Page 333 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 2
"Fine! But you're a mean daddy too!" She screamed at the top of her lungs again and ran past us.
I sat backwards onto the floor. "What the hell was that? Her scream could rupture someone's eardrums."
"I have no idea." James ran his fingers through his hair as he stood up. "I hate when she calls me a mean daddy. How can she use such a cute phrase to break my heart in two?"
"She doesn't mean it," I said as he helped me to my feet. "We should go calm Sophie down."
A door slamming upstairs made me wince.
"I'll handle Soph," James said. "You can go talk to that little monster upstairs that I don't recognize at all."
I sighed and followed the path of the little girl I didn't recognize either. Scarlett rarely ever screamed. She'd cry when she was upset, but what I just witnessed was more of a wild banshee. What had gotten into her? I ran my hand across my stomach.She didn't mean it, baby boy. She's going to love you.
I made my way upstairs and knocked on her door.
"Go away!"
"Scar, can I please come in?"
"No!"
I opened up the door anyway. Scarlett was lying in the middle of her floor with her face buried in the carpet.
"Hey," I said and slowly sat down cross-legged beside her. "Can you please look at me?" I gently ran my fingers through her curly hair.
"No," she mumbled into the floor.
"Okay." I lay down beside her and just stared at her in silence for a few minutes until she finally turned her head toward me.
"Mommy, it's not fair. The stork is going to take the baby. And then the snake is going to take you. And I'll only have Daddy. And Daddy will be too sad to be a good daddy when you're gone."
For just a second, I was too stunned to say anything. "Scar, what are you talking about? There are no evil snakes, it was just a movie. I'm not going anywhere."
She scrunched her eyes closed. "We need you, Mommy. It's not fair."
"Baby girl, I'm not going anywhere. That movie wasn't real. It's just made up. There are no evil snakes."
"No, Mommy." She scooted forward and wrapped her arms around me. "He was already here."
Her words sent a chill down my spine. What was she talking about? "Scarlett, who's here?"
"The snake! Mommy, I don't even want a baby sister. No one asked me. I never wanted one. I just wanted you." She was crying again. I could feel her tears soaking through my shirt.
"You have me," I said and ran my fingers through her hair again. "I promise I'm not going anywhere." I held her tight as she cried. We really shouldn't have let her watch Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. First the stork story and then the movie that was giving her nightmares. Were we awful parents?
She lifted her tear stained face to mine. "You promise?"
I swallowed hard. "I promise I'm not going anywhere." I didn't want to lie to her. But she believed in Santa Claus. She believed in the Easter Bunny. What would another white lie hurt? The logic was sound, but for some reason I felt an ache in my chest. She might lose me before she finds out that Santa isn't real. That there is no Easter Bunny. Would she resent me forever if I broke that promise? "I promise," I said again. God, I was an awful parent.
She sniffled through her nose. "Am I in trouble?"
"No." I kissed her forehead. "But you need to promise me you won't leave the house without a grown-up. And when you don't get what you want, you need to talk to us instead of screaming at the top of your lungs." I tried to give her a stern look, but it just made her smile.
"I promise."
I found a little solace in the fact that she would most likely not keep either of those promises either. Maybe she did get the lying thing from me. "Now, we're going to go finish catching fake butterflies and then have another slumber party. But this time you'll be having one with Soph and Axel." I sat up and pulled her into my lap.
She scrunched her mouth to the side, like she was thinking. "With my best friends?"
