Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 72765 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 364(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72765 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 364(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
“I want to believe you, Bennett. I do. But it’s going to take more than that …”
He’s pacing now.
“You told me you and Larissa were never close,” I say.
“Right.”
“So why would she leave you her daughter?”
“Million-dollar question.” He stops pacing, arms folded. “I’ve been asking myself the same thing the last several weeks.”
“No, I mean … from a logical perspective, it would seem like … she’d leave Honor to you because … she’s yours.”
His eyes narrow. “Nothing Larissa ever did was logical. I’m still trying to figure out what the hell she was thinking screwing Errol. None of it makes sense. Only thing I can think of is that the bastard was grooming her. Knew she was vulnerable. Used it to his advantage.”
He hunches over the island, fists tightened, jaw clenched.
“I’m guessing you didn’t read the entire transcript, because had you read them, you’d have seen several instances where Errol referenced Beth,” Bennett says.
I exhale.
He’s right. I didn’t read them all.
I only read enough to realize what they were, and then I got the hell out of there before I got sick again.
“How did you get those texts?” I ask.
“When Larissa was twenty, I got her a cell phone. She was always getting into trouble, never could pay the bill on the one she had. I wanted to make sure she would always have a way to reach me no matter what, that she had a phone that would never be shut off.” He pauses. “I stopped bailing her out after a while. Stopped taking her calls. But I kept paying the bill.” He pauses. “Took some digging, but we managed to have the carrier dig up several years’ worth of texts between Larissa and Errol.”
“So why do you have them?”
“Because my mother is threatening to have my brother file a paternity suit.”
“Your brother wants custody?”
“He wants legal custody—which he then will relinquish so she’ll go back into the system.” He shakes his head. “To them, Honor is a black mark on our family name. A human stain. They want to pretend she doesn’t exist. Me adopting her prevents them from doing that.”
“He can’t do that, can he?” I ask. “He can’t just … step in and take over after all this time.”
“Talked to my attorney. He seemed to think the odds were against me in this one,” he says. “Which is why I have the transcripts. I have proof Errol knew of Honor’s existence and made it clear he wanted nothing to do with her. It also paints a pretty vivid picture of the abusive dynamics of their relationship. If you can call it that.”
“So … why does Beth think Honor is yours?”
“Beth is snowed. Errol and my mother have her convinced that Honor’s mine because she clearly looks like a Schoenbach and if she knew the truth, their marriage would be over and they’d lose the baby they’re in the process of adopting. Too much on the line.”
“She wouldn’t wonder why he’s suing for custody?”
“They’d keep her out of the loop. It’s not hard. Lying is what my mother and Errol do best. They’ve got it down to a science.”
“Maybe she already knows.”
“What do you mean?” he asks.
“She made this comment … that Schoenbach men ruin their women. Something about how she can’t stay but she can’t leave. And then she got all emotional.”
He rolls his eyes. “Beth has a taste for the finer things in life. Errol is her ticket to that. I don’t discount the chance that she knows of his philandering ways. I highly doubt Larissa was the first woman he fucked that wasn’t his wife… And he’s been begging to start a family for years. Beth doesn’t want kids. But she wants to stay a Schoenbach. She’ll be miserable if she stays. Miserable if she goes.”
“All of these things would’ve been nice to know …”
His lips press flat. “I was trying to keep you out of this. Spare you the family drama.”
I drag in a jagged breath and move closer to him. Lifting my hand, I cup the side of his cheek.
My gut is telling me to believe him. My heart too.
“I’ll take a DNA test,” he offers. “I’ll do whatever I need to do for you to believe me. I would never …”
I silence him with a slow kiss. “I know.”
Wrapping my arms over his broad shoulders, I pull him against me, and I hold him.
Sometimes all you can do for someone is to be there.
“I won’t let him take her,” he whispers.
“I know you won’t.”
“And when this is over, I’m going to kill him. I’m going to murder that bastard.”
I smirk. “No, you won’t.”
“By the time I’m through, he’ll wish he were dead.”
42
Bennett
“I ran out for donuts. Pink with white sprinkles.” Astaire balances a cardboard box in her hand Saturday morning before placing it next to the bouquet of flowers.