I didn’t want her to touch me, nor did I want to hear her excuses or reasons. What she’d done was truly unforgivable as far as I was concerned. I swatted her hands away from me and shook my head, still in complete disbelief. I had always feared something like this might happen given the number of notches on my headboard, but I had never expected it from Kenzie. She wasn’t like the females that warmed my bed before and after her. Most were immoral and just there for a good time, while the unrecognizable woman in front of me was in it for the long haul. I remembered seeing the notebooks where she had scribbled our names together and knew she’d been different.
“I’m sorry. I—”
Each sob of hers grated on my nerves. I was trying to come to terms with the fact that I had a daughter whose life I wasn’t a part of, and all because of the selfishness of her mother. I’d never been given the opportunity to provide for even her most basic of needs. If I hadn’t come to Arizona, a part of me would’ve been out there and I never would’ve known. I had already missed so many firsts, and I would miss everything else from first boyfriends, kisses, to first heartbreak. I’d miss her proms, formals, and graduation. Later, I’d also miss her wedding and children she’d bear that would carry my blood inside of them. I needed to get out of here.
“You fucking win,” I told her as everything I had done to her came rushing back. I had destroyed her back in high school with that stupid dare, and when we reunited years later, I thought history had repeated itself. Her anguish upon hearing Leeann DeSoto had won the contract had never left me since. I had felt actual remorse over hurting her. Never had I imagined the one deceiving the other had been her all this time.
“Win?” she asked, disbelief evident in her voice.
“You won. Nothing I’ve done or ever could do to you will ever top this. You wanted payback, and now you got it.”
“No, that’s not true,” she tried to explain and when she touched my arm, for the first time, I was truly disgusted by her.
I had rights. She had signed away hers, but I hadn’t done mine. My mind was spinning with all the things I knew I would need to do. “This isn’t fucking over. You might’ve won this time, but you won’t keep me from her. If she’s my daughter, I will move heaven and earth to take her from you.”
Kenzie wailed, and other than a quick roll of my eyes, I moved past her and ignored her open sobbing as I strode to the door. I now had two documents to sign, and the first one would be to my lawyer. Once in the car, I hit his speed dial number, then launched into what I had just found out as I peeled rubber out of the driveway and sped down the street.