Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 53462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
I am so used to her being perky and happy that seeing her sick threw me. With her pale coloring and glassy, big green eyes, I wanted to pick her up and carry her to bed. I wanted to take care of her in the most primal, elemental way.
Which makes no sense to me. I take care of my daughter. Women are secondary. Or were until Mia.
I grip the steering wheel harder and force myself to concentrate on how I plan to handle Kayla, which means I am prepared when I walk into the diner and catch sight of her sitting alone at a table, drinking a cup of coffee like she doesn’t have anything to worry about except collecting her paycheck.
I stride over and settle into a seat, facing my duplicitous, smug-looking ex-wife, who sits drumming her fingertips on the table. She wears a satisfied smile on her face and a tight dress, though she has to know I am immune to anything she has or tries to offer.
“I’m so glad you called,” she practically purrs. “I knew you’d come around to my way of thinking.”
I force a smile. “I decided it was time we talk terms.”
I can see the dollar signs in her eyes and the pleasure I am about to get magnifies tenfold.
“So.” She trails her fingers across the table until she curls her hand around mine. “What are you willing to give me?”
I jerk my hand away. There are things I will not allow her to do and touching me is high on the list. “You know, I should be grateful to you, Kayla. Sounds crazy, I know, but poking holes in that condom gave me my greatest gift.”
I think of the little girl who looks more like me than her mother, with her toothless grin and happy laugh, and everything inside me eases.
Kayla nods, a satisfied grin forming on her heavily colored lips. “I’m glad you can see the upside in this situation. I have to say I’m surprised you’re being so generous with the compliments.”
Yes, I think, I am buttering her up and setting her up for the fall. And damned if I’m not enjoying every minute. “So you see, there really isn’t much I wouldn’t do in order to keep my daughter with me and… safe from you.”
She frowns at that. “I’m hardly a monster.”
“I suppose we can agree to disagree on that.”
“Excuse me,” a waitress says, coming up to the table with a pot of coffee in hand. “Can I get you something to drink before you order?” she asks. “A refill?” She glances at Kayla, who arrived first.
“No thank you,” I tell her. “Actually I won’t be ordering.”
“I’ll take a refill,” Kayla says, completely at ease with whatever is coming next.
Just the way I want her.
The waitress tops off her cup and Kayla adds her milk and Splenda, and I give her all the time she needs.
“So where were we?” she finally asks.
“Disagreeing on how to describe your personality, but that’s neither here nor there.”
“I agree. Last time you gave me a hundred grand. This time—”
“You’re not getting a penny.”
She slams her hand down, rattling the table and splattering her coffee over the top of the cup. “How do you figure? Because I know you don’t want to end up in front of a judge.”
I smile, my first genuine one since sitting down across from her. “Actually that’s exactly what I want. Because like I told you, there is very little I won’t do to protect my daughter. Starting with hiring a private investigator to look into your life, and it’s very interesting what he discovered.”
Kayla stares at him in disbelief. “I doubt there’s anything that could prevent me from getting custody.” But a tic forms at the corner of her eye, and she attempts to cover up her nerves with a shake of her dark hair over her shoulders.
I rest my arms on the table. “Think again. I’ve got photographs of your live-in boyfriend, Paul Milian, dealing drugs from your apartment. Video, too. Oh, and guess who happened to be standing right there when the transaction took place?”
Her mouth opens wide before she purses her lips in feigned annoyance. “I know nothing about that. Paul’s business is of no concern to me. You know I can get any judge to—”
“To throw your custody suit out when he finds out you’re living with a drug dealer,” I say. “Nice area you’re living in, by the way. I guess you’re that hard up for cash. Or maybe you have a habit of your own you need to support and that’s why you’re trying to blackmail me for money? Either way, you’re finished.”
Kayla’s eyes narrow, and I can see the calculations going on in her brain. “Oh, you know better than that. I don’t give up that easily.” But her hands are shaking, and I haven’t even told her the best part.