Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 44902 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44902 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
“Is she mine?” he rasps. His voice shakes.
“I…” I swallow hard and then nod, tears welling in my eyes again, even though I promised myself not to cry.
Keegan exhales a shuddering breath, his eyes falling closed. They spring open immediately, pinning me in place. The accusation in them is unmistakable. So is the pain. “You kept her from me.”
I nod again, tears pouring down my cheeks. “Please let me explain.”
I know he hates me. He deserves to feel that. I won’t take it from him. But he needs to know why. It’s the only way he’ll be able to keep her safe.
Maybe I should have told him the truth back in Colorado. Maybe it would have changed things. I don’t know. But we can’t go back now. I can’t redo that day. All I can do now is what I came here to do and pray it’s enough for both of them.
“Can I hold her?” There’s a thread in his voice, a vulnerability I didn’t expect. It breaks my heart and mends a piece of it simultaneously.
I cradle her in my arms for a moment, a little afraid it may be the last time. Afraid that once she’s out of my arms, I’ll never hold her again. That he won’t let me say goodbye. He’ll just…take her.
But that isn’t Keegan. That’s the MC. Sometimes, it’s easy to forget what good men look like when you’ve spent so long surrounded by monsters.
“What’s her name?”
“Lily,” I whisper as he takes her from my arms, carefully cradling her against his chest. He holds her so gently, and I want to sob. I hate that this moment was stolen from him when she was born. I hate that this is the first time he’s getting to experience holding his daughter in his arms. It’s a beautiful sight…and it’s a painful one, too.
She stares up at him, blinking her little eyes. She’s so quiet in his arms, so content, as if she knows that he’s her person. Her daddy. His eyes are locked on her, so much softer than they were when he looked at me. I see the love he already has for her, the gentleness.
Has anyone ever felt that way about me? Except for that day with him, no. Never.
“Lily,” he whispers to her. “I’m your daddy, baby girl.”
I choke on a sob, and he glances up at me, his expression cooling slightly.
“I-I tried to find you,” I whisper, though I know he won’t believe me. “I w-went back to Colorado, looking for you.”
“I’ve been here the whole time. You would have known that had you not run out on me, Landry.” He mutters a curse beneath his breath, his expression hard. Bitter. “Is that even your name?”
“Yes.” I grimace. “Um, I lied to you about my last name. It’s not Drake. It’s Corbett.”
He jerks his chin in a nod. “Thought so. I looked for you.” His throat works convulsively. “Even after I realized you gave me a fake name, I kept looking.”
My eyes fly open wide, my bottom lip trembling. “Keegan, I…”
“Why’d you run?”
I stare at him holding our daughter, terrified to tell him. Terrified he’ll take her from me forever once he knows. But what other choice do I have? He can’t protect her from the MC if he doesn’t know the truth; right now, she needs protection. Desperately.
“My uncle s-sold me to an MC to settle his debts.”
Chapter Four
Keegan
I’ve imagined this day for so fucking long. But I didn’t think it’d happen like this. With Landry waltzing through the door carrying my baby in her arms. My baby. Christ, I have a kid. A perfect baby girl.
My heart already belongs to her. As soon as I looked into those tiny eyes, I fell in love with her. She looks just like Landry, but those eyes? Those are mine.
Landry’s words register, and a cold chill rips through me. “What did you just say?”
“My uncle sold me to an MC to settle his debts,” she repeats, trembling with fear. “I knew what they planned to do to me, so I ran before they could take me to their compound.”
“When was this?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Yeah, it does,” I disagree, my eyes boring into her. She looks softer than she did in Colorado, and sweeter. Her hair is longer. Her breasts fuller. Her curves even more goddamn beautiful. I feel like an asshole for being turned on when the haunted look in her eyes is even more obvious than it was back then, but I can’t help it, either. She’s standing in front of me again, the way I’ve dreamed about every fucking day. “When, Landry?”
“T-two years ago,” she says. “Right before my nineteenth birthday.”
Jesus fucking Christ.
“You’ve been running for two years?”
She jerks her chin in a nod. “The day I met you, they found me. I planned to disappear in the crowd at the convention, but…”