Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 98469 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 492(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98469 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 492(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
“Hey, Damien,” I say, stepping toward him. “You don’t know this, but while you were asleep, we took you on a plane.”
“Really?” he asks, tilting his head thoughtfully.
“Yep. We brought you here … on a vacation. Do you know what a vacation is?” I ask, and he shakes his head. “It’s where you go somewhere far away from home to have fun.”
“But school is fun.” He pouts. “I wanna go to school.”
He crosses his arms over his chest, and Peyton smirks at me with a silent fucking told you written across her features.
“I know,” I tell him. “But this place has fun stuff too. Like a pool.”
“A pool?” he asks, his gray eyes lighting up.
“Yep. We have a pool, and I have it on good authority that right through that hall, in the living room, is a bunch of cool pool toys and a bathing suit for you.”
“Yay!” he cheers as he runs in the direction I pointed.
“What did you say about him throwing a fit?” I murmur to Peyton with a smirk.
“Whatever,” she mutters. “Just fix this shit so we can leave.”
She goes to stomp away, but before she can, I extend my hand, halting her in place.
“I’m going to fix this shit,” I say, using her words. “But my son isn’t going anywhere. So, you should get used to living in this house because unless you’re okay with leaving him here with me, you’re not going anywhere either.”
“Really?” she snaps. “Threatening the mother of your child? Such a gentleman.”
“I never claimed to be a gentleman.” I shrug. I lean in so only she can hear me, my breath tickling her ear. “And I’m pretty sure when I was fucking you from behind and you were begging me to do it harder, you were perfectly okay with that. If you were to be honest with yourself, I think you prefer it that way.”
“You’re such an asshole,” she hisses, looking me in the eye. “It seems like you’re a bit obsessed with our time together. This is the second time you’ve brought it up. Hope you have a good memory because the only way you’ll ever fuck me again is in your mind.”
She stalks off, and I can’t help but laugh.
“We’ll see about that,” I call after her, earning her middle finger.
“What the hell was that?” Brielle asks, glancing from me to Peyton, who’s now helping our son blow up a floatation device that’s shaped like a pizza. “And why is the flight attendant in our house?”
“That’s what happens when you don’t wrap it up,” Matteo says with a laugh as he saunters into the room and slides his arm across the back of Brielle’s shoulders. “Our brother here hooked up with that woman and got her pregnant.”
Brielle’s body stiffens, and Matteo drops his grin.
“Hey,” I say to her. “I’m not a woman, so I can’t possibly know what you went through …”
“It’s fine,” Brielle snaps. “It’s been years. I’m over it.”
It’s clear she’s not, but in our family, showing any kind of emotion is a weakness.
“So, she … what, kept him from you?” Brielle asks, channeling her anger toward Peyton.
“Put the claws away,” I warn.
I might be pissed about what Peyton did, but that’s between me and her. I’m not going to have my family fighting my battles for me, and if I have any chance of coexisting with her, I can’t have my sister or mom out to get her in my honor.
“She did what she thought was right,” I tell her. “The important thing is that I know now, and it would make shit easier if you could get along with her, especially since she’s not going anywhere.”
“She’s living here?” Brielle accuses, her eyes wide in shock. “What … did she find out you were worth billions and came to collect?”
“Actually, she doesn’t want a single thing from him,” Peyton says, nodding toward me. “I had no intention of telling him about Damien. But thanks to your brother stalking me when I told him to leave me alone, he found out about our son, then almost got him kidnapped. As soon as he finds the guy responsible, we’ll be out of your hair.”
Without waiting for Brielle to respond, she walks back over to Damien, taking his hand in hers and scooping up the giant pizza with her other hand, and they disappear out the back door.
“Well, that went well,” Matteo mutters.
“Anthony is after Damien,” I tell Brielle.
“What?” she gasps. “Why?”
“I think he knew you were possibly pregnant with his kid and knows Dad forced you to have an abortion.”
Her face turns white.
“He potentially lost his heir and the connections to our family. I think he was trying to find a way to get back at our family and found out I had a son at the same time I did. He sent me a text—an eye for an eye—and then tried to have Damien kidnapped.”