Page 23 of Cruel Secrets

“Fine, if you don’t want to talk about that, will you at least tell me what your long-term plan is for us? I have things I have to get back to in my normal life and keeping us here isn’t going to help your case against my brother.”

“I don’t give a damn what Noah thinks. He can burn in hell for all I care.”

I grab a plate from the stack, loading it with bacon while Royce takes the tray of pancakes out of the oven and sets it on a trivet, the melted chocolate smelling divine. “That still doesn’t tell me what you’re going to do with us.”

“I have some thoughts,” he says, tone taunting as his gaze drags up and down my body.

My core tightens as I fight the urge to look away, instead arching my brow and meeting his gaze. “Stop looking at me like a piece of meat. I’m trying to talk about what you’re going to do after taking your own daughter hostage.”

“Oh,” he says, his tone bitter as one eyebrow rises. He faces me, leaning back against the counter, his toned stomach on full display. “Bianca is my daughter when it suits you, but if you don’t want anything to do with me, then she’s not, right?”

“That’s not fair.”

“No, what isn’t fair is the fact that we have a child, but you thought you could make every single decision for the first year and a half of her life without me involved!” Royce’s voice climbs into a shout before his gaze darts to the stairs.

The first cry comes from the baby monitor app in my pocket and he’s taking off across the room before I have a chance to get to the stairs.

“I can get her.”

His shoulders tense up to his ears. “You’ve done enough.”

My appetite leaves as his footsteps sound from above.

I should be up there right now. I should be the one taking care of her, not him. He doesn’t know what Bianca likes when she’s upset.

What if he doesn’t even know how to change a diaper?

And she’ll have to be dressed. Does he have any idea what a baby should be wearing this time of year?

I start to head toward the stairs when Royce appears at the top with Bianca in his arms. She’s in a little pair of leggings and a long-sleeve onesie, her hair pulled back into two little pigtails.

My foot hovers above the bottom step before I move out of the way. “I was just coming to see if you needed help.”

“I’m capable of taking care of a baby. Dean has one and I watch her at least once a week.”

Bianca smacks her hands together, grinning up at Royce as he brings her into the kitchen and sets her down in the high chair I brought with us. Royce grins and gets her a pancake as I stand there shell-shocked, not knowing what I should be doing right now.

It feels like he’s taking my place in her life, and I don’t like it at all. For so long, I’ve been the person she relies on. Now, Bianca is grinning and smiling at him like he’s the best thing in the world.

While I know it won’t last forever and sooner or later, she’s going to throw a massive tantrum that will have him running for the hills, right now, it stings.

I glare daggers at Royce’s back as he cuts up her pancake into tiny pieces, putting it on her tray. He seems to think that he can just show up and slot himself into our lives as if he was meant to be here the entire time.

Royce undoes one of the pigtails on top of her head before scraping it back again and aligning it with the other one.

With a sigh, I go to grab my plate of food and sit down at the island, watching him take another look at the pigtails. “How did you learn to do hair?”

“There were six of us kids. If Skyla and Ellie weren’t around, someone had to do Summer and Jade’s hair, and it wasn’t going to be Aiden.”

We eat in silence after that, Royce on the other side of the kitchen, leaning against the counter with his plate in his hand.

As soon as Bianca is done with her food, I put my plate and fork in the dishwasher before hurrying over to her. Guilt claws at me as Royce makes a noise in the back of his throat.

I stuff down the tight knot in my stomach. Bianca is my daughter and if he wants to be part of her life, he’s going to have to earn it.

Well, that’s if I’m willing to let him.

I still don’t know what role he’s going to play now that he knows about her. Over the last eighteen months since she was born, the thought I’ve given to playing happy little family has been minimal.

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