Chapter 1

Two months ago . . .

He couldn't believe she would hide this from him.

Luke made his way to the other side of town, in the midst of every other issue he had going on in his life, to confront a former lover. If the information he'd learned was correct, then she'd been keeping a massive secret from him and that could put her in a lot of danger.

He knocked on her apartment door, prepared to confront her the moment she answered. She didn't open it for him, instead she yelled at him.

"Go away," she shouted.

"We need to talk, Paisley," he told her, swallowing back anger at being shut out.

"I have nothing to say to you," she yelled again.

"I have a whole lot to say to you, so you better open the door or all your neighbors will know why I'm here." He leaned forward and spoke low, hoping that she could hear him and her neighbors maybe wouldn't. "Did you have my baby, Paisley?" He waited for her to acknowledge him or to tell him he was wrong.

The four locks disengaged one by one. He waited for her to open the door and was shocked at what he saw when she did.

Paisley looked exhausted for starters. Her small apartment was a complete mess with laundry and baby things strewn about.

"What are you doing here?" She cocked her hip and stared him down.

"Is that my child?" he demanded, pointing at the baby sleeping not far from where they stood.

She shrugged. "Why would you think that?"

"Don't do that. Don't make me take legal action, Paisley. Just answer the question."

She blinked rapidly, pushing tears back, and nodded.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked with more calm than he felt.

"Luke, you told me the whole reason you even talked to me was to piss off Cade. That didn't work and we ended. Why would I assume that you'd care? I can handle this. I don't need anything from you." Paisley went to the child where it was stirring and picked it up, whispering sweet words.

He took a few breaths, struggling not to freak out on her. "I had a right to know that you and I created a baby."

"I didn't think you'd care. I also didn't have any way of getting in touch with you without going to your friends. You blocked me from your phone when you decided we were done."

Shit. He had done that. "What did you name them?"

"This is Garrett." Paisley turned so Luke could see the baby's face.

He reached out and stroked one finger down the side of Garrett's cheek. This changed everything, and he knew it would alter the course of his life.

"I have to take care of some things, Paisley. I don't want to be kept out of his life, but I need you to keep this a secret for a little while longer. I will give you anything you need to take care of both of you and we can get a DNA test so we can update the birth certificate."

Paisley sighed. "I don't need anything from you, Luke. I'm not going to take your money or anything else. If you want to get the test, then we can, but I draw the line there."

"It's not your choice." Luke pulled out his wallet and dropped all the cash he had on the table by her entryway. "Put that away before someone steals it. I'll be in touch soon, but please keep this a secret until then. When it's time for the test, I will let you know." He turned to leave and then turned again. "If you or he needs anything, call me. Don't text, only call, and only talk to me. If it's an emergency and you can't reach me, try one of the guys."

"I won't—" He cut her off.

"This isn't a game for me," he told her. "I will explain more when I can."

He had a moment of curiosity while thinking of what he could do for her and walked to her fridge. Only baby bottles were inside, same in the cabinets, no food for Paisley in the kitchen.

She watched as he looked through her things, not saying a word. As he turned to face her, she ducked her head.

"Don't be prideful. You can hate me forever, but don't hurt yourself over pride. I will send some groceries to you through a service. Please send me what I need to know for formula and diapers and all that." He couldn't be here for long, he knew that, but he wasn't going to leave them here with nothing. If it were up to him, he would take them with him, but it wasn't right now.

Paisley swallowed and he watched her hand come up to twirl her long brown hair. "Okay."

Luke nodded, happy that much wasn't going to be a fight. "Anything that you need, send it to me. That includes for you, Paisley. You want some bubble bath? Tell me. I will make sure you get it."

He closed the distance between them again.

"Don't," she started.

"I'm not sure what you think I'd do." He backed up. "I was just going to promise you again that I will fix all of this," he told her.

"You don't have to do anything, you know? I wasn't going to sue you or sell a story or anything," she told him.

He sighed. "I didn't accuse you of it. I'm sorry for everything."

Luke turned and walked away. He didn't think he could stay much longer without someone getting suspicious of why he was here. He could have taken the tracker his friends had planted in his jacket out, but he wanted the clue to be planted about Paisley in case anything happened to him.

As he left her rundown building and called a personal shopper to start an order for her, he made himself a vow that he would get them both out of here soon. It wasn't safe for them to be here.

Luke needed to settle issues with his father before he could protect them. Right now, his father was threatening him, his sister, and his half sister, who didn't even know about him. It was messy and he didn't want Paisley or Garrett to get hurt by it.

He had a plan to get his father off his back, and then he was going to tell his friend group that he was actually related to two of them and all the things he'd done to help his father sabotage them.

At first, he'd believed that his father cared about him. He thought that Cade was just greedy and had stolen his father's business from under him. Truth be told, he was too busy praying to see what was right there in front of his eyes the whole time.

Then, his father had gotten upset that Cade, his half brother, was looking to date a barista at the coffee shop he frequented. He'd told Luke to make sure that Cade wasn't interested anymore. That plan had backfired.

He'd slept with Paisley, the barista, and had carried on a relationship with her for two months before he'd broken it off. It was after this that he realized things weren't as they seemed. His father had threatened him if he continued with her, and he'd immediately dropped her.

A few days ago, someone had reached out anonymously to let him know that she'd had his child. He had discreetly looked into it and the math made sense. Before he'd come here, he'd paid her medical bills and rent.

Leaving her was hard the first time, damn near impossible this time, but he wouldn't let her get pulled down because of him. He was done ruining people's lives for his father or watching it happen while doing nothing.