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“She was alone. She had no one.”
“What about you? You just said she was your best friend.”
Genevieve rolled her eyes because it was better than crying. “I already told you I failed her. I wasn’t there for her when she needed me most. I told myself I’d be there for her daughter.”
“Well, you won’t be. She’s my daughter. Not yours. You’re not even her family. You’re not her mother despite telling me that. You lied.”
“Not true. I never actually said I was her mother. You assumed that.”
“You let me assume. You didn’t correct me,” he shot back.
No, she hadn’t, but she had one objective and that was to get Amelie in her arms. She had been prepared to do anything to accomplish that. And she had done the worst thing that she would regret for the rest of her life. He would never forgive her and she’d never forgive herself.
“I want you to leave.”
She swallowed hard.
“Now!” He swung his hand toward the door, and she flinched, even though he wasn’t near her to hit her.
“If you’re going to call the police, I’d rather you get it over with.”
They stared at each other once again. Her trembling with the knowledge she’d be going to jail for the first time in her life. Him with anger slicing his features, yet something else she couldn’t quite decipher.
“Get out. Now.”
Well, that didn’t give her a clear answer whether he’d be calling the police. Maybe he wasn’t going to.
It seemed too good to be true.
But she took what was offered, nodded, and left.
* * *
Corey saton the couch with Amelie in his arms, holding a bottle and grinning at the way she chugged it down. His little girl always had an appetite. Definitely got those genes from him.
Then his grin faded when his brother punctured his view. It wasn’t hard to see him either as he paced back and forth in front of him.
Of course, he had to call his brother and friends to tell them he had Amelie back, but as soon as they got to his apartment, he wished he hadn’t. They were stressing him out. He wanted to chill with his little girl and forget everything that happened today.
“You’re going to wear a hole in my floor and it’s already a shitty-ass floor.”
Ricky stopped, glaring. “You need to tell Gabby everything so she can arrest that woman.”
Corey glanced at Gabby sitting on the other end of the couch, silent. Yet her dead stare told him she wasn’t happy with his decision either.
Whatever.
It was his choice.
His daughter.
His gut feeling that having that woman arrested wouldn’t do anything but make her life a living hell.
Yeah, she took his daughter, but in a weird—totally odd—way, he understood her reasons. The need to make amends. To find peace when it seemed damn near impossible.
Genevieve felt like she failed her friend Melanie. He could respect her need to right that wrong. Of course, not if it involved taking his daughter from him.
Hell, he couldn’t explain to himself why he didn’t call the cops on her. But the moment she asked, the shattered look in her eyes, the pain etched as if someone were tattooing it on her skin making it permanent, his gut said to let it go. Move on.
