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When I don’t respond, she feels the need to keep complaining. Oh joy…

“This is about that Kadence woman isn’t it? Why can’t you just forget about her and move on? You have me now. There’s no need to pine over her anymore.”

My jaw ticks. I can tolerate almost anything from Natalia, and God knows I have, but mentioning Kadence is not one of those things.

“Be careful,” I warn, not even bothering to look at her. “Your jealousy is starting to show.”

“Me? Jealous?” Again with the screeching. Jesus. “Why would I be jealous of her?”

“You tell me.” I reply coolly. “You’re the one who sold our story to the paper.”

I turn my head just in time to see her mouth snap open, and then close again. Poor woman is speechless.

Thank God.

“Oh, you thought I didn’t know?” I stand up, and close the small gap between us. I take a look at her, wondering what the fuck I was thinking when I started seeing her.

She’s the only part of having Braelynn that I regret.

“How exactly were you planning on getting away with it?”

Natalia has that wounded deer look on her face for a whole five minutes before the infamous catty bitch makes her appearance. It’s the only thing that makes her so successful in the entertainment industry because she sucks at acting.

I would know. She acted with me right up until the day she walked out on me and our child.

I can’t escape the irony.

I’m no better than Natalia is. I was acting with Kadence the entire time she lived with me. Until I wasn’t anymore, and in the end, I was the loser because I lost her.

“I know you,” says Natalia. “You were stringing that poor girl along and all so that you could get revenge on her father. You don’t do love, Caleb. That’s why we work so well together.”

The feint glimmer of victory flashes in her eyes as if she’s won, as if she believes that she knows me, and maybe for a time she did. For a time, I was exactly the kind of man she’s describing, but that’s the thing about love. It can change the hardest of men into pussies.

“The only thing that has ever worked with us is the little girl in the nursery. If you think we have a future after the stunt you and Jennifer pulled, you’re more delusional than I thought.”

Natalia scowls, and I’ve never seen a woman as ugly as she is.

“You’re leaving me for Kadence?” She makes it sound as though the idea is ludicrous.

“No, Natalia. I’m leaving you for me, and Braelynn.”

“You can’t keep her from me,” she replies. “I’m her mother.”

‘Mother’ is nothing more than a title to her, and Braelynn is nothing more than an accessory. Natalia can use me for her own gain all she wants, I’m a big boy who can handle himself, but she can’t use our daughter.

“I would believe you if you took the time to take care of her, but I’m sure you don’t even know what color her hair is, or what color her eyes are. Do you know how to sooth her when she’s crying? Do you know how she likes her formula? Do you know how she likes to sleep?” I pause. “She was a total accident, but she’s the only thing you ever gave me that was honest, and real, and she deserves better than a woman who wants to cart her around only when it can be photographed. She deserves to be loved, but in order for that to happen, you need a heart, and you don’t have one.”

Natalia looks furious, and she’s quick to jump to her own defense instead of admitting the obvious. She doesn’t want Braelynn, or me.

“That’s rich, Caleb. You’ve been heartless from the time I met you. You’re a fucking hypocrite.”

“That may be so, but I’m the only one here who loves Braelynn. She is my heart.”

Natalia has the audacity to roll her eyes.

“Fatherhood has turned you into a fucking sap. If I’d known this is what you’d be like, I would have made you wear a condom.”

I grab her by her upper arms. “We both know you would have left eventually because if it’s not about Natalia, you’re not interested. And you want to know who I feel sorry for? You. Because you will never see Brae take her first steps, or say her first word. You’ll never be there when she starts her first day at school, or attend her first prom. You won’t be there when she starts dating or when a boy is dumb enough to break her heart. You don’t want that, so why not save me the trouble of kicking you out of our lives and just go.”