Page 19 of Off-Limits Love

The following morning, Mak stood on the porch, shaking like a tree in a hurricane. Of all the?—

“Daddy!”

Emi tore out of the house, the screen door banging behind her as she hurried down the steps to where Brad rounded the front of a brand-new Corvette convertible.

Brad bent and scooped Emi up, whirling her around before hugging her close.

“Hey, Emi-baby. How’s my girl?”

“I got to pet a cow!”

“You did? A stuffed one?”

“No, a real one! And we went to the beach. Why didn’t you come for our date?”

Brad flashed Mak a look before squeezing Emi tight and putting her back down. “I had to work.”

“So you came for a date today?” Emi asked sweetly.

Mak’s heart stuttered in her chest, but the sight of Brad’s car should’ve been her first warning. It didn’t have a backseat, and Emi wasn’t allowed to sit in the front. Plus, it was her weekend with Emi, not his.

“I did, but I can’t take you anywhere today, baby. The police won’t let me because I don’t have a seat for you. I just dropped by to give you a hug and,” he said, drawing out the word, “see if your mama would let me stay here and visit with my girls so I don’t have to miss out on time with my baby girl. We can stay here, or your mama could drive us, and we could have a date and go do something together.”

Wait, what? No, no, no. Not this again.“Brad.”

“All of us?” Emi looked so excited.

“Of course,” Brad said, smiling at Emi before shifting his attention to Mak. “Come on, honey. Surely you can spend an hour or two with me? It’ll be like the old days before you got all up in your head.”

Yeah, because she was to blame for wanting a divorce after he’d cheated on her and then played the victim. He was a narcissistic mama’s boy, and she’d been fooled by the love bombing and sweet gestures and married him, then realized the truth. Lesson learned the hard freaking way. “No. I can’t?—”

“See, Emi? Your mama hates me. She doesn’t know what’s good for us, does she?”

“Brad!”

Brad narrowed his gaze on Mak. “Just telling it like it is, babe.”

Mak barely managed to bite back a scream of frustration.

“Emi, go in the house, please. I need to talk to your daddy.”

“But Daddy came to see me,” Emi said, her arms now wrapped around her father’s leg.

“Emi, go in the house, please,” Mak said, stepping to the left and pointing toward the door.

Brad used one hand to hug Emi close before tugging her loose and nudging her toward the porch.

“Best do what she says or she’ll be mad at you too, lovebug. Go on, now. I love you, Emi-baby.”

“I loveyou, Daddy.”

Mak sucked in a breath and fisted her hands.

How? How did she fight Brad’s awful, manipulative comments? How did she correct the damage done with every single statement he made to a four-year-old?

What would happen when she was eight? Twelve? Sixteen?

And if he said those kinds of things in front of her now, what on earth did he say when she wasn’t around and he and Emi were alone? Their last Christmas together, Mak had adamantly said no to a certain ridiculously priced gift.