Shock rocks through me. Automatically, I tighten my grip on Cami, taking a step towards the front door. “Excuse me?” My voice comes out an octave higher than normal. “You’re not sure?”
“Nope,” Cyrus drawls. “No clue, I’m afraid.”
I stare at him, my mind running at a mile a minute, and he just smiles back, dimple flashing.
Just my luck. I finally get to meet my gorgeous neighbors, and they turn out to be kidnapping psychos.
“I’m sorry; did you steal this child?” I ask, incredulous. The smile drops right off Cyrus’s face.
Jack’s eyes widen, and he steps forward. “No! No! She definitely belongs to one of us. We just… don’t know who.”
The other two nod, as if that’s a completely reasonable explanation, and not absolutely batshit insane.
“Right. Yeah. Okay.” Edging slowly away, I turn to the door. “I’m calling the police.”
“Shit,” Cyrus swears.
Jack jumps up, moving to block my exit. “Please, no! Crap. I know this looks suspicious, but I swear we’re telling the truth.”
“Get out of my way,” I tell him, my voice shaking. “Now.”
He does, reluctantly, running a hand through his spiky blonde hair. “This is not how I expected this to go.”
“And what did you expect?!” I ask. “For me to walk in, find you all standing here with some random baby, and say okay, yeah, that’s totally fine, just keep it?”
“We’re not lying,” Jack insists. “She definitely does belong to one of us.”
“Well, almost definitely,” Cyrus amends. “The dates all match up.” He shuffles up on the couch, patting the cushion next to him. “Will you please just sit down and let us explain?” He cajoles.
I squeeze my eyes shut and take a deep breath through my nose. “I’m not sitting down,” I bite out. “You have exactly five seconds to tell me why the Hell you have this baby.”
Cyrus and Jack share a helpless look. “It’s kind of a long story,” Jack starts.
“Summarise.” My voice is hard.
I’m not usually like this. I’m generally a pretty shy person. I don’t think I’ve ever been so rude to a group of strangers in my life, but I don’t screw around with child safety.
The third man stands up. Sebastian. My heart starts to beat faster as he turns on me, meeting my gaze.
He’s… intimidating-looking. Everything about him is sharp and angular. He’s dressed in a dove-grey suit, with a crisp white shirt and a thin tie knotted precisely around his throat. His coppery-brown hair is styled neatly, his pale grey eyes are cold and steely, and his hard, sculpted face looks like it’s been carved out of rock.
The only thing that softens up his expression is his mouth. His lips are full and pink, almost sulky, as he steps towards the coffee table, laying a hand on the car seat.
“We got a call from the porter this morning,” he says. His accent is crystal-clear and clipped, like a BBC newscaster. “He was furious. Shouting and swearing at us down the phone. We couldn’t work out what was wrong, so we went down to the reception.” He twists the car seat around, and I suddenly notice the gold gift tag tied onto the handle. Appt. 5A has been scrawled on the back in felt tip. I feel sick. “Someone had left this on the doorstep of the building,” he says grimly. “Inside it was Camilla, a packet of nappies, and her birth certificate.”
I’m absolutely horrified. I clutch Cami even tighter. She starts chewing on my dress. “Please, please tell me you’re kidding.”
“No.” He picks up a piece of folded paper and holds it out to me. “There was also this.”
I stare at the paper like it might explode. Slowly, I shift Cami onto one hip and reach for the page, flipping it open.
It’s a note, written with biro in shaky, child-like handwriting.
To the boys in apartment 5A
Congratulations. You have a kid. This is Camilla (Cami). She is six months old. Please take care of her. She belongs to one of you.
I tried to keep her but I can’t anymore because I am in trouble for dealing and possession of smack and my family is sending me to rehab for it.
I am not a good mum. She’s yours now. I know you’ll be as good to her as you were to me.
Sorry I didn’t tell you
Anisha
I put it down slowly. “And you know this woman? Anisha?”
“In the biblical sense, obviously,” Cyrus says casually. “We didn’t know her well enough to know that she would pull a Dumbledore and leave a defenceless baby on a doorstep instead of, like, ringing the doorbell and giving her to us in person. But, yeah, we were pretty familiar with her.”
“We had no idea that she was an addict,” Jack chips in. “Maybe she only started using after we stopped seeing each other. Or maybe she hid it really well. But she clearly spiralled since she got pregnant.”
My eyebrows are probably hidden in my hairline. “You’re telling me that you, three roommates, all consecutively slept with the same woman within, what, a month? A couple weeks? What, was it some kind of competition, or something? Wasn’t that awkward?”
“Ah,” Cyrus says, his expression smoothing. “I see where you’re getting confused; see, we actually all slept with her simultaneously.” He pauses. “Many, many times.”
“You’re serious?” All three men nod. Jack’s face gives it away; he’s blushing fire-engine red.
“It’s something we do,” he admits. “Every so often.”
“Oh.” I consider that. “That… actually makes a lot more sense. Yeah.”
“Think about it,” Sebastian says. “If we’d kidnapped a child, we wouldn’t be banging down the door of the building’s only childcare worker, would we?”
Cami shuffles in my arms, hiding her face in my neck. Her little lips move against my skin. I stroke the back of her tiny head, my throat tightening with emotion. “There’s nothing else in the car seat?” I whisper. “No toys, or keepsakes, or anything?”
“There wasn’t even a blanket,” Sebastian says icily. “It was five degrees outside this morning. She was just left there, crying, until the porter found her.”
Jesus. I rub my thumb over the gold bracelet looped around my wrist, tears stinging my eyes.
“Are you okay?” Jack asks quietly. “Sorry. I know this is a lot to drop on someone at once.”
I wander over to the floor-to-ceiling window and look down onto the street outside, trying to collect myself. A group of builders are leaning against the wall, smoking. A guy zooms past on a motorbike. Cami tightens her fist in my hair.
She must have been so scared.
“You know how long she was there?” I ask eventually.
“Not too long,” Cyrus answers. “Maybe fifteen minutes.”
I close my eyes. “And what do you want from me?” I force out.
“We’re getting her DNA tested tomorrow,” Sebastian says. “We tried today, but it’s a bank holiday, so nowhere’s open. We…” For the first time, his confident, clear voice hesitates. “We don’t know what to do with her. None of us know how to look after a baby. We need help.”
“Right.” I take a deep breath. “I see.” I think hard. “When will the DNA results come through?”
Jack perks up. “There are same-day labs in the city. If we can get a swab from her tomorrow morning, we should know by evening.”
I nod. “And you want this baby? If she turns out to be yours, you’ll take care of her?” My eyes flick between their faces.
They all nod solemnly.
“Please don’t take her away,” Jack says quietly.
I sniffle, hastily wiping my eyes with the back of my hand. Cami pulls back and watches my face, her little mouth opening and closing. My chest feels like it’s going to burst.
“Okay,” I say. “Here’s what we’re going to do.”
