Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 141951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 710(@200wpm)___ 568(@250wpm)___ 473(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 141951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 710(@200wpm)___ 568(@250wpm)___ 473(@300wpm)
Stopping his heart in an instant.
She didn’t give him the chance to speak, and restarted the organ in his chest, when she continued on, saying, “But I’ve also been bleeding all day, and not feeling great, so … Anyway, Gracen convinced me to make a trip in. Malachi drove. He doesn’t know.”
His mind blanked.
Just … gone.
Nothing really seemed important to Lucas, not even the dinner he was already late to and would need to get through lest he drag on the communication with his father and Ronald’s irritating lawyer. Not a good option. The dinner, and the papers he had to sign during it, seemed so insignificant compared to the achy sadness in Delaney’s voice.
That killed him.
“I’ll be there before you lay your head down tonight,” Lucas promised. “Are they keeping you there at the hospital, do you think?”
“You don’t have to make the trip here tonight,” Delaney argued. “That’s a four-hour drive, Lucas.”
“Are they keeping you at the hospital tonight?”
“Well …”
“What, Delaney?”
“I don’t really know? Probably not, but I’m not sure. I haven’t even seen the doctor yet, and honestly, I barely want to stay because my mother is doing patient intake for the ER. Really could have done without that tonight, you know?”
Lucas couldn’t imagine how bad Delaney’s day had gone for her thus far. He would try to make it marginally better.
“Call me when you do know. Anything at all, Delaney, do you hear me?”
“Yeah, okay. I will,” she assured. “That’s a long drive, Lucas. I’m serious. You don’t have to come rushing here tonight. It’s … if it’s a pregnancy and I’m losing it, it’s really early, and—”
She shouldn’t have to do it alone.
She wouldn’t.
“Either way, I’m coming home. I just want to know where the fuck I need to find you.”
*
Lucas joined the table situated in the very middle of the large dining room—a purposeful spot that he believed the lawyers had pre-chosen before arrival to keep the Dalton men polite and cordial during dinner—with an apology for being late. The unconcerned wave of two of the three men at the table didn’t seem too bad.
Ronald, on the other hand, followed Lucas with his gaze until he took his seat directly across from his father at the table. “Couldn’t imagine what’s more important than twelve and a half million dollars.”
Lucas, more interested in the menu in front of him than the man trying to poke at his raw nerve, responded only, “Everybody has different priorities, Ronald.”
He’d dropped the dad bit altogether.
Lucas wouldn’t even call Ronald his father after today.
Chandler, the man Ronald paid a nice hourly fee to put up with his bullshit on the legal side of things, seemed to pick up on the fast-rising tension between the father and son at the table. He stepped in to divert Ronald’s attention away from Lucas for a moment by pointing at something on the menu that the two began to discuss.
On his side, Lucas turned to his lawyer.
“Can we reschedule breakfast tomorrow?” Lucas asked Lawrence under his breath. “Something came up earlier that I will need to handle once we’re finished here.”
He didn’t feel comfortable sharing the circumstances that led him to cancel the breakfast. Those details felt a little too personal and close to his heart. Maybe at a different place and table, Lucas might have felt safe to give Lawrence the insight, but …
“Your phone call?” the lawyer asked back.
Lucas nodded subtly. “I’ll be heading upriver for a bit. Breakfast was all semantics, anyway, right?”
“Celebratory based on tonight, really,” Lawrence replied, smirking. “It’s fine. We can go over everything and what to expect with the incoming transfers into your accounts over the phone. It didn’t have to be over a meal, Lucas.”
“Great. My phone is always on if you call, anyway.”
“Good to know he answers someone’s calls,” came the comment from across the table.
Even the lawyer beside Lucas heard the snideness from Ronald.
“Is there a reason I need to answer a call from you?” Lucas asked the prick across the way.
Ronald opened his mouth to respond, but promptly snapped his jaws closed when a bubbly redhead sidled up to their table with a wide smile plastered on her face. If the server could tell she came to the wrong table, the woman didn’t make it known. That, or she was terribly good at her job.
Either way, Lucas planned to leave her a decent tip.
“Are we ready to get a start on the first course?” the redhead asked. Her green gaze turned on Lucas. “My name’s Marley, by the way. You weren’t here earlier when I introduced myself.”
Lucas smiled at the server. “Nice to meet you, Marley. I’ll take the special, medium-rare. Sour cream on the side, and not on my potatoes. Nothing to follow or for dessert. And no beer, thank you.”
“You better drink something,” Ronald interjected before the server could confirm she had understood Lucas’ order. “Nobody signs paperwork without a drink to make it official—come on.”