Page 67 of Second Chance Daddy

The regret is already clawing in. The walls are stacking right back up.

Her hand trails down my chest like she might stay—but her eyes?

They’re already gone.

I let her go.

She slips out of the bed, tugging that shredded dress around herself, bare feet soundless on the floor.

Then I reach for my phone.

Scroll to the name I shouldn’t be calling. But tonight? I’m done guessing. Done circling the drain of maybes.

The line clicks after one ring.

“I need a DNA test,” I say, my voice low, sharp, absolute. “Quietly.”

18

CASSIE

There’s a faint and strange mechanical sound in the distance.

At first, I tell myself it’s nothing. Some bird. A boat engine. But then the low, rhythmic whup-whup-whup claws its way through, and my stomach plummets straight to hell.

Helicopter.

I freeze by the kitchen window and look out into the sky, and see blades circling like vultures. It’s probably nothing, I tell myself. Could be medical transport, sightseeing, or some rich asshole wasting fuel. But all I hear is Gino.

The blades cut through the clouds like a saw cutting bone, and then disappear.

It’s not him. I could kiss the floor because it’s not him.

But how long will it remain that way?

The terror’s already here. Wrapped tight around my ribs, squeezing like a vise, whispering that Gino could be anywhere. Watching, closing in.

The sound fades, but my hands still shake. My heart won’t get the damn memo.

Ever since he showed up around here that night, every sound feels like him. Every echo, every engine, every shadow stretched long against the trees.

I swallow the panic down like battery acid.

“You good?”

I nearly jump out of my skin and turn to find Tina staring straight at me. She leans against the doorframe with her signature “I see through your shit” expression, dressed to kill, lips painted blood-red despite the early hour.

“Yeah,” I lie. “Totally.”

She cocks a brow, slides her shades down her nose, and studies me. “Sweetheart, you look two seconds from a breakdown. Don’t play me.”

“It’s just… loud mornings bring back old memories,” I offer up some version of the truth. Tina doesn’t know, bless her heart, what happened that night. “With the helicopter out there…”

I glance out the window again, as though I’ll find Gino pressed up against the window.

“Get your shoes,” Tina says in her sharp, no-nonsense tone. “We’re going to town. You need a break, and we need to catch up.”

“We live together,” I say pointedly.