Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 110694 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 553(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110694 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 553(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
He still thought we were getting married. I wanted to hug him and tell him how sorry I was, but I wouldn’t. I wasn’t done yet. He was about to change his mind.
“He saw Stevie. He was suspicious and refused to sign the papers until he had a paternity test done. When he got the results, he used the divorce as leverage. He would sign them, but only after Stevie and I lived with him for a year.”
“WHAT?!” Hudson shouted, his face turning red now.
I’d never heard him raise his voice, and I stiffened but continued, “He doesn’t want to be married to me, but he wants to get to know his daughter. He feels robbed of the four years of her life he missed.”
“Like fuck! He can’t blackmail you, Branwen. He’s manipulating you. I’ll call my lawyer, and we will go see him today.”
“Hudson, no,” I said, shaking my head. “You can’t.”
He stared at me, his brows drawn together, his face was flushed. “Why? Do you want this?” he asked, looking anguished.
“Of course not. But you don’t know him. He can demand it, and if you try and stop him, you won’t only fail, but you’ll also be putting yourself in danger.”
“Danger?” He spat the word like it was ludicrous. “I have the best lawyers in Nashville. I sure as hell can stop him. This isn’t legal, Branwen.”
“Trust me when I tell you that even your lawyers can’t fight him. He has power. A lot of it. That power goes to very high places.”
He shook his head. “No one is above the law.”
“He is.”
Hudson let out a hard laugh. “He has you brainwashed. You don’t know this man. You met him and fucked him one time. He can’t—”
“That’s not the truth either. I do know him. He just didn’t know me.”
Hudson’s eyes narrowed. “What does that mean? Is he famous? Are you married to a celebrity?”
I let out a hard laugh. “No. He’s not famous. It’s just that he hadn’t seen me as an adult. He didn’t recognize me.”
“You’re going to need to give me more than that. If he isn’t a celebrity or the fucking president, then he doesn’t have any power that is greater than a court.”
Yes, he did. Should I tell him? Admit it so that he would back down? Letting him try and fight Linc on this would likely get him killed. I’d have to live with that, and I wasn’t sure I could.
I knew you didn’t share details about the family if you were in the know. You kept that secret close. Only those they chose to tell knew about who and what they were. But this was Hudson’s life I was considering here.
“Hudson,” I said, and he stopped the pacing he had started up again, “he is a dangerous man. And when I say that, I mean Godfather-level dangerous. You can’t fight him. Those who try…” I stopped. Saying the word die seemed dramatic, although it was true.
“Godfather?” he asked, scowling like he didn’t believe it. “He’s not the Mafia, Branwen. Is he a felon? If he is a criminal, then we’ll have even more leverage in court.”
“Stop. There will be no court. I will not allow it. I won’t do it.”
His face was a mix of disbelief and pain. He looked betrayed. I’d expected this though, hadn’t I? It was why I’d dreaded coming here. Facing him. Telling him all this.
“Why are you so scared of him? You expect me to just let you go live in a house with a man you are that terrified of? I can’t do that.”
He didn’t mention Stevie. Just me. Had he always done that, and I hadn’t noticed? I tried to think back to other decisions and plans we had made. Did he always just talk about me and him? Or had he mentioned Stevie? Would I have missed that when my world revolved around her? His concern was for me, and he hadn’t even brought her up or asked where she was right now. He wasn’t worried about her.
Linc was.
I was doing what was best for her.
“Stevie wants to know him. She wants us to live there for a year. She deserves to know her father.”
“The one you are so scared of that you are afraid of us taking this to court? That father? Because he sounds like a psycho. Not all parents are worthy of knowing their kids.”
My face felt hot, and I clenched my fists until I felt my nails biting into my palms. “He isn’t a psycho. He would kill for her. He is already completely taken with her, and she is with him too.”
“You said kill like it’s a good thing, Branwen. What has gotten into you? You were gone for three days, and I feel like I am talking to a completely different person.”