“It’s not for me.” Eli waves toward me. “Zane’s the one with the problem.”
I frown. Adele isn’t a problem. An inconvenience? Maybe. But a problem? No way. She’s an innocent baby.
Siena’s eyes widen but she clears her throat and wipes the surprise from her face. “Is this your baby?”
“I don’t know.”
Her brows lift, but to her credit, she doesn’t throw any personal questions my way. “Explain, please.”
“A woman dropped her off at my house last week. She claimed I’m the dad and took off.”
“And who is this woman?”
“She said her name is Daisy.”
“I have my private investigators searching for her,” Eli adds.
“And you came to me to make this situation legal?” Kind of? I don’t know. Luckily, she doesn’t wait for a response before continuing. “Have you done a paternity test yet?”
“I made an appointment for him at the lab,” Eli answers.
Siena nods in approval. “Good. Home paternity tests aren’t admissible in court.”
Admissible in court? Crap. Is this a court matter?
“Once we have the results of the test, we can file for custody.”
“File for custody?” I squeak. I clear my throat and try again. “File for custody?”
Siena’s brow wrinkles. “It’s why you’re here, isn’t it? To ensure you have custody of your baby?”
“I don’t know if she is my baby.” My stomach sours. The words feel like a betrayal. It’s true, though. I don’t know if Adele is mine.
I glance at her sleeping in the stroller. She might not be mine, but I can’t abandon her. I’m not an asshole. I refuse to be my dad.
“Don’t worry. There is precedent for a person receiving custody without being the biological parent to the child. It’ll be a more difficult path to wander, but we’ll cross that bridge when we know about the child’s paternity.”
“Her name is Adele.”
The words slip out before I can stop them. I can’t help it. Adele isn’t ‘the baby’. She’s Adele. A cranky baby who sleeps all day but never at night. Who has the cutest toothless smile I’ve ever seen.
The door bursts open and Mom barges inside. Followed by my brothers Kai, Miles, Rhett, and Jaxon.
“I’m sorry,” the secretary says as she rushes in after them. “I tried to stop them.”
“Stop me?” Mom glares at her. “They’re discussing my grandchild. I should be here.”
“Perhaps, but why am I here?” Jaxon lifts his glasses to pinch his nose.
Miles elbows him. “We’re here to support our brother.”
“Couldn’t we support him while working?”
Kai rolls his eyes. “You really don’t understand how this brother supporting brother thing works, do you?”
“I don’t understand how standing behind him while he has a meeting with an attorney is supporting him.”
Siena giggles. “Jaxon Raider, you haven’t changed a bit since high school.”
