The Billionaire's Playmate ✔

26 | BREAKER

SEVEN YEARS AGO

The room is quiet.

It's so quiet that you can hear the clock in the hallway tick.

It's so quiet that you can hear how the breaths leave Lily's mouth.

It's so freaking quiet that if you listen close enough, you can hear my heart absolutely shatter and fall to the floor.

The baby is not yours.

The baby is not yours.

The baby is not yours.

I can feel my chest constrict, tighten. I can feel the shortness of breath coming on. I can feel the tears well up in my eyes.

No.

It has to be a joke.

Lily's eyes are filled with tears and more are streaming down her cheeks.

She's looking at me, not the way you look at someone after you've made a joke.

She looks serious.

She looks like she's broken.

She can't know how broken I feel.

My eyes fall to the car seat, where Lavender is sleeping.

She's not my daughter.

I look back at Lily.

"W –" my voice falters and I clear my throat. "What?"

A series of emotions cross Lily's face.

Her chin quivers.

Five more tears fall from her eyes.

She reaches into her bag.

She pulls out two pieces of paper.

More tears fall from her eyes.

She holds out the papers to me.

She doesn't say anything.

I look from the papers that are being held out to me, to her face.

She's not looking at me anymore. She's looking at her hand, at the ground, anywhere, but at me. She can't even look at me.

She knows how much she's broken me that she can't even look at me.

She thrusts the papers towards me.

I take them.

These are probably the worst papers that I will ever hold in my hand.

My eyes fall on to the big words at the top of the page.

DNA Paternity Test.

It's a document that's been issued on the letterhead of the hospital where Lily gave birth.