Page 124 of Fierce-Colson

If his father realized what a mess Holly was.

And there was no one he could ask because the woman in front of him couldn’t be trusted.

Holly shifted on the bench, arms wrapping around herself like she was cold. Or performing. More likely that.

“I have a right to see my daughter,” Holly said, lifting her chin. “You can’t keep her from me.”

His jaw flexed. “Watch me.”

“I carried her for nine months,” Holly snapped. “You weren’t around for that. None of it. You can’t shove me aside because you’re playing house.”

Playing house.

She didn’t know the first thing about playing house, let alone being a parent.

He inched closer, looming without meaning to. “You walked away. No calls. No birthday cards. No child support. No nothing. You don’t get to show up over a decade later and pretend you’re owed something. You don’t get to sit here and call the shots when you don’t even know what has happened to your child or how she feels or even thinks about you.”

“I’m not pretending,” Holly said, her voice rising, getting ready to put on a show for anyone outside to watch. It was the last thing he wanted or needed right now. “I just want to see her. Let Bella decide. She’s old enough to choose if she wants to talk to me.”

That struck harder than he expected.

Because Bella wasn’t a little kid anymore. She wasn’t eleven and clinging to whoever showed up.

She was a teenager. Old enough to ask questions. Old enough to wonder.

“She’s still a kid.”

Holly pressed on when she saw the crack. “I’m not going anywhere, Colson. I’ll fight if I have to. I’ll go to court. I’ll tell a judge I was scared. That I was trying to survive. That your drunk father was abusive on top of it. You think they won’t listen? You think that his record of arrests won’t be in my favor?”

He studied her face. The lines. The edge. The desperation under the bravado.

“You want money,” he said flatly.

Her eyes flickered. “I need help getting on my feet.”

“There it is.” He stood up. “You said you were here to get it again and now you’re going to try to get it from me.”

“I’m clean,” Holly insisted. “I’ve been clean a year. I’m trying to do this right.”

He shook his head. “And showing up unannounced at a police station is your idea of right?”

She ignored that. “I just want to see her. I won’t even say anything bad about you. I won’t disrupt her life. I just… I need to look at my daughter.”

The words might have meant more if she’d led with them. Maybe.

Instead, she’d led with money. With staying with his father. With what she was owed when she found out his father had died.

He dragged a hand over his face. This was exactly the kind of mess he’d spent two years trying to shield Bella from.

“She doesn’t remember you,” he said quietly.

Holly swallowed. “That’s not my fault.”

“It is,” he roared.

Silence stretched between them, heavy and charged.

“I’m not leaving town,” Holly said finally. “You can tell her I’m here. You can tell her I want to see her. And if she says no, fine. But I deserve the chance to ask.”