I’d tried hard not to think of Huey’s mother, Alana, over the last week. The woman who had seduced my dad into cheating on my mom. I mentally pulled myself up before villainizing her, though.

My dad had been a grown-ass man, not some innocent teen. He’d had a successful business and a mountain of life experience; he wasn’t lured unwillingly by some Jezabel, no matter what popular media would have you believe. He had a choice and he’d chosen badly.

Alana may or may not have known he was married. The point is, she wasn’t the one who had stood at an altar twenty-five years ago and made promises to my mom. The fault was firmly on my dad’s shoulders.

Still, when I saw the grief around River Cooper’s eyes, it was hard to hide from the fact that she’d been special to someone. Several someones, if the palpable sadness of their small group was anything to go by.

After a long hearing, the judge granted me full legal custody of Huey. My heart thundered, and my eyes misted over. Now it was real. I was the parent of a six-week-old baby.

What the hell had I done?

Chapter Three

RIVER

My hands curled into fists where they rested on my thighs as the judge ruled in favor of the girl. My heart twisted in my chest as I failed Alana one more time. I’d promised her that I’d take care of the baby if anything ever happened to her, and I’d lost him before I even had him.

I spun to look at Nova Stone as the judge finished his closing speech. She was looking at him as he spoke, absolute terror on her face. It was like she didn’t even want Huey; she was just fighting for him for the sake of it.

I squeezed my fists harder, and Rigby’s hand patted me on the shoulder from where he sat behind me. Rigby was my teammate, but more than that, he was one of my best friends. We were family. He knew when I was about to blow my shit better than any other person on the planet, except perhaps Devan. And Alana.

My heart squeezed like it did every time I thought of her death, and I pushed those feelings back down. Instead, I stared at Nova again.

She wasn’t what I’d expected, though I really didn’t know what I’d been expecting. Someone who was immoral, like her father, who’d knocked up my best friend and then ghosted her?