Page 105 of Ice Cold Hearts

“I’ll hold you to it,” Alexei promises.

“Thank you,” I say.

“You should also schedule a paternity test,” Emily adds.

“Why?” I ask, offended. “Do you think you’re not the mother?”

Ian laughs, but Emily scowls.

“How are you ever going to trust me if you don’t have proof?” she demands. “Don’t you care about that?”

“What reason would you have to lie? How old is Audrey?” I ask.

“She’s almost five. What does that have to do with anything?” she replies.

“Have you ever in the last almost five years tried to sue me for child support or tried to get anything at all from me?” I prompt.

“No,” Emily says, confused.

“So you’ve been doing it completely by yourself with no help from me and never asked for a thing. You’ve never blackmailed me or held this information over my head for your personal gain, and even before I knew she was my daughter too, you fought me tooth and nail whenever I tried to buy anything for her,” I say, “so what benefit would you have to lie to me about this? None. I trust you. If you say I’m the only possibility, then I’m the only possibility. I don’t need a test to trust you. Besides, now that I think about it, she looks a lot like one of my younger sisters did at that age. My grandmother too, as a matter of fact. How did I not see that before?”

Emily flinches and leans away from me.

“What is it?” I ask, resting a hand on her knee.

“That’s what Liza said too. She said she was going to get family photos and do a throwback campaign on social media and” —she stops to take a breath— “she said she’d make sure people noticed the similarities between your sister and Audrey.”

My blood boils. “She what?”

Emily shrinks back further. “I'm sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“My ‘family’ thinks my career is beneath me. My ‘family’ has been ignoring me my entire life unless they needed something from me. Liza knows good and well that they are off fucking limits and she’s known that from day one. I will not give them any headlines.” I take her hands and force my voice to be calmer. “I’m not angry at you. I promise you, I’m going to spend the rest of my life trying to repair the damage she’s done to you.”

She rests her forehead against mine. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“So.” Alexei clears his throat. “About Ian and me.”

“I know, right? Who would have thought the three of us would have a baby, huh, guys?”

“The three of us?” he sputters.

“You sure you don’t want us to step back so you and Emily can—” Ian starts.

“Oh, no, you don’t,” I interrupt. “You’re not getting out of Audrey duty that easily. No way in hell will I be able to get that child to bed by myself. You said you were committed to this relationship, that you were all in, remember? No backsies.”

“Backsies?” Emily laughs.

“That is a perfectly legitimate legal term,” I say pompously.

Ian sighs exasperatedly. “Are you sure you still want us, Emily? Oliver made his feelings clear on the matter, but Alexei and I will back off gracefully if that’s what you want now.”

Alexei nods in agreement. “All you have to do is say the word, and you can be a little family of three.”

36

EMILY