Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 138522 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 554(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138522 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 554(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
“And then?”
“And then, suddenly, she was pregnant. It wasn’t our plan but I was happy. I wanted a family. I wanted the two kids and two dogs and a damn cat. I embraced the fuck out of it. I took care of her while she threw up. I was there for the first sonogram. I was there for every fucking thing until I wasn’t.” My voice radiates with anger I didn’t know I still felt, but talking about this cuts me, fresh blood seeping into the story of my life.
“What happened?” she prods.
And then what—
This is where the real story begins.
Chapter eighty-six
Gabe
Idon’t hesitate to continue. I’ve committed. I’m telling this story my way before my father tells it his way.
“The baby wasn’t mine. It was my best friend, Mike’s baby.”
The blood drains from Abbie’s face. She swallows hard. “How did you find out?”
“Mike worked with us at my father’s firm. They were working late and they thought that I’d left for a meeting. I hadn’t. I went looking for Kendall to tell her it was cancelled and to take her to dinner. Instead, I overheard them talking. Mike had apparently made some bad financial decisions while she’d managed to forget to take a few pills and get pregnant. They knew it wasn’t mine, because it was timed during a trip I’d taken with a client out of the country. A two-month-long trip to Japan. I listened as they decided that she’d go through with marrying me, even convince me to elope. Then she’d take a chunk of my money in a dirty divorce. They’d then raise the kid on my money.”
“Oh God. This all makes sense now. That’s why you—that’s why—”
“Yes. That’s why I got snipped. So no other woman could use my damn babymakers as a weapon against me.”
“I would never—”
“I know that, Abbie, but I didn’t plan on meeting you. I didn’t plan on wanting a woman beyond a fast fuck ever again.” I don’t give her time to ask questions. I go on. “And I know you know I’m not done yet. You know that’s not where the story ends.”
“You made her pay,” she assumes.
“I did what your ex did to people who crossed him, Abbie.”
She stiffens ever so slightly but she doesn’t pull away. “What does that mean?”
“I wanted revenge. I’m not proud of that, but I did.”
“You hurt them.”
“Yes.”
“How?” she presses.
“Do the details matter?”
“Yes,” she says. “I believe they do or—” Her brows dip. “Where is Kendall now?”
“I don’t know and I don’t care.”
“And the baby?” she asks.
“A teenager in a fancy prep school.”
“And Mike?”
“He’s dead, Abbie. My ex-best friend is dead.” I stand up and turn to face her. Dexter scoots closer to her, nudges her hand to pet him, letting her know that he’s there for her. The way I want to be there for her.
“Tell me,” she orders softly.
“I wanted revenge. I’m not proud of that but I did. I called the one person I knew would know how to make that happen.”
“Your father.”
“Yes, and I told him that I wanted Mike ruined. I didn’t give him limits.”
“Did you know what that meant with your father at the time?” she surprises me by asking.
“No. I didn’t know what that meant with my father at the time, but I damn sure do now.”
“What did he do?”
“It didn’t take much. I had no idea that Mike’s family was into some shady shit. My father made sure it went public. They lost everything and Mike killed himself.”
She covers her mouth on a gasp. “You didn’t do that to him. You didn’t—”
“I ordered the ruin of a man and he killed himself, Abbie. Don’t even think about softening that blow.”
“And Kendall? What did your dad do to her?”
“He didn’t. That was all me. I ruined her myself. We’d had some issues over ethics violations she refused to see as an issue. I made sure they were exposed. She was disbarred. She gave birth and put the baby up for adoption.”
She stares up at me, seconds ticking by. “Where’s the baby now?”
“He’s a teenager who was adopted by a good family. Word is that he may well end up in an Ivy League school.”
“Which you know because you helped him.”
“I know because I’m the one who stole his parents from him.”
She stands up and walks toward me, closing the few steps between us. “Because you helped him. Because you look out for him.”
“A child will never know his mother or father because of me.”
“Stop making yourself into a monster.”
“Stop making me into a hero who helped a child that only needed help because of what I did.”
“His parents were corrupt, Gabe. And what you did wasn’t kind, but you didn’t kill anyone. You didn’t set Mike’s family up and make it look like they did things they didn’t do. That’s what Kenneth would have done and from what you tell me, that’s what your father would have done. And that angers me. You were young. You took guidance from your father. He could have taught you to move on, but he didn’t do that.”