Page 70 of Like An Animal

He’s such an asshole. There are more important things than sex, like survival and my child. She is way more important than anything else in the world. If I didn’t have to worry about The Fathers finding her, I would behave and not try to escape. That’s not an option though. Nothing matters more than Lottie, not even Jeremy.

Once we finish,Jeremy fixes my dress before turning me to face him. His fingers wrap around my throat and instead of fighting, I wait for him to do or say something. Even though the man just got off, he looks ready to kill.

“Only one last thing to deal with,” he mutters, his soft tone not matching his expression at all.

“And what’s that?” I ask, beyond confused.

“Who is the brat’s father?” he asks, his eyes narrowing. “I know it’s not the piece of shit I just disposed of, so who is it?”

I blink at him a few times. I mean, he clearly looked into me so, how doesn’t he know?

“Seriously?”

He nods, his eyes narrowing on me. “Who. Is. It?”

I tilt my head as I look up at him, wondering if the look I give him will make it click, but it doesn’t. His fingers squeeze around my throat in warning, cutting off my air. I gag as my fingers dig into his hand.

“I won’t ask again. Now, tell me who it is. There’s nothing you can do to stop me from giving him the same treatment I gave your ex-husband,” he threatens, but the second he loosens his hold on my throat, I gasp and sputter.

“That…would be…counterproductive.” My voice comes out broken and raspy as I try to relieve the ache left behind.

“And why would that be?” He yanks me hard against him as my head spins. I look up into his eyes, taking in the dark brown irises with a single gold ring towards his pupils.

“She has your eyes.” I recognized them the second Lottie opened hers and looked at me. As a newborn, I knew who her father was and prayed for hours, thanking the Lord for notletting her father be any of the pricks that raped me in that compound.

His eyes are blown wide open as soon as the words leave my mouth, a moment of recognition flashing in his gaze.

“What did you just say?” he questions, his tone broken.

I take a deep breath before saying, “She’s your daughter, too, Jeremy.”

CHAPTER 30

THE SHADOW

“She has your eyes.” Those four words send a whirlwind through my mind. The kid said the same thing on the plane. She just stared at me and said we had the same eyes.

What the hell is she trying to say? Maybe I’m being stupid, but I need her to spell it out for me.

“What did you just say?” I ask.

It can’t be, right?

She frowns as she mutters, “She’s your daughter, too, Jeremy.”

My…daughter?

She had my kid?

No, that’s not right. She would’ve told me if she was pregnant. I would’ve noticed something, anything.

I release my hold on her and dart out of the room, heading back to where we left Xavi and the kid. I jog into the living room and straight over to the sitting area where the mutt and Xavi hang out with the kid, who plays with her doll.

“You good, man?” Xavi asks with concern as I grab the child’s arm, turning her around. The child’s eyes widen as she looks upat me. She tilts her head to the side, but my gaze hones in on her eyes.

Just like Bronwyn said, they’re exactly like mine, but now that I’m looking for it, I see more in her face that looks like my mother–her lips and eyebrows specifically. The rest of her face belongs to her mother.

How was it that I didn’t see it before? It was staring me right in the face every time she tried to talk to me on the plane.