Hearing the child's words, Adrian felt an unmistakable pang in his chestsharp and sour, like an old wound revisited.

Still, and to his own surprise, he replied with a rare patience, his tone measured and distant: "Because of you two, Ive already lost enough."

By some strange twist of fate, he had ended up as a stepfather to two children. Sometimes, he genuinely felt like throttling the woman in his lap. What use was someone like her, lingering in his life only to ...