Billionaire's Childhood Love

LXIII. Maybe My Daughter

Joshua's POV:

"She is your daughter."

Lord. God. Satan. Anyone. Please, stop her from speaking.

Set this house on fire if you have to.

I won't hate you.

"She's not my daughter!" Dad screams from the top of his lungs.

Quietly, mom sat beside me and watched the situation in front of her. She didn't utter a single word ever since the other woman arrived. I pat rub her back and avoid making eye contact with the woman.

Juliette sat beside the woman and inhaled a shaky breath. Her hands firmly clench together, and she stares at the ground. It must hurt to be rejected by the man you believe is your father. The man who may be your father.

The woman smiles, unaffected by dad's rage. Instead, she turns her head and looks at me. My eyes skew away towards the painting. It was a naked photo. Oddly, mom is very fond of it. What are the chances that the woman's dad used to be the same woman I semi-flirt with at the lakehouse? I'm never caving into peer pressure again. Who am I kidding? I may still fall victim.

The woman's eyes flicker towards mom. This is not a good sign. "Hello, I'm Melanie."

Mom gave her the nastiest glare in the world. I didn't even think she is capable of providing such a look.

"I understand," Melanie crosses her legs. "I wouldn't greet the woman who is the mother of my husband's illegitimate child, either."

Mom didn't respond. Thank goodness we have the helicopter in the back of the mansion. She looks like she is about to go into labor any second.

"I haven't had the pleasure to congratulate you." Melanie's eyes went towards the door, and all the boys went into hiding before it went back towards mom. "I apologize for my inability to make it to the wedding. My invite seems to be misplaced."

"It was a private wedding," dad blandly said. He really isn't taking any shit.

She clenches her jaw, "It seems that we aren't particularly welcome here."

"Your intuition isn't inaccurate," dad responds.

They enter a stare-off, and without a response from the two talkers in the room, everything went silent.

"What exactly do you want?" Dad was the first to break the silence.

Melanie places a hand on her chest. "Me? Nothing. I wasn't the one who came here." She turns her head towards Juliette. "Don't be rude. Your dad asks you what you want."

Juliette bit her lower lip, "I wanted to know what dad looks like." She twists her shirt. "I wanted to know why dad left us."

Dad exhales before his gaze cast towards mom.

She didn't acknowledge him.

"Look," dad said. "If...If you are my daughter. I apologize for leaving you. I didn't know."

Juliette bit her lower lip, "What about mom? Why did you leave her?"

He releases another breath, most likely trying to calm himself down. "I don't love your mother."

"But, mom said you love her."

"I will be frank." He licks his lips. "Your mother is a liar."

Juliette looks at Melanie. "Mom?"

"Who are you going to believe? Your mom or the man who is making a futile attempt to look good in front of his wife."

"You're lying." The atmosphere seems to become denser when mom speaks. She looks up from her lap. "Matthew is the type who is incapable of love, so he wouldn't have told you that he loves you. He is the type of selfish prick of a man who enjoys a woman's misery by pumping and dumping them." Each word seems to raise the tension inside the room.