Yet I could finish most of that sentence myself. Cavazos hadn’t even known he had a kid with this other woman until…something. Something Liv obviously couldn’t explain to me.

“Just like me…” I whispered, without thinking that through. Then I realized I hated having something in common with Ruben Cavazos. But not as much as I hated the thought of having to share Liv with him.

“You really think Hadley’s yours?” she asked softly, from inches away now.

“I honestly don’t know. But if there’s even a chance of that, I have to admit I understand why Cavazos would be so hell-bent on finding his kid.” I hated not knowing whether or not I was a father. And feeling guilty that I might have accidentally abandoned my own child for the first five years of her life. And I was pissed at the thought of how many things I’d already missed, that I could never get back. “I guess that’s at least one thing a woman can never understand—if you have a kid out there somewhere, at least you know it.”

“Yeah, I guess.” She looked as if she wanted to add to that—or maybe argue—but then her phone rang and she dug it out of her pocket to read the text. “Anne’s downstairs with Hadley. Will you get Kori while I bring them up?”

I nodded and when she disappeared into the hall, I grabbed my own phone and texted Kori. Get back here, bitch.

A second later, she walked out of my unlit hallway and leaned against the peninsula separating the kitchen from the living room, watching me with undisguised mischievous curiosity. “What’d I miss?”

“Only the chaos of your own creation,” I said, and she laughed out loud. “I was going to tell her, you know. I just wanted to do it my way. In my own time.”

Kori shrugged. “Your own time should have come a little sooner.”

“Mind your own business, Korinne. Or I might decide to tell a couple of your secrets.”

Her laughter died a sudden, quiet death. “Don’t threaten me, Romeo. Our checks may be signed by the same man, but Liv had my back way before she met you, so if I have to choose between the two of you, she’ll win every time.”

I rolled my eyes at her. “Don’t try to sound all noble—we both know you were just making trouble out of habit.”

She shrugged and managed a grin. “I’m not sayin’ it wasn’t fun. But if you’d told her like you should have, when you should have, I couldn’t have had any fun at your expense, now could I?”

Before I could argue, my front door opened behind me, and I turned to find Liv leading a child into my apartment.

And maybe into my life…

Twenty-One

Liv led Anne and her daughter into my living room, carrying two backpacks, presumably full of on-the-run essentials. I glanced at Anne, looking for some sign in her eyes to tell me whether or not I was a father. Whether or not my boss was trying to kidnap and drain my own daughter. But she wasn’t looking at me. She was looking at Kori.

“Holy crap, it is you.”

“You, too.” Kori’s gaze passed over Hadley for a single, fleeting instant. “Plus one.”

Liv laughed nervously. “It’s a regular reunion. All we need now is Noelle.”

“I could go get a Ouija board….” Kori offered. Anne flinched and visibly paled, and I realized this was the first time the three of them had been in the same room since the night of the infamous party.

“We should probably get going….” I said, to nudge things along, and Liv nodded.

“First, brief introductions.” Anne held one hand out to Hadley, and the child let herself be pulled forward, huge green-eyed gaze capturing mine. Were my eyes that color, or just a shade darker? Wasn’t my skin paler, except during the height of summer? Or was I looking for dissimilarities that weren’t really there?

“Hadley, this is my friend Kori Daniels.”

Hadley stared up at Kori, eyes narrowed in suspicion. “If you’re friends, how come my mom never talks about you?”

I glanced at Anne in surprise. Hadley was very well-spoken for a five-year-old—not that I had any ruler to measure her by….

Kori started to answer, but I was afraid of what might come out of her mouth, so I stepped in. “They haven’t seen each other in a long time,” I said. “Since before you were born.”

Hadley studied me for a moment, and I wondered if she was seeing those same dissimilarities. Or if she saw something more? Did a kidknow when she was looking at her father? If she was looking at her father?

Her green eyes peered up into mine. “Who are you?”

Did that mean she didn’t recognize me, on a biological, cellular level? Or just that she didn’t know my name?

“This is Cam Caballero,” Liv said. “Another…friend. The three of us are going to keep you safe until we can figure out what’s going on and make all this go away.” Hadley nodded solemnly, still clutching her mother’s hand, and Liv continued. “Kori’s going to take you and your mom and Cam to my apartment. She’s going to take you through the shadows. Do you know what that means?” Another nod from the child, and this time I thought I saw a slight spark of interest in her eyes. “Good. We’re going to hang out there with all the lights on for a while so no one else can get in while we figure a few things out. So…you ready to go?”

Hadley nodded one more time, but Anne pulled her back a little. “I think I should go first, so she won’t be there alone.”