Page 66 of Kingpin's Secret Baby

Chapter 32

Fantasia

The air smells different today- fresher, as if it’s ready for something to change. I walk through the town with my daughter in tow, the sun casting a warm glow over the sidewalk. She chatters away, oblivious to my distractions. She’s always been like that- so full of life, so trusting in the world around her. And I’m doing my best to give her a life worth trusting.

The bookstore bell chimes as I step inside, the scent of old paper and freshly printed ink wrapping around me like a familiar embrace. Valeria wiggles in my arms, her bright green eyes darting toward the shelves filled with books she’s too young to read but loves to stack and unstack with chaotic enthusiasm.

Lucy glances up from behind the counter with a radiant smile- until she sees my face. Then her expression flickers to something tight.

“Sarah,” she starts, her voice low but firm. “You need to leave. Now.”

My stomach tightens. “What’s going on?”

Lucy glances toward the front window before stepping closer, keeping her voice quiet but urgent. “There’s a man in town. Came in yesterday asking questions about newcomers- real casual-like, like he was just making conversation.” A jerky glance over her shoulder- door still shut- before continuing. “Said he was passing through, but the way he carried himself? He’s not just sightseeing.” Her voice tightens. “I saw a gun under his jacket too.”

My breath catches hard in my throat. The walls of the bookshop seem to press inward all at once, and Valeria, oblivious to her mother’s impending panic, tugs on the collar of my coat, babbling happily.

Piers.

It has to be.

I stagger back a step, nearly knocking into one of the display tables. My mind races, pulling apart every carefully laid plan I’ve built these last two years, every layer of anonymity I constructed, dissolving like sand in an unforgiving tide.

I was prepared for this, once. I told myself time and time again that if this moment ever came, I would run. That I wouldn’t let myself hesitate.

Run.

Disappear.

Start over.

Again.

But then Valeria wraps her tiny fingers in the fabric of my scarf and tugs, murmuring, “Mum,” in that sweet little voice that has come to mean more to me than any name, any title I ever carried before she existed.

I can’t run anymore, can I?

I swallow hard against the rising lump in my throat and force my breathing to steady. “Where is he now?”

“Down by the mechanic’s,” Lucy says, eyeing me. Judging my reaction. Knowing me well enough to see my mind is at war with itself. “If you leave now, you might be able to slip out unnoticed.”

Slip away. Convince Valeria that “home” is just another place we vanish from. Another life stripped clean before anyone can mark it as ours.

My legs refuse to move.

“Sarah?” Lucy presses, her brows knitting. She touches my arm gently. “You need to decide what to do. Fast.”

Valeria squirms in my arms, reaching for Lucy with grabby hands. “Book!” she demands, oblivious to the tension.

“Not today, love,” I murmur, pulling her closer. “We need to go home.”

I press a kiss to my daughter’s temple and step out of the bookstore, moving as quickly as I can down the sidewalk, back toward home.

The entire walk, my thoughts churn, reckless and incoherent. I left him. I made my peace with it, didn’t I? So why does the thought of facing him now, after all this time, send my pulse spiraling out of control?

If Piers is looking for me, I need to be ready. But what does ready even mean? Do I run again, drag Valeria from the only home she's ever known? Build new walls, new lies, new ways to keep her safe?

Or do I face him? Tell him the truth about his daughter? Let him hate me for keeping her from him?

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