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Erica lets out a sigh before dropping her head and looking at the wooden floor underneath her bare feet. She shifts back and forth on her feet nervously.
“That’s my daughter,” she murmurs.
“And why didn’t you tell me about her?”
“Because I hardly know you!” she says, throwing up her hands.
“Oh, I’m sorry. You know me enough to sleep with me,” I say sarcastically.
She doesn’t say anything.
“But no one seems to know. Why is that?” I ask sharply.
“I don’t know. It’s no one’s business.” She shrugs, her damp shoulders pulling away from the towel that encases her. She’s still avoiding looking at me.
“Or maybe there’s a reason you were trying to hide her from everyone. More importantly,me…”
She stays quiet, clutching her towel at her chest.
“Because she’s mine,” I say.
Erica slowly looks up at me, her eyes rimmed with tears. I can see she’s scared out of her mind, her fear escaping her through salty tears.
“Isn’t she?” I ask in almost a whisper.
Her silence is all the answer I need. The baby on her phone is mine.
“Get out,” I say slowly.
“Wh-what?”
“Get. Out.”
“Marco, please…”
I look at the phone in my hand, getting one last look at the picture of my baby before tossing her phone back at her. She fumbles to catch it, missing, before it falls to the floor with a thud. She scrambles to her knees to pick it up, still clutching the towel.
“Get dressed. Get your things and get out.”
She looks up at me, tears streaming down her face and I try to fight the part of me that feels bad for her. It’s not hard because I’m so angry at her right now. I realize I don’t know the woman looking back at me at all. I thought I did. I even thought there was a chance I was falling for her. But now, all I see when I look at her is the secret she’s been hiding from me for months and months.
If I hadn’t seen Erica’s phone this morning, would she ever tell me? I get the feeling she never would have. And why not? I don’t know the reason, but there’s not a good enough one to hold this information from me. I feel like my life has changed in a matter of minutes, and I’m trying to grasp at anything that feels solid.
Erica is still on the floor, her knees pressing into the hardwood as she looks up at me pleadingly. I can’t even look at her. And I don’t. I look out the window at the city outside.
“Please leave,” I whisper.
She pulls herself from the floor and walks out of the room, quiet sobs escaping her. I hear her rustling in the living room, probably picking up her clothes from last night to get dressed. Afew moments later, I hear the front door click closed, and I know I’m alone now. A scary place to be when your head is swarming with thoughts, your heart with emotions.
I’m a father. To a little girl named Josie. And I just kicked her mother out of my penthouse.
Chapter 25
Erica
Irun out of the lobby doors and out into the warm afternoon air, trying to get away from the mess my life just turned into back up in that penthouse. I can barely see as the tears stream down my face, flailing my hand desperately for a cab to come pick me up and take me away from here.
How could I have been so stupid to leave my phone out like that? This whole time I had been so careful to keep my phone tucked away, so Marco couldn’t see that I was leading some sort of double life. I know that it’s not the phone’s fault, but mine, for keeping Josie a secret while working so closely with her father. That was the stupid decision.