Chapter 29

Lorenzo had his hands on his hips and was watching her with an expansive grin on his face.

"What do you think it means?" I asked her, half-expecting her to express some childish explanation of genetics and where babies come from.

Cecilia's eyes widened. "This means we get to keep living in the Penthouse!"

Lorenzo burst out laughing.

"Cecilia!" I hissed.

Cecilia spun on her heel and looked at Lorenzo. "Is that true? Is that what that means?"

Lorenzo pressed his hands on his knees and crouched before her. "That's exactly what that means."

Cecilia jumped, pumping her fists into the air. "Now no one can bully me at school!"

I narrowed my eyes. "Cecilia, what do you mean? Who bullies you at school."

Cecilia's shoulders slumped, and she pressed her lips together. "Well, it's not a big deal."

"Uh huh," I whispered, taking her hand. I sat on the edge of the slide and held her hands. "Why are people bullying you at school?"

Lorenzo took a step back, aware that the conversation had taken a turn.

"Mom, I just didn't tell you because I didn't want to hurt your feelings."

Oh, great. "What are they saying?"

She chewed her bottom lip. "Some of the kids just make fun of me for only having a mom. They say that kids who are raised by single moms grow up to be whores."

The laughter that spilled out of me was pure anger. "Oh, yeah?"

Still holding one of my hands, she gripped Lorenzo's hand and swung both of our arms. "Don't worry, mom, that's not a problem anymore because now we're a family."

Lorenzo ran a hand through Cecilia's jet black hair and sighed. I was glad he could be relaxed about this....but me? Oh, I was five seconds away from getting fucking triggered.

"I'm going to go play now!" Cecilia darted for the swings, but I gripped her hand to stop her from running off.

"Cecilia, who said that to you?"

Her jaw clenched. "Mom, I shouldn't have said anything."

"Cecilia, I just want to know. Okay?"

She sighed, her shoulders raising and falling. Then her eyes slipped past me toward the entrance of the park. "Well, them, mainly."

Standing up, I twisted around to see two identical boys lunge through the gate of the park. Behind them, Raquel Camille was shouting at her twins to slow down. Oh, hell no.

"Okay, I'm going to play now!" Cecilia said, yanking her hand away from me and sprinting across the park toward the monkey bars.

My hands planted on my hips. "You have to be fucking kidding me."

"Ophelia," Lorenzo weaved a hand around my back, pulling me into his chest. His touch normally comforted me, but right now, it bothered me. He was trying to subdue my reaction.

"You heard what she said? The Camille twins. As in Raquel Camille and—"

"Senator Marco," Lorenzo nodded. "Yeah, I know."

I pressed my hand against his chest. "And that doesn't bother you?"

He shrugged. "They're kids, Ophelia. If people took everything kids said seriously, the sky would be green and the grass would be blue." I slid backward out of his embrace, cocking my head and trying to breathe through the sudden irritation growing in my chest. Lorenzo sighed. "What did I say?"

Maybe I needed to give him the benefit of the doubt. "Nothing, it's just...this isn't just some person. It's Cecilia. My...our daughter."

His hands fell to his side. "Thanks for the clarification."

"I'm just saying, I know this parenting thing is new to you. But anything that could affect her happiness affects mine."

"I think that maybe you're a bit more bothered by the single mother comment than she is." Lorenzo glanced across the park to where Cecilia was in the middle of a game of tag with the Camille twins.

I twisted my bottom lip, watching Cecilia run after the boys with a wide grin on her face. "Fine. Maybe you have a point."

"Look at it like this," he said. "I might not have as much experience as you do with kids, but I know enough to understand that, at this age, it's one of two things. The first is usually projection. And from knowing Senator Marco, I can tell you right now, that guy is not present in those boy's lives."

"Yeah, but it's not like Raquel Camille raises them on her own as some single mother. She has like nannies."

"I get that. But who do you think they see more? Their mom or their dad?"

My sigh was huge. "I see your point."

Lorenzo exhaled, his eyes closing as he weaved around my back. "Come here, baby." He kissed the top of my head as I pressed my cheek into his chest. Unlike before, his smell and his touch was comforting.

