Page 13 of Written with Regret (The Regret Duet 1)
He moved back to the chair and started on the paperwork again. “That’ll change.”
In a show of pure positivity, I shot back, “What if it doesn’t? I’m pretty sure my dad never liked me. Maybe that’s just the way my family is built.”
His head came up and he gave me a slow blink. “Caven, I’m not even going to waste time commenting on your dad. You can’t base your ability to love your daughter on that asshole. Look, I’ll be honest. I can’t think of a man less equipped to be a father than you are, but you’ll figure it out. You’re a good man with good intentions. That’s, like, ninety percent of parenting right there. So stop stressing about liking her and worry about her becoming a teenager and growing boobs. That’s going to be the scary part.”
I barked a laugh, quickly silencing it when the baby jerked as though I’d scared her.
We both fell silent, and as he went back to filling out paperwork, I stared down at my daughter.
Holy shit. My daughter.
It was so surreal. In the span of a few days, my life had changed so drastically that it wasn’t even recognizable anymore. And that change was going to continue in the days to come. She wouldn’t stay a baby forever. One day, she’d be a grown woman, holding a baby of her own, looking back on her life. She didn’t have a mother, but I could give her something worth remembering. I could give her a father she wanted to pass on parts of to her children—DNA she could be proud of.
There were going to be a lot of failures in my near future, but dammit, I could give her a good life.
“What do you want her middle name to be?” Ian asked.
My head popped up. “Her middle name? What’s her first name?”
His dark brows drew together. “I assumed it was going to be Keira. That was what the note—”
“Fuck the note,” I hissed. Fighting against gravity, I shifted her up my chest until her head was just below my chin. Lazily trailing my hand up and down her back, I kept my voice low. “Hadley abandoned her. She made that choice, but that is the last one she will ever get to make. She’s mine now and her name is not fucking Keira.”
He smiled, beaming with pride. “Okay, then. So, what’s it going to be?”
I swallowed hard and nuzzled my chin against the top of her hat. There was only one woman who deserved the right to name that baby, and unfortunately, she’d died when I was ten. She would have loved that little girl—unquestioning and without judgment, welcoming her into our family with open arms and a bright smile, including a smack on the back of my head for taking so long to come around. Fresh as the day I’d lost her, grief punched me in the gut. I closed my eyes and imagined her face.
She was the only happy memories I had of my childhood.
And she was about to become my daughter’s first too.
“Rosalee,” I whispered. “Her name is Rosalee.”CAVENFour years later…“I’m hanging up now,” I growled into the phone. I’d been on that damn call for over an hour, negotiating the never-ending deal.
“Now, wait just a minute, boy. I’m not done here.”
I bit the inside of my cheek, trying desperately to control my temper. Boy? Seriously? I was going to kill Ian for passing this guy off to me. Lance Goodman had been attempting to talk me in circles for days. He was arrogant and pushy, and he thought he shit gold bars, but damn if he didn’t have a tech security firm that was going to be worth millions by the end of the year thanks to a new development in safeguarding cryptocurrency. It was a side of the market I knew nothing about, but private investing didn’t always require expertise other than how to wire funds. This was absolutely one of those times.
“I hate to say it, Lance, but I’m an hour past done. It’s clear we can’t make this work.”
“Who said we couldn’t make it work? Three hundred million will get you twenty percent. Just say the word.”
I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. We’d looped right back around to where this conversation had started. Money was great and all, but I was already late for a date and my patience was shot. Ian had been adamant on getting at least twenty percent, and since my best friend couldn’t charm five pennies from a nickel, the schmoozing landed on my shoulders.
There was no chance in hell I was paying three hundred million for a company that was currently only valued at double that. Sure, there was tons of potential with the new launch and I was willing to invest in that, but for fuck’s sake. This was ridiculous.
