Page 73 of Accidental Dad's Best Friend

I feel a pang of guilt in my chest. But I do my best to shake it off.

Shekept him fromme.

If she had told me she was pregnant, I would have sent money. If I had known she had a kid, my kid, they would have been in a nice apartment in a safe neighborhood and she wouldn’t have needed to ask for a thing. And it would have all been a secret because you can’t just parade your best friend’s daughter on your arm. Not if you want to keep that friend. Or in my case, not if I wanted my job. Not if I wanted Izzy and my son to be safe.

My son.

Those words turn the knife another notch. And cranking it even further is the realization that she probably knew I would help her financially if I’d known. Except she didn’t want me to know. Izzy was afraid. Afraid of Liam. Afraid of what people would think.

Afraid of…me?

I find myself leaning against the wall. I feel like I’m bleeding out. But I can’t show it. I can’t show even an inkling of weakness right now. As angry and hurt and confused as I am right now, I can’t show it. Because Izzy is right. Liam Sloane is a monster when he’s pissed. And he’s about to be more livid than either of us have ever seen.

Chapter 27

Izzy

The phone goes dead and I collapse onto the couch. The article will go public tomorrow. An article that I wrote to expose everything my dad is doing and has been doing for years. All the people he’s hurt. All the shady discrediting he’s done to other magazines and publishers to see to it that Next Best Thing is on top and stays there.

The man’s success is perched on a mountain composed of the bodies of everyone he’s torn down in order to be there.

It’s sick. It’s twisted. And the article must be printed. At any cost.

But in the same breath, I must keep Jaxon safe. Once this blows up, all hell is going to break loose. Which means he is also going to find out about me and Ethan. He’s going to find out he has a grandson and because my poker face is shit, and Ethan is pissed, my dad is also going to figure out that Jaxon is his best friend’s son. And who knows what hidden bombs will explode then.

I get up and pace the floor. It’s too much. All of it is too much. If only there was a way to come clean. To soften the blow. If my dad only has to process one thing at a time, maybe, just maybe, his reaction won’t be so…catastrophic.

I peek in Jax’s room. He’s been asleep but he’s stirring now. My heart sinks. He probably heard me on the phone. With small hands, hands that clench around my whole heart, he rubs his eyes. His hair is a mess and his cheeks are pink.

“Mommy, what’s going on? Is it morning already?”

“No, baby. It’s still night time. But I need you to get up. We are going for a ride.” I am smiling but the words are choked. I hope he can’t hear it. He’s still small but I know a day is going to come that I won’t be able to hide things anymore. But for now, we are going for a ride.

That’s enough to jolt Jaxon with a charge of excitement and he jumps up from the bed. “A ride? Where are we going? Ice cream?”

That pulls a small laugh from somewhere inside of me. The place where I hold joy, joy that comes only from Jaxon and always seems to surface in hard times just when I need it most. “Sorry, buddy. No ice cream. We just need to go into my work to take care of some things.”

“Your work? But you work with Ethan. Are we going to Ethan’s work? The tall building in the city? Can we ride the elevator?!”

“We will see. Now grab your blanky and one of your stuffies. We need to hurry.”

After wrapping his blanket around himself and picking Bluey over his stuffed brontosaurus, Jax slips on his tennis shoes and we head out to the car. I make him wait by me as I check and double check the alarm system. I want to make sure whoever is harassing us will be caught on camera if they do it again. I need to be careful. I need to trace my own steps and keep my eyes open. Someone is out to get me. Someone is out to get us. And from the looks of it, they aren’t going to stop until they get what they want. Whatever that is.

Once we're en route, I hand Jax his tablet. “You can watch anything you want, buddy. But you have to keep the volume down, okay? And no talking at all. I need you to be as quiet as a mouse while I am on the phone.”

“Are you calling Ethan?” He asks, pulling a cartoon up on the screen.

“No, baby. Not Ethan.”

The phone rings twice before he answers. And in those two rings, I feel a flood of memories and hurt and dread all washing over me. But luckily, he answers quickly enough that I don’t back down.

“Liam Sloane,” my dad answers professionally. I can tell by his voice that I didn’t wake him. He’s probably working. Or drinking. Or both. My voice catches in my throat and when I don’t answer he speaks again. “Hello?”

“Hi.” I breathe the single word just so he won’t hang up. It took all the bravery in me to make this phone call once, I don’t think I can do it again.

“Who is this?” He asks. And a small part of me hurts over the fact he doesn't know. He doesn’t recognise my voice. I’m sure he doesn’t recognise the number either, I’ve changed it several times since moving. But for him to not know my voice, well. It solidifies the presumptions I’ve always had about him. “Listen. If this is a prank call, I’ll have you–”

“It’s me,” I cut him off. “It’s…Isabelle.”

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