Page 4 of The Billionaire's Secret Heir

“Nothing yet. I’m not sure if he’s simply busy or—what’s more likely—he doesn’t care. He hasn’t answered my calls or responded to my letter.”

A fierce fury bubbled up in Madi. What man wouldn’t care to know that he had a daughter? His own flesh and blood, now parentless. Becka was her niece, not her daughter, but the protectiveness she felt rivaled any tie she had felt to anyone. Whoever this man was, he must be a selfish jerk.

“How could he not want to care for her? To meet and know her?” Though she didn’t want Becka’s father in the picture if it meant losing her niece, Becka deserved to have a father. It angered her that this man could father a child and then have zero responsibility or love for her.

Bret touched her knee. Madi tried to shift back from his touch in a way that wasn’t obvious. “I know. I can’t imagine anyone not loving Becka.”

Madi smiled. Bret, as far as she knew, had not spent that much time with Becka, but even he understood. “I wish we could take care of this. I mean, I’d hate to have him just show up one day and try to get her back.”

“I’d hate that too. I’ll try again this week. Maybe I’ll stop in his office.”

She lit up. “Would you?”

Bret smiled. “Of course. Anything you need. I told you I was here for you and I meant it.”

Madi didn’t like the look on his face. Surely he wasn’t … hitting on her? “I really appreciate all that you’ve done, Bret. You’ve been a good friend.”

He took a sip of his sparkling water and the conversation died for a moment. One of the things that had bothered Madi initially about connecting with Becka’s father kept resurfacing in her mind like a thread starting to unravel from a sweater.

“You made sure to tell him that we aren’t just trying to get a financial settlement, right? I mean, some kind of child support would be great, considering I’m not working and need to figure that out if I get to keep Madi.”

“Of course. We wouldn’t ask for anything unreasonable. But, I’ll warn you—this guy has money. You don’t need to worry about whatever we ask.”

“Who is he?”

Bret smiled. He had been strangely hedgy about revealing the name of Becka’s father. “Soon. First, though, we need to get him to acknowledge us. I’ll stop into his office Monday morning. Now, I better run. As always, great to see you, Madi.”

Bret gave her a hug and Madi tried not to stiffen into it. Stop it, she told herself. He’s a good guy. But she couldn’t help her relief when she closed the door behind him, settling into the quiet of the house.

That is, until Becka’s fussing started up from the crib. So much for a break. But it was hard to feel frustrated when she went into Becka’s nursery to see her arms reaching for Madi.

“Mommy,” Becka said.

Madi burst into tears and pulled Becka tight to her chest. This had been happening occasionally and probably would more and more as Calista’s memory faded in Becka’s mind. “No,” she said. “Not Mommy. If only I could be.”

---