Still cradled in his arms, I glanced up at him. "What was the second option?"

"Huh?"

"You said two options. Projection or what?"

He shrugged. "Or they're just repeating what their parents say."

If that was the case, then that meant—

"Ophelia Wellington?"

My muscles stiffened at the sound of Raquel Camille's voice.

Then that meant that Raquel Camille had been talking shit about me being a single mother, and her boys had overheard it and redirected the judgment at my kid.

Leaning back from Lorenzo, I twisted around, my eyes narrowing. Raquel was standing behind us. It was barely eleven on a Sunday, and she was dressed in stilettos, a skin tight white dress, and a fluffy fur coat.

"Raquel, hi."

Raquel's eyes had already flicked to Lorenzo. "Ophelia, I thought that was you." But I knew this had nothing to do with me. She'd certainly seen the news story about my mugshot, about Cecilia...and about Lorenzo.

I already knew how she was going to play this. Twisting on her fakest voice and most charming smile, she cocked her head. "Lorenzo? Lorenzo Kensington?"

"Ms. Camille."

Raquel snickered, waving her hand away. "Please, it's Raquel, you know that." Her eyes darted between me and Lorenzo, and it was clear she was trying to investigate to see if it was true—if I was actually dating a billionaire who was up for consideration for the future Vice President. "So, how do you two know each other?"

Raquel was a bully, just like her kids. And I'd always struggled with obvious confrontations like this, even the passive aggressive kind.

Even as far back as high school, I would replay bullies' attacks on me, thinking about how I could have acted differently. My revenge was always anonymous and silent, one of the reasons I enjoyed hacking so much.

But this was different. It was abundantly clear that Raquel's twins weren't projecting anything. They were parroting what their mother had said. I wanted to shove it in her face that I was actually capable of dating someone she considered above me, but my cheeks flushed with warmth, and I couldn't move.

To Lorenzo's credit, he picked up on all of this. We were standing side by side, and Lorenzo leaned over, draping his arm over my shoulder and pulling me against him. "Oh, Ophelia andI go way back." He kissed my cheek, and my smile deepened as I looked up at him. Cocking his head, he tapped the tip of my nose. "Isn't that right, baby?"

"That's right."

Raquel blinked rapidly, her jaw opening and closing but no words coming out. When she finally spoke, she didn't even try to hide her shock. "So, it's true...Cecilia is..."

Lorenzo sighed. "My daughter. Well, our daughter."

Scratching her scalp, Raquel chuckled awkwardly. "Well, you know, we should set up a play date. What do you think? All of us, the twins, Cecilia? We can get some other kids from school too." " She looked at Lorenzo. "I'm sure Marco would love to have you over."

Lorenzo looked at me. "What do you think, hon?"

I shrugged and looked directly at Raquel. "Maybe. But, you know, I'm not a single mother anymore now. So my schedule is just so open that I really get to decide how I want to spend my free time."

Lorenzo pressed his lips together, failing to hide his smirk.

Raquel's lips pursed. "Right." She kept her well trained smile twisted on, ignoring my insult. "Well, you let me know."

"Raquel, there you are!" A little girl and her mother entered the park, and Raquel smiled at us again and strode off across the park.

Laughing, Lorenzo kissed me again. "That was...direct. Do you feel better now?"

My eyebrows lifted. "Golden."

I glanced around the park at the woman Raquel was animatedly talking to. It was the new mom named Helen who I'd met outside the school not long ago. The one who'd failed to catch my sarcasm. There was something about her that was so...familiar.

Lorenzo sighed. "I know you don't like her, and I don't blame you, but maybe a playdate could help Cecilia make friends...and stop them from bullying her."

Helen glanced across the park, saw me, and waved. My stomach plummeted. Lifting my hand to wave back, I couldn't take my eyes off her face. Specifically, the mole on her upper left cheek. Suddenly, it dawned on me that Helen was the woman in the video I'd stolen, the one blackmailing Jonathan Calamari.

I looked up at Lorenzo. "You know what? I think a playdate with the moms at school is a great idea."