Page 57 of Secret Baby Daddies
Harley smiled. She didn’t know how serious my brother was. I met his gaze and a moment of understanding passed between us. If Harley didn’t want us to get rid of the bitch we’d still make her life hell.
CHAPTER 40
Jace
No matter how many times I cracked my neck, I couldn’t get rid of the tension. Sitting across from Harvey Beau, the man who’d hurt our woman, was making me see red in a way I never had before. I wanted to strangle the man. I wanted to actually wrap my hands around his thick neck and choke the life out of him. It wasn’t easy to keep my hands on my thighs.
Maddox was typically the face of our business, despite Luc owning the company. Where Luc and I were too stern and looked like assholes, Maddox had the ability to charm people. After half an hour of business talk, business that would never fucking happen, he wandered over to one of the massive bookshelves that lined Harvey’s office and pointed to a framed picture.
“Is this your daughter?” Maddox sounded so calm, so unbothered and not even a little apocalyptic.
I watched Harvey closely as he watched Maddox. The man transformed in front of my eyes. In a second the hard businessman was gone and in his place was a tired lump of a man. He took a deep breath and took his glasses off to rub his eyes.
“Yes.” Harvey slowly put his glasses back on and his eyes had gone watery. “Do you men have children?”
I leaned forward.
“One on the way.”
He nodded before turning to gaze out the window behind him. The Houston skyline made me itchy because we were too far from home, from Harley.
“I hope it’s a boy, for your sake.”
“Why?” If he noticed my voice had become nearly feral, he didn’t show it.
“Girls are harder. What the fuck do men know about raising a little girl without her mother around?” He took his glasses off again and tossed them onto the table between us. “Nothing. That’s what. We know fucking nothing. My girl, Harley, she was unlucky enough to be saddled with me.”
Maddox took over.
“You couldn’t have been that bad, Harvey. You definitely had the money and means to give her everything she ever wanted.”
“Her mother died when she was young. I didn’t know what to do with Harley. I saw her mother every time I looked at her and it hurt. She was so small and her eyes took up most of her face…I swear to god she knew just how to look at me to make me crumble.” He let out a rumble of bitter laughter. “And now she wants nothing to do with me. So, yeah, I hope you have a son for your sake. You might stand a chance at making it to their adult years without them hating you.”
“I’m sorry for your loss.” Luc cleared his throat. “I can’t imagine losing a wife and having to go on.”
“She wasn’t my wife when it happened. We’d just finalized our divorce. Hannah was a force. Harley was just like her. Sweet as everything but could turn on the drop of a dime and chew you out so effectively that you left feeling like you’d had your skin peeled off.” Harvey sighed deeply and turned back to face us. “I don’t even know why I’m telling y’all all of this. This is not how I typically conduct business. If I’m being honest, she’s been on my mind so much lately that I’ve been replaying everything, trying to make sense of it all.”
“Where is your daughter now?” I leaned farther forward and try not to appear as desperate for his words as I feel.
He somehow loses even more of his posture and looks as if he’s melting. “I don’t know. She cut me off eight years ago. I’ve found her a few times through the years. I track down a number and she changes it. I find an address and she moves. I don’teven know what happened to change everything. We were never close. I wanted to be but I was a coward. Even though we weren’t close, though, she always came home. I worry sometimes…”
“What? What do you worry?” My tone was harsh enough that Luc reached over and clenched my knee in a hard grip. I brushed him off and stared harder at Harvey.
The older man hadn’t noticed a thing. He was lost in his head, staring unseeing at the table.
“Hannah was sick. She was around Harley’s age when the worst of it started. She saw the world differently. If she took her medicine regularly, she’d be okay. She refused it, though, and said it dulled the world too much. She nearly fucking killed Harley one day, though, so I think the world being dull would’ve been the least of her worries. I know that some things can be hereditary. I haven’t seen Harley and the way she hates me reminds me of how Hannah was at times, on bad days.”
My stomach clenched painfully.
“You think she’s out of her mind and you haven’t brought her home?”
Finally, he turned to me and his eyes were sharp again.
“You don’t get it. When Hannah was lost in the worst of it, seeing me set her off. She’d be fine for weeks and then one look at me would set her off for months. All of her paranoia had turned a finger on me and my existence confirmed her delusions. If my Harley is sick, if she cut me off because she’s turned that hatred on me like her mother did, I can’t find her and then lose her to her own hand like Hannah.”
The room was silent. My gut churned and I could feel the dark confusion coming off my brothers in waves. There was something hanging in the air, something similar to a shark scenting blood in the water. I had a sudden itch throughout my entire body to go check on Harley.
“I shouldn’t have said all of that. I apologize. I…Harley’s birthday is coming up and it hits a little harder with each passing year I don’t celebrate it with her.” He stood up and straightened his shirt before buttoning his jacket. “I’ve said far too much and this was supposed to be a business meeting, not a therapy session. If this changes your mind on the deal, I understand.”
