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Chapter 1

Marek

"You need to get your fucking head on straight and put your house in order"

Yeah, that's what Reed had told me on the phone yesterday, and my response?

"Get offback"

No way in hell I'll ever ad I know I've got to quit ignoring the truth of ure out some way to accept that today it's vastly different than I'd ever iined it would be

Godda such a secret from me

A daughter

Lilly

I'm scared as fuck

I sit in the glooine slow and steady as opposed to the beat of one for three days at the beach with Holt, staying drunkthe h I'd still be there too if Reed hadn't called me yesterday and tornGracen and Lilly

Gracen is the easy excuse I'ry at her I can barely stand to be in the same room Our conversations have been brief and stilted I left her a credit card so she could buy whatever she needs, and outside of so the house alarm and hoork the TV, we haven't spokenit She hardly looks at me e're in the same room, however brief it may be

I'd even reasoned to ive Lilly some respite from the tension within the house Of course, I know her ot to be stressed to theLilly, but I choose not to let that be my problem

I'd done what I set out to do I stopped Gracen fro Owen Waller, and now I'o and a new daughter I had not expected nor frankly wanted

My life is fucked

With a sigh I get out of my car and pocket my keys My feet are heavy as I walk up the three short steps that lead into the ht in stressful anticipation of any confrontation I ut over the thought of having to engage with a child who looks just likein common with

Christ, I know nothing about kids

I

I open the door quietly and slip inside The ht and I'm in the laundry roo area The sound of the TV hits e That means one or both of the females now in my life are just a few short feet ahich means conversation is inevitable

It's going on 9 PM and I have no clue if Lilly is even still awake No idea what tihts I'd been coh that Lilly had been sleeping and thus I didn't have to deal with her

Didn't mean I wasn't curious about her, because I a deal with this

My kitchen lights are off, but the glow of the TV in the living rooate around the counter I hope to slip unnoticed past the couch, but Gracen's head pops up I can see by the heaviness of her eyelids she'd been sleeping

She stands up and rubs her face before looking at me "We need to talk"

"I'm tired," I say, and start to head into the formal room, the other side of which is the uest bedrooms

"No, now," she says firmly as she walks around the couch toward ht

"Tomorrow," I mutter as I walk away

"We're leaving to tone "So if you want to hear what I have to say, you better stop and listen Tomorroill be too late"

That stops me dead in "

"Yeah, I arily "Lilly and I are virtual prisoners here You de to take her away if I didn't, and then you ignore us for a week We don't know anyone here, and I don't even knohether to look for a job or not Butto risk your wrath if we leave, is because Lilly is confused as hell as to who you are and what your purpose in her life is"

That right there te to rise "What have you told her about me?"

"Nothing," she says tiredly as she shoves her hands into the pockets of her jeans Gracen always did fill out a pair of tight jeans nicely, and that hasn't changed over the years She's still the most beautiful woman I've ever seen, and fuck me if I don't believe part of it is because she had my child

Godda

"She only thinks you're a friend of her ht Gracen would fill her in on the fact Lilly has a daddy as kept secret from her is beyond me, but I really expected her to just deal with the euess I mean, I sure as shit don't knohat to say to a toddler I barely know

"She needs to know," I say, the eue

"Agreed," Gracen ht, and it has to be done together, and it can't be done when you aren't ever here More than that, I only want to tell her if you plan on being active in her life She'd be crushed if you weren't interested in her, and I' her heart like that You're a dick, Marek H

ave been since the o because you didn't wantyou down in your new, fancy professional athlete life But you cannot be that ith your daughter I won't let you, and I'll fight you every step of the way to protect her"

"Christ," I h my hair in frustration "I need a beer Want one?"

Gracen shakes her head but followsa beer froe I watch as she sits on one of the short stools on the far end of the L-shaped kitchen island She looks exhausted and frazzled, like she could snap at any moment

I'm such a sick bastard that part of me revels in that, because it's pretty hter I didn't know about

Waitstrike that

If I'm honest--and I'll only be honest withthat Gracen was going to get married It hit me so hard I felt like I'd been hip checked and slaed to lead --too ht about her when I ith other women, which is why I tried to be with a lot of women Kept the memories away

But there was no way I could let her marry Owen He would have destroyed her spirit, and that would have been a travesty to the world I may have left her behind, but I never failed to reain in my life It was a choice I had to ht have beret

When I left Gracen--who is three years younger than ree I knew she'd never do it if she followed me for my career