Page 181 of Knot Their Starlet

“I—I’ve started digging around myself. It’s actually how I found your address.”

“Really?” he asks, that same warm pride sparking in his eyes. “You’ve always been so resourceful.”

“I haven’t had a chance to look through too much, though, just some paperwork about child support. It kind of caught me off guard since I always thought we didn’t have money when I was growing up.”

He blinks, setting down his mug.

“I paid child support until you turned eighteen,” he says carefully. “A significant amount.”

“The paperwork said fifteen thousand a month.” I fiddle with my own cup as I watch something shift behind his expression. A wary, tired sort of exhaustion.

“I always hoped it was going to you,” he says finally. “I told myself it was.”

There’s something soft about the way he talks about my mom. Something that makes me feel like out of the two of them, I don’t think the dissolving of the bond was completely mutual. I think a part of him truly loved her. Maybe still does, despite everything.

“Why didn’t you reach out?” I ask, the softness of my voice not hiding the tremble there.

“I did—when you were a child. Especially in the years after the charges against me were dropped, and I had the recourse to try to fight for custody. But when all those attempts fell through, I had a feeling... that you probably weren’t ready to hear from me.”

“You’re probably right.” I run a hand through my hair. “I think... my mom kind of did a number on my brain.”

His brows draw down and his knuckles go pale from his grip around his mug of tea.

“Did you have a happy childhood, Andi?”

“Happy?” I scoff.

Wrong answer.

Edison’s expression crumples for a split second before he tucks the emotion away.

“I’m so sorry to hear that. I thought—I’d hoped that your mother would have gotten better—when she...”

“When she decided to leave you?”

He flinches at my words. It’s strange, having an alpha flinch at something I’ve said. But my dad isn’t like any alpha I’ve ever met.

“Because that’s how it happened, right?” I push. “She wanted to leave you, to break the bond, even though that wasn’t a thing back then?”

“Yes. Are you sure—are you sure you want to talk about your mother right now? I’d rather hear about you. We have so much lost time to make up for.”

My mouth opens and closes as I struggle with what to say.

The two halves of my brain are tearing me in separate directions. Part of me wants nothing more than to talk to my dad and see that look of pride on his face that seems to just... be there. Another part of me desperately wants answers I know I’ll never truly get from my mom.

“I tried to keep up with your life the best I could,” Edison says quietly. “I was so excited when you started posting vlogs.”

“You—you watch my vlogs?” I blink, my jaw falling slack.

“Of course. Do you edit them yourself? They’re very well done.”

“I—I do.” I lift the cup, breathing in some of the pleasant-smelling steam before taking a small sip to ease the lump in my throat. “And I’d—I’d love to catch up with you, but I’m not going to lie, I have so many questions about what happened between you and her. I know... I know it probably sucks to talk about, but I’ve never gotten a straight answer out of her.”

“I’m not surprised,” Edison says, reaching back up and squeezing his shoulder. “I don’t want to speak ill of her, but if this is what you’d like to hear...”

“I need to know. Please.”

Edison nods, his lips pressed in a firm line.