Page 10 of Be My Traitor

Way too much.

“I will never hurt her,” I simply reply, smiling a little cockily.

She searches my eyes for a second before nodding. “Good. I’ll see you at my place, say, Saturday at one?”

“Saturday at one would be perfect.” A warm glow spread through me at the thought of having a daughter. I’d always dreamed of having a little girl, someone to spoil like the little princess she was born to be.

I couldn’t wait to meet her.

Chapter 6

Milly

I paced up and down my lounge, compulsively gnawing at my fingernails. What had I been thinking, agreeing to let Lucas see Amber? So, he threatened me with lawyers. So what? I was a Knight. I’d faced off bigger and nastier demons than Lucas Donatello.

He’d caught me off guard, but it wasn’t going to happen again. I was going to make sure I was the strong, confident woman Ivy always told me I was. Lucas couldn’t steamroller me into doing what he wanted. Nobody could.

“Are you okay, Mummy?” Amber came skipping into the room, stopping when she saw my expression.

“Of course I am, sweetie.” I inhaled deeply, pulling myself together to put on a brave face for my child. I had to model the kind of behaviour I’d want to see in her. I’d hate it if Amber was intimidated by some man. “I’m just getting ready for our guest. You remember who’s coming to visit, don’t you?”

Amber frowned. “You said it was my daddy. But I don’t have a daddy. I just have you and you’re the best!”

She came and threw her arms around me, squeezing me in a tight bear hug.

“Oh, Amber.” That kid practically broke me with how sweet she was. I closed my eyes as I leaned over to hug her back. I loved the way she smelled, the way she felt in my arms, everything about her. The way I loved Amber was fierce and all consuming. There was no room in my heart for anyone but her.

Still, I was going to have to share her from now on. Lucas was right. It had taken two of us to create this beautiful little person. All I could do was hope he’d get bored with playing happy families and disappear off into the sunset again, just like he always did.

I knelt down so I could look straight into her eyes. “I know I told you that you didn’t have a daddy and I thought I was telling the truth. I didn’t think I’d ever see him again. But youdohave a daddy and he’s coming to see you. He’s very excited and he wants to get to know you. You’re going to spend lots of time together and I know you’re going to have so much fun.”

“No, I won’t.” Amber stamped her foot and pouted. “I don’twanta daddy. I only want you.”

“Amber…” I frowned. “I need you to be a good girl and be nice to your daddy.”

“I won’t be nice!” Amber shouted. “I won’t! I won’t!”

She turned and ran out of the room, just as the doorbell rang.

“Great.” I rolled my eyes, as I went to answer it. If that was Lucas, his timing couldn’t have been worse.

I opened the door to find myself being faced by the biggest teddy bear I had ever seen.

“Hi!” came a squeaky voice from behind the bear. “My name is Tyrone and I’m here to see Amber! Is she here?”

“Come in, Lucas,” I said. “But I warn you now. Amber’s not in the best of moods. She may not come down from her room. She has a bit of a temper.”

“I wonder where she gets that from?” Lucas grinned, as he followed me through to the lounge. He sat the bear down on one of the armchairs. It barely fitted, it was so large.

I went to the bottom of the stairs and yelled up. “Amber! Come down and say hello to your visitor!”

“No!” I knew exactly what Amber would be doing right now. She’d be sat on the end of her bed, arms folded, kicking her feet in the air, ready to kick out at anyone who dared come close.

I turned to Lucas, shrugging in frustration. “I’m really sorry, Lucas. I told her you were coming and you were her father. Unfortunately, she didn’t take the news all that well. I guess she’s so used to it being just the two of us, it’s been more of a shock to her than I expected to discover she has a dad after all this time. If you hadn’t left, maybe things would be different.”

“Now don’t you put this on me,” Lucas warned, his expression darkening. “If you’d reached out to me, I’d have come straight back to support you. How was I supposed to know you were pregnant?”

“I know.” Part of me wished that I had tried to contact Lucas when I’d first seen that little blue line, but dealing with him would have been one complication too many for me at the time. “I’m sorry.”

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