“That fucking snake.” Lyle grips the pad still clutched in his hands so tightly the case begins to crack. “He told her to get rid of it,” he grits, nostrils flaring. “It!” he repeats louder. “I was there. I heard him.”

Anika nods, her face more broken than I’ve ever seen. “I believe you.” She takes the tablet from his hand and returns it to her bag. “But you know as well as I do that it’s your word against his.”

My husband gets up from the couch and starts pacing back and forth across the room, silently stewing in his anger.

The girls and I watch with bated breath for the explosion that seems inevitable. I’m afraid to say or do the wrong thing. Not out of fear that he’d hurt me, but that I might unintentionally wound him further.

He pauses near the front door, clenching and unclenching his fists before rearing back and punching a hole through the wall. Then he falls to his knees with an anguished cry that pierces straight to my soul.

I rush to his side with a torrent of tears pouring down my face. “I’m sorry,” I say, wrapping him in my arms and holding his head to my chest. I can hardly breathe, knowing he’s in so much pain. Even worse is that, in a roundabout way, I’m to blame. “I’m so sorry.”

I say it over and over, rocking with him on that floor until I feel his body begin to relax. His heart is beating so hard, and the veins in his arms are bulging, pumped full of adrenaline.

“It’s not your fault.” He kisses my head then pulls me into his lap, burying his lips in my hair. His knuckles glide along my arm in a soothing gesture that seems to have a calming effect on us both.

He looks up at Anika. “What do we do?”

“The only thing we can do.” She frowns. “We order the test.”

Lyle’s grip tightens, but otherwise he has no outward reaction. “Then what?”

“If it’s negative, we carry on like this never happened. The results will be enough to appease your fans.”

“And if he’s the father?”

Hearing him refer to anyone else as Judd’s father churns my stomach. That title belongs to one man, and it sure as shit isn’t Trent Thomas.

“Then we fight him in court. Get as much physical custody as we can. The fact that you live in different states, and you and Sammi being married, should help with that.” She runs a hand through her long hair. “The courts like to see children in stable homes. Judd has that here with the two of you.”

“That piece of shit is only after his money,” Raven hisses quietly, so she won’t wake the baby. “This is such bullshit.”