He. Was. Paying. For. Her. Fucking. Apartment. I flipped through the pages, scanning as I went, my blood boiling and my stomach dropping as I read. He was leasing Milan a five-bedroom, three-bath apartment. Pissed off didn’t even begin to cover what I was feeling, but there was also a sense of overwhelming dread. Why was he renting such a huge apartment for a single woman and a baby… unless he was planning to fill those rooms with more children?

I lost track of time staring at the paperwork until Carrie came downstairs asking if it had been five minutes yet. “Yeah, sweetie. It’s actually been twenty-five minutes,” I said, checking the time. “I’ll text your dad.” I just needed to get through dinner with him and get our kid in bed. Then we could have a much-needed discussion.

Blaire: Hey, you on the way? Carrie’s starving.

I waited ten minutes—until he was officially thirty minutes late—for him to reply, trying not to think about what he might be doing to not be able to answer a goddamned text. Finally fed up with waiting and listening to Carrie whine, I called Beau. “Hey, bro. Do you and the guys want to go to La Hacienda with me and Care?”

“Sure, but I thought Axel was—”

I cut him off. “Yeah, I thought so, too, but he’s not here, and Carrie is hungry.” And he’s holed up with the woman he knocked up. Oh, and he’s probably going to leave me for her and have more babies.

“We’re on our way,” he said, and my shoulders slumped in relief. I didn’t want to have to answer my daughter’s questions about why her daddy hadn’t shown up because I honestly didn’t have any answers. Her uncles were always an excellent distraction.

As we watched Carrie scarf down cheese enchiladas, Beau bumped me with his shoulder. “You all right, sis?”

“Just aggravated,” I said, giving him a small smile and stealing a piece of his fajita meat.

“Why don’t you let Care stay at my house tonight since we’ll be getting up early to go to the aquarium?”

“Are you sure? You just had her last weekend.”

“Blaire, we love having her. I’ve told you that a million times. And I thought you and Broxton might have some things to talk about,” he said with a raised brow.

“We probably do. My life was perfect three days ago, and now I feel like shit’s falling apart.” I looked around the table at our raucous group and smiled. “But this is helping. You guys always cheer me up.”

My brother grinned as he flagged down the waitress. “You look like you could use a margarita. I’ll drive you home.”

43. Axel

Axel