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My entire body went still.
“Kamia ain't got shit to do with this.”
“Neither does this daughter you don't have yet.” He nodded toward the folder. “But here we are.”
I clenched my jaw so hard it started to ache.
Bringing Kamia into this shit changed everything.
She had too much going for herself to end up dead behind choices I'd made before she came into my life. She didn't deserve somebody showing up at her door because I wanted out.
My eyes dropped to the folder.
I could walk away and keep living this life, knowing Kamia's name had already been brought into it. Or I could sign a piece of paper promising away a daughter I didn't have and might never have.
Neither choice felt like a fucking choice.
I opened the folder.
The contract sat in front of me, but I barely processed half the words on the page. My eyes moved over line after line until they landed on the one thing that mattered.
Twenty-five years of age.
My stomach turned.
If I ever had a daughter, they'd come for her when she turned twenty-five.
Twenty-five years was a long fucking time.
At least, that's what I told myself.
I reached for one of the pens sitting in the holder on Jefferson's desk. My fingers tightened around it as I stared at the signature line.
For a second, Kamia's face flashed through my mind.
Then I put the pen to the paper.
With one stroke of my hand, I signed away the life of a child who hadn't even been born.
Hell, a child who didn't even exist.
When I finished, I tossed the pen onto the desk and slid the folder back toward him.
Jefferson glanced down at my signature before a satisfied grin spread across his face.
“Aight, Barrett.” He closed the folder and extended his hand across the desk. “It's been nice doing business with you.”
I stared at his hand for a moment before reaching across and shaking it.
The second our palms separated, I stood.
I couldn't get the fuck out of that room fast enough.
I made it to the double doors and wrapped my hand around one of the handles.
“Barrett.”
I stopped but didn't turn around.
