“Huh. That’s funny. I thought you didn’t know if I were yours or not.”
His nostrils flare, but his smile only grows both wider and even more chilling. “Literally, dear. I caught you when you came out small, tiny, bawling, helpless. You cried and cried and cried like you were being axe murdered.”
“All babies cry—”
“You cried like a banshee. It was unnatural.”
“So if you aren’t my papa—”
“I am,” he says darkly.
“How can you be so sure?” I ask.
He looks as smug as can be.
“Fuck. You had a paternity test done, didn’t you? You really thought I wasn’t yours? Have you seen Kyle? We could be twins!”
“You think your mother is all good and wonderful and kind. I’ll have you know that I never wanted any of you to find out, but she cheated on me.”
“Why? When? After you cheated on her with how many women?”
His lips curl into a scowl. “I suggest you start watching your tone of voice with me, young lady.”
“You forget. I’m eighteen now. I’m out and on my own, and you aren’t welcome here. If you don’t leave—”
“You’ll what? Call the police? With that stank of alcohol on your breath?” He chuckles. “What a lush. Now, give me your phone.”
“No.”
“Don’t deny me. I’ll make your life miserable.”
“It’s only miserable because you’re here. Leave, and it’ll be all sunshine and roses and all that jazz.”
“Bullshit. You don’t drink to get that drunk unless you have a reason. Let’s hear it. You get knocked up?”
“Do you think I would get drunk if I were pregnant? Do you know me at all?”
“I think I know you quite well. It’s about a guy or guys. I did a little digging. I know what happened with Brandon Slade, with his daughter, Erika, your best friend, and how she's living in sin, not with one guy but four."
My face has to turn white. I don’t know if I’m more shocked or frightened.
“You leave Erika alone,” I spit out.
"You have no leg to stand on, girl," my father says.
As if to prove this, he shoves me back, and I somehow fall onto my bed. He kicks the door shut behind him.
“You have no leverage. If you think I’m going to do anything you want, you’re fucking wrong, girl. But if you want me gone, then you know what you have to do. All I need from you is the location of your mother without you then telling her I know. I need to see her. Face to face.”
“Because you want to kill her.”
“Whoever said that?”
“Why not just talk to her on the phone?”
“Are you that stupid? She would hang up on me the moment she heard my voice.”
“She wants a divorce. She wants nothing to do with you. You’re nothing to her, nothing to me.”