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“Julian.” His name trembles out of me in disbelief.

“I was serious when I told you I'd be better for you. I divorced Aisha, and I’m a free man, peaches. Well, technically not free because I'll do everything to win you back.”

Does he know about the results?

I don’t even ask about that, because I don’t think I have a voice anymore.

“I didn’t handle things well, Lila, and for that, I'm deeply sorry. For real this time. I want to be better for you and our little girl because I believe she’s mine, peaches. You know she’s the product of our love, right?”

She’s not yours, she’s mine!

You are not her father because you don’t even know her name, nor have you bothered to ask.

“Let me make it up to you, peaches. One more chance, baby.”

I swallow down the vitriol and the devastation that threatens to slice me open.

The next words I let out feel like a deep betrayal to both Lina and Alaric, but my baby’s life is literally in the hands of Julian. What I'm about to do is…the only way.

“H–how will you make it up to me after everything you’ve done to hurt me?”

“It’s not too late to invite you and Lina out for dinner, is it? We can talk about everything over dinner.”

“Okay.”

“Thank you for—”

“Dinner in a public restaurant where it won’t just be me, you, and Lina. I don’t trust you after what you did to me the last time we met.”

The last time he drugged me. The last time he tried to…I have to do this. For Lina.

I can hear the smirk in Julian’s voice before he even speaks.

“It’s a date. I’ll send the address.”

The call ends, and I stare at my reflection in the darkened screen.

I can’t breathe.

I can’t cry.

I can’t scream.

Not yet.

Because my little girl’s life is at stake.

And I’ll walk through fire if it means saving her.

Chapter Twenty-Two

LILA WINTER

I’ve made a lot of mistakes over the years, some I regret, some I don’t.

But this?

This feelslike the biggest one yet.