Thirty: Pierce

THIRTY

PIERCE

O livia cried a river against my chest.

I knew better than to tell her things would be okay or that her mother was coming back for her “soon.”

I stopped believing that lie long ago.

“She’s calling me.” Olivia sniffled, holding up her phone. “Should I answer?”

“No.” I took it. “Allow me. I’ll be back.”

I stepped out of the room and headed to my office. “Hello?”

“Hey Big Brother from another mother! Did you see my live interview?”

“The first part.”

“Was there a signal interruption?” She sounded upset. “Did local news come on with some bullshit storm warning?”

“You denied having a daughter.”

“Well, duh. I was sixteen when I had her.”

“And?”

“I’m not ready to be a mom, a single-one at that.”

“You’re not even trying .”

“I’m doing more than trying, Pierce,” she said. “I asked the most responsible person in my to take care of her.”

“Temporarily.” I gritted my teeth.

“I don’t know why Mama Raya refused to take her on for me,” she said. “She said she could do a month or two at most and that was it, as if ‘being retired’ is a thing. This is all her fault!”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m sending a jet for you tonight. Get on it and come see your daughter.”

“Noooo, it’ll have to be another day.” She whined. “I have a networking event.”

“That’s more important than Olivia?”

“I’m so close to getting where I need to be,” she said, not answering my question, “I can’t help that single moms in Hollywood aren’t a draw.”

“ Excuse me ?”

“Casting agents might pass me over for roles because they’ll worry if I can commit to the schedule. Would you really make me give up my dream to be a mom?”

“You can do two things at once.”

“Says the guy with a full-time nanny.” She scoffed. “I’m not in a good place for this, and I’m not a billionaire like you.”

“Most moms aren’t billionaires…” I clenched my jaw. “When exactly do you plan on paying her a visit?”

“When I can. I mean, you know I call her every weekend, right?”

“Right.”

“Then we’re all good! She’s growing up with a freakin’ billionaire and all her needs are taken care of.”

“She needs her mother.”

“She’ll get her eventually, I promise. Oh! Gotta go. This is my agent.”

She hung up without another word.

Usually, I’d tell Olivia to join me on a late-night drive to make her feel better about this, but I needed to let her see the truth slowly.

Her mother was abandoning her, and I hated that I could relate all too well. Before my biological mother perished in a car accident, she’d left me at a fire station and vowed to “come back later.”

It didn’t dawn on me for years that she never intended to return. My father—whoever he was—wasn’t interested in picking me up either.

Sighing, I braced myself for a blunt conversation with Olivia before returning to her room.

She wasn’t in her bed.

I checked the living room and heard laughter from the kitchen.

Rounding the corner, I spotted Olivia and Harlow dancing amidst clouds of flour with the twins.

There’s no point in hurting her right now…