there missing me. But you were right here the whole time. And you didn’t give a shit.”
“Now, that’s not true. I knew I’d try to look for you eventually, but if I’d tried any sooner, I would’ve had to pay child support—”
“You didn’ttryat all. I found you, remember?” Teagan’s lip curls in disgust, fourteen years of pain written all over her face. My own heart cracks down the middle for her. I reach for her hand, but she shirks me.
Instead, she grabs an empty soda can and throws it at her dad.
“Hey, watch it,” he says.
“Fuck you!” She grabs an empty burger box and hurls it at him. She throws everything she can find. A TV remote, empty beer bottles, a desk clock, two pens. Her dad deflects a few items and winces as he gets pelted with the rest.
“Cut it out, you little bitch,” he shouts.
I pin him against the wall. “Now’d be a good time to exercise your right to remain silent.”
Teagan hurls herself at both of us. She reaches around me to hit her dad in the ribs, her mouth twisted into a snarl. I block his fist as he tries to slap her, wedging myself between them and pressing my forearm to his throat.
“Do not touch her,” I growl. He nods, clearly shaken.
I release Teagan’s dad and turn to catch her, just as she tries to slip around me. I’ve never seen her like this, lost to her anger. Totally out of control.
It’s like she can’t stop.
As much as I want to let her kick the shit out of her bastard father, I don’t want her to be here when the cops show up. Pinning her arms to her sides, I shush her softly and ease her down to a kneeling position on the floor. She starts to sob.
“It’s all right, sweetheart,” I whisper into her hair. “Daddy’s got you.”
After a few seconds, she goes limp in my arms. I rock her gently, back and forth. Eventually her sobs temper to whimpers and then silent tears. Once she’s back to being my little girl again, I lift her like a child and march toward the exit.
Pausing at the door, I turn to back her father and say, “Teagan isn’t your daughter. She never was. You will never see her again.”
A police cruiser pulls into the hotel’s parking lot just as we’re pulling out. Teagan sits still as a statue, staring out the window the whole ride home. In the driveway, I shut off the engine and reach across the console to squeeze her thigh.
“I’m sorry you had to go through that, Teagan.”
She doesn’t say anything right away.
“I’m such a fucking idiot,” she mumbles. “My dad never cared about me. He never wanted to see me. He never...” She rubs her reddened eyes. “Nobody ever wanted me.”
“I want you, angel. This doesn’t change anything. I’m still here. I’m still your family.”
