Page 98 of Shattered Dreams

Kai nods, but it’s my dad’s face I’m watching. He seems more surprised that Gavin Irons bothered to call his son than he is about the reason.

“What do you know, Dad?” I ask, surprising everyone.

His eyebrows shoot up. “Nothing.”

Cal is looking at him now too. My dad was never a good liar so it only takes a few seconds under the scrutiny of both his kids for him to break.

“I don’t know anything. I just know that Gavin went to find Ezra. I honestly don’t know anything else. He cut off contact with everyone, and I haven’t heard from him since.”

“He must have found something if he wants us to back off so badly,” Maverick says, and the hope in his voice tears my heart to shreds.

“Alright. Explain this perfect baby,” Willa says, sitting on my other side with a content Cora drinking from her bottle. I lean over to look closely at my niece. She has a shock of red hair on her head and cute rosy cheeks to match. Her face is shaped so similarly to mine and her nose is definitely from Cal that I’m stunned for a moment.

“I got a call early this morning that I needed to come pick up my daughter from a hospital in Boston. As you can imagine, I thought it was a prank,” Cal says, looking at his feet and rubbing his hands on his jeans. “I ended up calling Frank to look into it. Sure enough, there was a baby there with my name on her birth certificate and my number as her contact. I drove down there as quickly as I could. Took a DNA test that they expedited because of the strange circumstances.”

“He called me once he got the test results, confirming what’s pretty obvious when you look at her,” my dad adds while Cal regains his composure.

“Where’s her mom?” I ask as gently as possible.

“She died. Postpartum hemorrhage. It was in the middle of the night and by the time they noticed, they couldn’t stopit. Her name was Bailey. I gave Cora her name as a middle name. I didn’t even really know her. She was just a fling. I —” Cal chokes up, and I throw myself into his arms.

“Does Bailey have any family?” Kai asks.

Cal shrugs, his arms still tight around me. “Frank is looking into it, but so far, the answer is no.”

“You’re a dad,” I whisper.

“I’m a dad,” Cal agrees, but he sounds exhausted. “I don’t know how to do this, Belle. I barely know how to be an adult. Now I’m responsible for a whole person, and we’re moving and writing an album and going on tour, and I don’t know if I can do this.”

I take my brother by the shoulders and shake him. “Yes, you can. Every single person in this room is here for you. We will help you. I still think moving is the best plan, especially since Dad lives near Boston. We’ll figure out everything else as we go.”

Cal nods and takes a deep breath.

“We’ve got you, man,” Mav says, coming up next to him and hugging us both. Kai joins from the other side.

“I have the baby, but I’m hugging you in spirit!” Willa calls, causing all of us to laugh and the tension to break.

“What now?” Kai asks.

“We raise a baby, find Ezra, produce a best-selling album and sell out stadiums,” I say.

“Easy,” Kai responds.

epilogue

BELLE

Moving with an infant is stressful.Moving with an infant and your brother, who is somehow more dramatic than the baby, is something I wouldn’t wish on anyone. I’m not sure how any of us survived it, but we did.

We all officially moved into our new homes yesterday. We were able to purchase new builds in a gated community that just popped up twenty miles outside of Boston. Our houses are all in a row, which I wouldn’t have been excited about before Cora. But now? That fiery little girl has captured my heart, and I don’t want to be more than a house away from her.

My dad is staying with Cal while we interview nannies. It’s not going well. Willa has sat with him for over thirty-eight interviews, and he’s hated every single one.

“I can’t believe word got out about what happened with you and Brad,” Mav says. He’s been in a much better headspace since the move.

“I’m honestly surprised it took this long,” Kai says, reading the headline of the article Mav just showed him.

“Rockstar Sweetheart Assaulted by Blond Ex-Beau,” I read out loud. “I guess that’s straight to the point.”

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