Page 23 of Steel

She stood there watching, seemingly avoiding my eyes.

Nayelli glanced over at her. “But Aunt Dee?—”

“Come on. We have a stop to make before we go home.”

Nayelli sighed. “Bye, Mr. K.,” she said solemnly.

With sunken shoulders, she walked over to her aunt who rushed her out.

“That was . . . weird,” I said looking after her.

“Can we go somewhere private to talk?”

I hesitated and nodded. She followed me through the building and down the hall to my office. I barely got the door closed before she was speaking again.

“Kerrion, that’s Neha’s sister.”

I heard the words, but that wasn’t what bothered me.

“N—Nayelli?” I asked.

“Neha’s daughter. I . . . Kerrion, I think she’s yours. I did the math. Unless she slept with someone else, she got pregnant before you two broke up.”

I laughed. “Please tell me you fucking lying.”

Jaeda shook her head. “I wish I was. I looked up the birth certificate.”

I stared at her waiting for her to say she was joking. She never did. Instead, she pulled out her phone and showed me a picture. Staring at it confirmed everything she said. Looking back at me was a picture of Neha and a baby Nayelli who could have been KJ’s twin. I had to look between the picture and my baby to make sure I wasn’t seeing shit.

“So she had my baby? She had my baby and kept her from me?”

Jaeda sniffled. “I’m so sorry. I emailed you everything I found?—”

“Take my son home.” I kissed KJ before handing him back to her. “Now.”

I started to walk away, but she grabbed my arm.

“Where are you going?”

“Where do you think I’m going? To confront her.”

“I really think you should take a minute to think about this. Let the news digest first.”

“She had my fucking baby and kept her from me, Jaeda! How am I supposed to digest that!”

My outburst caused my son to start crying. I scooped him from his aunt’s arms and cradled him against my chest.

“Daddy’s sorry, Fat Man. I’m sorry. It’s okay.”

I buried my face in his little neck and tried to calm myself down. I felt a range of emotions, the strongest being hurt and anger. Why the fuck would Neha do this shit? How could shehave my baby and keep her from me? How could her aunt enroll her here and not say shit about it? She had to have known.

I thought back to the looks she gave me, like she was trying to figure out who I was. Although we had never met each other’s families in person, I’d seen pictures of hers, and she’d seen pictures of mine. I knew that woman looked familiar when she walked in, but I couldn’t place her face. Then there was Nayelli. I now knew the reason she felt so familiar was because she looked like my son.

Why hadn’t I seen it before?

KJ had finally calmed down. I kissed his cheek and handed him back to Jaeda.

“Take him home. I’ll be there later.”