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“And what exactly does she know? Have you told her anything about me?”
“For the last year or so,” I reluctantly gave in, but he’d left me no choice. “She’s been asking who her father is.”
“And?”
“And since she’s so incredibly stubborn like you, I had to tell her, but I didn’t give her your name. The last thing I wanted was for her to Google you and find out that you’re Alpha CEO.”
He narrowed his eyes at me, unaware of what I meant by that.
“You’re an asshole. That’s no surprise to you. The last thing I wanted was for her to find out the man you’ve become.” I took a deep breath, already dreading the fact that I was going to admit this. “To say I was shocked when Claire called me to help you would be an understatement. It was like fate or something. I guess, I mean … I know. It’s one of the reasons I agreed to take you on as a client. I thought … I hoped … I could change you back. Okay? I wanted to help you become the man I used to know, not for me, but for Capri.”
“You named her Capri?”
“Yeah. I wanted her to have a part of you, and you always liked the name. I know it’s silly, but it was something I could use without my family getting suspicious of who her father was. I couldn’t give her your last name, Julian, so I worked with what I had.”
“After knowing I was raised without a father, how could you do that to me? How could you betray me like this?”
“What was I supposed to do? You left me.”
“I would have taken the first flight back if you’d told me, Autumn.”
“And then what? Huh? What would have happened next?”
“It’s really quite simple, kid.”
Never did I expect him to declare, “I would have asked you to marry me, and we could have been a family.”
—Julian—
“You don’t mean that.”
“I never say anything I don’t mean.”
“Other than when you’re lying to me.”
“If you’re going to bring up our past every time you don’t get your way, we’re in for a rough road ahead.”
“We’re in one nonetheless.” She abruptly stood. “You can’t say shit like you would have asked me to marry you!”
“Whether you want to hear it or not, it’s the truth.”
“It’s so easy for you to say that now, in retrospect, but back then … it wasn’t like this. You weren’t like this. You spent years pushing me away. Years, Julian!”
“I know, and you don’t have to remind me every chance you get. I was there, Autumn.”
“You’re so fucking arrogant. How can you sit there and make all these demands when the only reason we’re in this situation is because of you and your choices in the first place? You’re the reason things went down this way.”
I slammed my fist on the table, making her jump. “Don’t you think I know that? I’m trying to make it right. I’ve been trying to make it right all week.”
“It’s going to take longer than a week to make things right between us, and now you’re throwing our daughter in the mix, and it’s not fair!”
“You want to know what’s not fair? I’ll tell you what’s not fucking fair! First and foremost, missing out on your pregnancy, watching your stomach grow with our baby. Feeling her kick, seeing you pregnant with my child, glowing, radiant, and fucking breathtaking. The first ultrasound, finding out we’re having a baby girl, and then preparing for it. Her birth, cutting the cord, seeing you hold her for the first time, me holding her for the first time, taking her home from the hospital, her first bath, her first steps, her first word, her first birthday! All the firsts I missed! Every. Single. One. Now that’s not fucking fair! You took everything away from me, and you’re damn lucky I’m not demanding to knock you up, so I don’t miss out on those first again!”
She didn’t just fall back—she stumbled from the truth of my words. With wide eyes, she replied, “Knock me up again? Are you hearing yourself? We’re not together, Julian!”
“Again, not by my choice, sweetheart. If I thought for a second there was a possibility of you saying yes, I’d get down on one knee and ask you to marry me, right here and now.”
“I’m not eighteen anymore. You don’t need to marry me because you got me pregnant.”
