Total pages in book: 179
Estimated words: 173733 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 869(@200wpm)___ 695(@250wpm)___ 579(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 173733 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 869(@200wpm)___ 695(@250wpm)___ 579(@300wpm)
Royce clears his throat. “I’ll be in touch.” He walks my direction and gives me a tiny nod before walking on by.
Reid does the same but he stops. “Tough cookie, my sister, but that’s no surprise to me. We’ll get it done.” He steps past me and leaves.
Reese stays at the island, waiting on me, and I battle this feeling of betraying him by not telling him I’m pregnant. He thinks I’m sick. I can’t tell him now before court but I need to think long and hard today about my birthday present. I cross to stand in front of him, my hands settling on his chest. “Let’s go win the day.”
He cups my head and kisses me. “You are a tough cookie.”
“Tough enough to kick your ass if you don’t get focused.”
His cellphone buzzes with a text, he grabs it and glances at it. “Dana sent me a text she copied from the boyfriend’s phone this morning and this just got interesting.” He grabs his briefcase. “Come on. I’ll tell you about it on the way to court.”
We hurry downstairs where Savage is waiting and we settle into the back of the SUV when Reese’s phone rings. “I don’t know this number.” He answers. “Reese Summer.” His expression goes dark. “How did you get this number, Debbie? Because we both know I changed it a long time ago.”
Chapter seventy-three
Reese
Iam acutely aware of my wife beside me in the car, while I have Debbie on the phone that is presently pressed to my ear, and I have no doubt that Cat knows this is her. Debbie is trying to get to me through Cat and it’s pissing me off. “How did you get my number?” I repeat.
“I’m resourceful,” she says, “most mothers are for their children.”
“I take it the real father doesn’t have money, so you thought you’d just take mine.”
Cat’s hand come down on my arm and she whispers. “Careful. Buy time.”
I inhale and say, “Deal with my attorney, not me, but let me be clear: Go near Cat again and I will go to the police, and she’ll go to the press. She’s not one to be held captive by threats anymore than I am.”
“I have video of us fucking. Do you want me to send it to Cat for her journalistic use?”
My jaw flexes. “Send it. It can be dated, in many ways, by a forensic specialist and I won’t even have to wait until that baby is born to prove you as the liar you are. I’ll tell Cat and Reid to expect it.” I disconnect and press two fingers to the bridge of my nose.
“There’s a video,” Cat says, her breath rasping from her throat, and when I look at her, her fingers are digging into her leg.
“She’s probably bluffing,” I say. “It’s a last-ditch move to intimidate me into paying up. It’s blackmail and I think it’s time we go to the police.”
She looks at me, her skin pale. “Right. We probably need to.”
“I’ll talk to Royce,” Savage says. “If you do that, we’ll get our contacts involved, people we trust.”
I turn to Cat. “Sweetheart—”
“I’m fine, Reese. I’m fine. I know this was from before my time. It’s just a lot right now.”
“I know. You know I love you and I want to make this go away.”
“I do,” she says. “You are not to blame. I don’t want to see that recording though if it exists. Never.”
“I understand. I wouldn’t either.”
“She’s bluffing,” Savage says. “There’s no tape. This is the bitch of blackmail we’re dealing with. I feel sorry for that kid, and for the rest of us since she’s the one raising him.” He pulls us to the side of the courthouse.
“Cat—”
“I’m fine. Go give me a court performance to keep my mind off of this.”
Savage exits the SUV. I pull Cat to me and kiss her, and I make sure I do it well, and the pain I taste on her tongue guts me. “Come back with me.”
“No. You need to focus. When you walk in that door, the job is what matters. I’ll be there watching.”
Savage opens Cat’s door and I follow her out of the vehicle. I pull her close and we walk inside the courthouse only to have Richard waiting for us just inside. “Dana told you about the message she copied between her boyfriend and the prosecution,” I assume.
He huddles in with me and Cat. “The boyfriend is here. He came to tell us about it. He says he was trying to find out what they had on Dana.”
“Or he knows she busted him,” Cat says before I can.
“Exactly,” Richard says. “But Dana believes him.”
Royce walks in behind us. “I have something for you,” he says, handing me a folder. “It’s trial related.”
I open the envelope to find a shot of the assistant working for Dana’s father for the past few years, and she’s naked with Mr. Warren. “How the hell did you get this?”