Page 44 of The Coffee Bar on Camellia Court

Alex's heart was thumping so hard in his chest, he wondered if she could see it. He'd just had a terrible thought. Had she tried to goad him into leaving Lena alone so that she could somehow use it against him? Use it as an excuse for taking his daughter away from him next week? Surely, she would know that he wouldn't have done anything so horrific.

Then again, it sounded like Melissa did leave the child to fend for herself on a regular basis.

"I'm not playing games, Melissa. I've got questions, and I want some answers."

"Well, I've got a big, soft bed waiting for me, so unless you want to join me there," she said with a suggestive sidelong look, "your questions will have to wait for another time."

Alex smacked his palm flat against the polished dining table top, the sound much louder than he'd intended. It stung, too, but the pain grounded him. "You need to listen to me." He took a step toward her, and when she finally looked over at him, something in his face must have registered, because she straightened her shoulders and lifted her chin in a show of defiance. But he saw the glint of worry in her eyes, even as she tried to hide it.

He needed to back off a little. He didn't want her afraid. He wanted to reason with her, to communicate and collaborate, to come up with a plan that would be mutually beneficial to all three of them, and if she was afraid and defensive, he'd get nowhere.

He wasn't sure they'd get anywhere tonight, anyway, seeing how she swayed on her feet. She reached out to steady herself with a hand on the edge of the counter.

But Alex suddenly found that he wasn't feeling very reasonable right now, either. This woman would have been just fine to leave Lena alone until someone—anyone—happened to come home. His stomach clenched at the thought of the child waking up from a bad dream or even just to use the bathroom, to discover that she was completely alone in this mausoleum of home. Or worse, if the wrong person managed to get—

He shook his head hard to rattle loose that train of thought. He couldn't let him mind go there.

"Is this what you do?" he asked. "When the nanny is gone and you can't find a sitter? Do you just put Lena to bed and leave her alone, asleep, while you go out and get…" He gestured a hand up and down at her. "Plastered?"

Melissa glared at him. "Don't be so dramatic. I'm not plastered, and Lena's perfectly capable—"

"She's eight years old!" He struggled to keep his voice down. "Eight, Melissa. She shouldn't be left alone for any reason, awake or asleep."

Melissa let out a scoffing hiss. "Look at you, suddenly Father of the Year." She clung to the edge of the counter as she kicked off her heels, leaving them in the middle of the floor. "Where was all this concern when she was born?"

"I didn't know about her so that Icouldbe concerned about her," Alex said through gritted teeth. "Because you withheld that important bit of information from me."

"Like it would have made any difference." She opened the cupboard to take a glass out and filled it with water from the fridge dispenser. "You weren't exactly daddy material."

The accusation stung, partly because it contained more than a grain of truth. Eight years ago, he hadn't been fit for fatherhood. He hadn't been fit for adulthood. He'd been living like an overgrown child.Like Peter Pan, he thought wryly.

But that didn't excuse Melissa for not telling him. He'd been desperate for something to live for back then, which was why he'd been so reckless and out of control. Maybe if she'd involved him back then, he would have changed the direction of his life long before he did. Nor did it excuse her from keeping Lena from him for six years, then using her as leverage the way she was now.

"Unfortunately, we can't undo what you did." His voice was almost a snarl. "But this isn't about the past. This is about right now. About you neglecting our daughter while you lure in your next victim." His words were ugly, but it had required a lot of self-control to not spit out what he really wanted to say. The vile things he wanted to call her.

Melissa's eyes narrowed. "Don't you dare judge me. Being a single parent isn't easy, and I've provided Lena with everything she could possibly need."

"Except a parent who spends time with her," Alex shot back.

"I spend time with her!" Melissa retorted, her voice rising, making him think of a child with cookie crumbs all over her face vehemently denying she'd been in the cookie jar.

Ignoring her, he continued. "Except a sense of security. Of safety. Did you know she told me your new boyfriend looks at her 'weird'? That you made her wear makeup to 'impress' him?" He spoke the last question slowly, emphasizing each word.

"Daniel is a successful businessman." Melissa crossed her arms before raking her eyes up and down Alex, taking in his casual attire. "Unlike some, he has standards."

"For an eight-year-old girl?" Alex couldn't keep the disgust from his voice. "And now you're planning to move in with him? How long have you known him, exactly? Weren't you just living in Paris with Charles?"

"My personal life is none of your business," Melissa snapped.

"It is when it affects our daughter. She says you're leaving next week. Were you planning to tell me, or would you have just disappeared again?"

"Don't be so dramatic. I was going to tell you."

"Oh, right. Like you told me when she was born." The bitterness he'd suppressed for years boiled to the surface. He took another step closer, leaned forward slightly, and pointed at her. "You robbed me of six years with my daughter, Melissa, and I'm not going to let that happen anymore."

To his surprise, she slapped his hand away, hard, and called him a vile name. "Get your finger out of my face. You know the arrangement," Melissa said coldly. "You agree to my terms, or you don't get to see her."

"I should have challenged those terms a long time ago, Melissa, and I'm sorry I didn't," Alex admitted, facing his own culpability. "But do you know what I've been researching tonight while you were out till the wee hours, ignoring the fact that you had a child? The parental rights of a father. A simple paternity test is all I need to get the ball rolling."

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