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)
“Cat?” he asks, sounding surprised.
“I have a problem. I need you and Gabe.”
“I don’t remember the last time you said that to me. Are you okay?”
“Yes, but I need you. Now. Here at my place, as soon as possible.”
He’s silent a beat. “I’ll cancel my evening meeting. I’ll be there. I’ll bring Gabe. Whatever it is, it’ll be okay.”
“Did you, Reid Maxwell, just comfort me?”
“I’m your brother,” he says and hangs up.
Tears burn my eyes as I hand the phone back to Reese. “He’s coming.”
Reese takes the phone and swipes tears from my eyes. “I heard what he said. He loves you.”
I nod. “I guess,” I say. “And Royce? Is he here?”
“Downstairs waiting on us,” he says, angling in my direction. “But I needed to talk to you first. Everything is you first, Cat.”
I grab his hand. “Stop, Reese. Stop acting like we’re delicate. We’re not. She’s a bitch and we’re going to beat her. Let’s figure out how.”
He stares at me a few beats and then laughs. “She’s a bitch and we’re going to beat her?”
“Yes.”
He leans in and kisses me. “That’s my Cat. And yes, to both.”
“Good,” I say. “Will she go public?”
“She’s crazy. She’s capable of anything which is why Royce is having Savage shadow you unless you’d prefer someone else?”
“Savage is funny,” I say. “And I get the idea he wouldn’t mind killing someone just because it felt good, and he’d consider that loyalty, so right about now, that works for me.”
“Savage it is,” he says.
“What about you?”
“What about me?”
“Will someone be with you?”
“Yes,” he says, “and not because I want protection, but because there are too many people around me at all times who could get caught in the crossfire.”
“And with a gun?” I ask urgently.
He pulls me closer. “If I’m dead, she can’t extort me, but that’s why I’m worried about everyone else.”
“What about Dana?” I ask. “If this goes public, she could freak out.”
“I’m going to call her this evening after we have a plan. I’d rather talk to her in person, but the press will make that challenging.”
“What about the police? Do we talk to the police?” I shake my head. “Never mind. She hasn’t broken a law yet. She hasn’t asked for anything.”
“She did. She told you if I didn’t contact her, she’d go to the press. Royce wants me to talk to the police, too, but after we all talk. Him, you, me, Cole and Lori.”
“Do we know who the real father of the baby is?” I ask.
“Royce is working on it, but that could take time.”
“I go back and forth between the need to keep her quiet, and the need to just beat her to the punch and expose her in my column.”
“I don’t want you affected,” he says. “If I have to pay her off—”
“No,” I say, a sharp pang of emotion in my chest jolting me. “No, you will not pay her off.” I try to get up and he holds on to me. “Let me up.”
“Cat—”
“Paying her off feels like guilt.”
“It’s not about guilt, you know that.”
“Paying her off feels like guilt and admission of owning that child’s future for the rest of our lives, and her with it.”
“It’s about protecting the firm.”
“And she knows that. She picked now, while you’re in the middle of this trial, for a reason. Not only do you need her silence, you can’t demand a DNA test now without endangering the child.”
“But I can demand it as part of the settlement and I will, Cat. I shut up her up now with money she can keep even after the test. It’s about protecting everyone else, including you, but damn it, Cat, I’m not guilty.”
“I know.”
“You don’t,” he says, his voice hard now. “I feel that in you now.” He squeezes his eyes shut. “Damn it.”
“I trust you, Reese, but the idea that other people might not, feels weird which is probably why I just want to do it myself and write about it. It’s about control. I’d have some kind of control I don’t have right now but it’s not your fault. I don’t want her to punish you through me.”
“She is. She most definitely is.”
“No,” I say. “Pay her off. Your career matters.”
He lowers me to the couch, and comes down on top of me, like he needs to hold me in place to keep me from running. “You matter. Only you.”
“Your career matters,” I say. “It matters to you and me. It matters to us and our future. It matters to our future family. Pay her off.”
“Our family?”
“Yes. Our family, Reese. We want one. Don’t we?”
“Yes, sweetheart. We do.”
“Then let’s go downstairs and end this.”
“Not yet,” he says. “I’m not ready. We’re not ready.”
“We are ready. We’re strong together. We need to show that strength now.”
“You’re strong,” he says. “So damn strong, Cat, and I swore when you said ‘I do’ I’d keep you from having to be that strong. I’m supposed to protect you.”