Page 58 of Broken Daddy

“Who is it?”

The question comes out harshly enough that she looks abashed and steps aside. The door pushes open a little more, enough for me to see the person standing on the front steps as my heart pounds in my chest.

It’s Russell.

“Russ?”

He grins sheepishly at my confusion. “Excuse me, miss.” Eva steps back as he enters the foyer. Like me, my brother inherited our father’s height. He towers over the ten-year-old, who stares up at him in shock. Russ cuts an intimidating figure, especially in his gallery clothes. He looks like sleek professionalism with a hint of danger—especially with that dangling earring.

“Is everything okay?” I ask, thinking immediately of our foster mother. Russ and I were in the system for a handful of years until he got out at eighteen and I settled into a somewhat normal home. Despite being a few hours away, he always came to visit—always.

“Yeah.” His eyes cut to Eva. “Well, no. Can we talk?”

“Um, I’m watching Eva, but…sure. Eva, are you okay to watch your show alone?”

She nods, already completely forgetting about the company. Eva’s pseudo-babysitter, Liz, wasn’t able to watch her today, so I offered. Nate seemed stressed by asking me to go beyond my regular duties. I’d be here all day, anyway, working on my menu for Saucer.

Eva flits off to the living room and Russ follows me into the kitchen. He raises a perfectly manicured brow at the six plates set out on the butcher block island, and my face heats.

Oh, no. I can’t tell him about this—he’ll tell Nate.

I know I should’ve mentioned to Nate by now that I’m planning on moving to Germany if this restaurant takes me on. But there’s just been so much stress lately with the pregnancy. We’ve barely talked about it, except for Nate confirming I made my first OB-GYN appointment.

And then it hits me like a stone in the gut.

Did Nate tell Russ…?

“I’m just killing time and experimenting a bit. You know how it is,” I explain lamely, crowding the plates to the side. “So what’s…what’s going on?”

My stomach churns with nausea. An unfortunate side effect that’ll be hanging around for a bit. After googling it, I found out that stress will only make it worse.

And Russell showing up here is definitely stressful.

Absently, he dips his finger into a little saucer of beet puree and tastes it as he sits. Scrunching his nose, he comments, “Tastes like dirt.”

I roll my eyes. “That’s because it’s for coloring, not flavor.”

Keeping myself busy, I avoid his eyes and wait him out. When it doesn’t work, I glance up and find Russ watching me with an expectant look on his face.

“Did Nate tell you?”

I get a nod in response.

A lump forms in my throat. Ghosting a hand over my belly, I try to fight back the feeling of desperation. Russ is the only family I have. If he’s upset about this baby…

“Why didn’t you say something sooner?” he asks, clearly trying to hold back his frustration.

“I was worried what you would think.”

He frowns. “Worried what I would…? Genevieve, you can’t possibly think any of this is your fault.”

Um…it takes two to tango?

But I don’t say that out loud. Instead, I sigh and move around the island to sit next to him.

“Why don’t you start at the beginning,” he asks. “With the apartment.”

The apartment?

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