Chapter 2

Willow pointed to the wall on my left, her gaze landing on a framed photo.

It was a picture of my daughter, Julie Thompson, and me.

"She's my daughter…"

"That's my kid!" Preston cut me off.

He pushed past me and grabbed the photo off the wall. He stared at Julie's face for a long moment, his jaw tightening.

"Willow, look at her. She looks just like you."

Willow took the photo from him and studied it closely. "She does. You can tell she's ours."

Then Preston turned to me, his expression hardening as his tone turned accusatory.

"Michael, I thought we were best friends. You seriously couldn't send me one picture of my own daughter in three years?"

He actually had the nerve to ask me that.

Willow blocked me everywhere because she didn't want me interrupting their time together.

And I did try calling Preston about Rachel. He either hung up on me or ignored my calls, then went right back to posting pictures online, showing off his expensive trips and perfect relationship.

The sheer entitlement on his face almost made me laugh. "She's my daughter. Why would I send you pictures of her?"

"Enough!" Willow snapped, glaring at me. "Michael, Preston and I asked you to take care of our daughter. We never said you could start acting like she was yours."

She paused and looked around my studio, her expression growing even more displeased.

"We left her with you so you could focus on raising her. How are you supposed to do that if you spend all your time working? Preston doesn't have a job right now anyway. Give him the studio."

I stared at her, wondering if I had heard her right.

"You dumped your kid on me to raise, and now you want my studio, too? What makes you think you have any right to it?"

Willow frowned. When she saw how angry I was, she let out another impatient sigh.

"You and Preston have been friends since you were kids. He's been traveling for three years and never had a chance to build a career. Is helping him out really such a big deal?"

Preston looked at me expectantly. "Come on, Michael. You've always looked out for me. You'll help me this time too, right?"

My contempt for him only grew.

Preston grew up with a single mother. After she remarried, he was mostly left to fend for himself.

I even used part of my own allowance to help pay his tuition so he could finish college.

During the last year I worked out of town, he told me his girlfriend was pregnant and wanted to keep the baby. I had never met her, and I didn't ask too many questions. I even helped him find a hospital.

Back then, he joked, "Michael, there's nobody I'd trust more to be my kid's godfather."

Then the baby was born, and I found out Willow had been pregnant with Preston's child while I was away.

I looked at him and finally asked the question that had bothered me for years.

"The five times Willow and I were supposed to get married, were you the reason she never showed up?"

Guilt flashed across Preston's face.

"I had some things going on back then, and I needed her. Besides, that was years ago. What's the point of bringing it up now? Enough stalling. What do I have to do before you'll let me see my daughter?"

By the end, he sounded genuinely offended, like I was the one keeping him from the child he abandoned.

A vein throbbed in my temple.

My phone buzzed with a message from my wife.

[I'm free today. I'll come pick you up in a bit.]

I checked the time. She would be off work in 20 minutes.

The last thing I wanted was for her to run into Willow today.

Holding on to what little patience I had left, I looked at both of them. "Your daughter really isn't with me. I have things to do, so you both need to leave."

"How can you be this cold?"

Preston suddenly grabbed me by the shoulders and glared at me like I was the one who had done something wrong.