Page 117 of Slayin Villain
Villain leaned in, his breath shaking.
“She’s… beautiful,” he whispered.
“She looks like you,” I said.
“No,” he shook his head, eyes red.“She looks like heaven.Let’s name her, Heaven.”
“Yes,” I agreed.It was perfect.
Hours later, the room was quiet.My mom had gone to get food, Cece and Jassica stepped out, and it was just us.Villain sat in the chair beside the bed, holding our daughter, Heaven like she was made of glass.
“You ever think,” he said.“We’d end up here?”
“No,” I whispered.“I thought I lost you for good.”
He looked down at her and smiled.“You saved me.This little girl?She saved me again.”
“What are you gonna teach her?”I asked softly.
He swallowed hard.“That she’s strong.And fierce.And nobody’s property but her own.”
I reached over and touched his face.“She’s gonna love her daddy.”
“She already owns me,” he said, voice thick.“Just like you do.”
Villain placed a kiss on his daughter’s forehead and then looked at me.
“I don’t care what the test says, Rachel.She’s my only girl now.Both of you.”
But even as he said it, I saw the worry in his eyes.Because tomorrow, the test results would come in.
And everything could change.
Chapter 52
Villain
I stared at the envelope like it was a live grenade.
It had been sitting on my dresser for an hour, unopened.Thick white paper, cheap-ass lab logo stamped in the corner, my fucking full name typed on the front like it belonged to a man with his shit together.I took a sharpie and marked that out fast.
But I wasn’t that man.
Not when the envelope could rewrite everything.
Rachel was asleep in the other room, baby girl tucked against her chest.I could hear her soft breaths through the cracked door, grounding me, tempting me to burn this damn thing and never look back.Pretend the past was ashes.
But I wasn’t that kind of coward anymore.
I ripped the thing open.
Pulled the sheet out with shaking hands.
And there it was in black and white.
“Probability of paternity: 99.99%”
Ember’s baby.
