SCANDALOUS

SAYING I DIDN’T WANT VAL there was the understatement of the fucking decade.

Problem was I had zero choice.

I got home at six, fully intending to change into some workout clothes and go downstairs to the gym to let out some steam after Edie had walked into her father’s office with the flash drive holding all of my ammo, but I had a surprise waiting for me at the door.

Fucking Valenciana Vasquez, leaning against a wall, looking twenty shades of sex-on-red heels, and of course, it did nothing for me.

“Trent.” She batted her eyelashes, a venom-glazed siren. “Long time no see.”

I walked right past her, jamming my keys to the hole. “Hey, you heard no complaints from me.” My jaw ticked once. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

She braced herself against the wall, probably overwhelmed by my underwhelming reaction. If she was expecting tears, shouts, and ‘we’ve been waiting for you’ Hallmark card sentiments, she was deeply mistaken. Luna was mine. Mine to love, mine to raise, mine to fix. Val just presented a complication to me, and I was going to eliminate it, nip it in the bud before she could say Jack-fucking-Robinson.

“I’m here for my daughter, of course.” She scoffed, slithering in my direction and sneaking through the door I’d opened.

“What in the good fuck do you think you’re doing?” I asked when her shoulder brushed the doorframe. I blocked her way with my body, turning around and making sure she had no room to slide between my arms.

She blinked away her shock at my steel voice. When Valenciana found out she was pregnant with Luna, she’d asked for five hundred grand to make the pregnancy go away. It had been borderline cute, how she’d thought she could blackmail me. My answer to her had been—go ahead, sweetheart. Have my kid. Money wasn’t the issue—I could pay her off with little to no effect on my lifestyle. But having an abortion on my dime was out of the question. It was different if it came from her. But since she’d given the choice to me, I chose not to choose. Simple.

So she’d had Luna. Then she’d walked away from us.

And now she’d come back.

If she thought she could do so without an explanation and declaration of intention, she had another thing coming.

“I’m trying to get in so we can talk.” She stomped her heel.

“Luna is going to be here any second now from dance class. She can’t see you.” Each of my words dripped ice, so I wasn’t surprised to see her shiver.

“Who took her?”

Is she a dancer? What is she like? Does she have any other hobbies? So many questions she could have asked. Of course, that would require her to give minimum of two shits about her Luna.

“None of your business. You wa

“Trent…” Val glided her way to me, hell on heels, her palm on my chest. I threw it off, giving her a piercing look. She swallowed, batting her lashes. “I flew all the way from Georgia,” she whispered.

I started laughing, about to give her a piece of my mind, when the elevator slid open and Luna and Camila walked out. Camila was holding Luna’s backpack, while my daughter bounced on her steps—something she’d started doing ever since Edie had come into our lives—and awarded me with a smile that melted quickly when she realized I wasn’t alone.

“Oh my Gosh, Luna! Look at you! You’re so pretty! Do you know who I am?”

No. Fuck no. I stepped forward to scoop Luna up, but Val’s big mouth was ahead of me. “I’m your mommy!” she exclaimed, flinging her arms theatrically. “I finally came to see you! I’m so excited to get to know you, sweetie!”

Luna’s eyes bugged in disbelief, her face twisting to search my gaze. I kept my mouth shut. I wasn’t exactly sure what was going to come out of it if I allowed myself to respond. Punching a woman was not something I’d ever contemplated doing. But hell if Val didn’t make it difficult to not want to end her.

“All right, let’s get inside and have a nice cup of tea.” Camila was the first to move from her spot, her words tense, her eyes skating between Val and me. There was an edge to her tone which warned me that I couldn’t tell Val to fuck off like I normally would. That I couldn’t let a bomb drop on my kid and then go, “so, that was awkward, huh? Anyway, now that I’ve kicked your mom out, shall we see what’s on television…?”

We all went into my apartment, Val taking everything in, no doubt making inventory and calculating how much money she could milk out of the situation.

Suddenly, she turned around and produced a stuffed seahorse from her designer bag, handing it to Luna. “I heard you like seahorses, so I thought I’d give this to you.”

My heart missed a beat, the air stood still, and all I could feel was calamity seeping through every crack in the room, poisoning us like invisible gas.

Click, click, click, the pieces of the puzzle fell together.

Val didn’t have any point of contact with anyone Luna and I knew. Her mother, who lived in Chicago, gave up on her relationship with Luna before it had even begun. She was too busy with an ex-boyfriend-turned-inmate to Skype with her granddaughter. Val, therefore, had a snitch from my i

Luna’s eyes sparkled with surprise and delight, and she grabbed the seahorse, clutching it close to her chest. Luna smiled at her, and if there was such thing as a soul—mine blew up and scattered all over the fucking floor. Because everything had just become a million times more complicated. I hated Val for being so reckless. For telling Luna who she was. I hated her and knew she’d done it for a reason. She wanted something from me, and it wasn’t the kid full of hope and awe who stood in front of her, wearing a black leotard and an eager gaze.

“Hey, Luna? Daddy’s go

“Who was it?” I frowned.

“No one important.” Val let loose a sugary smile, patting Luna’s head as she explained to her something completely wrong and untrue about seahorses. Camila motioned with her head for me to follow her to the kitchen, her face twisted with anger. I looked between Val and Luna. I couldn’t leave them alone, even a few feet away from me, in the living room. Val caught up with the problem quickly.

“I need to go freshen up in the bathroom.” She straightened her spine, waltzing down the hallway like she owned the fucking place.

I mustered a small smile and offered it to my daughter. “Germs, can you do me a favor and go to your room for a few minutes? Daddy and Camila need to talk about something that concerns grown-up people.”

Germs. I called her Germs.

When the coast was clear, Camila turned to me, fire in her eyes. “Edie was at the door.” She exhaled sharply, rubbing her forehead, one hand on her waist.