She nodded, gritting her teeth.
“We will tell everyone the child is mine. We tried a…reconciliation we hoped would work.”
She goggled. The only word for it. “Are you out of your mind?”
“There is nothing wrong with my mind. I have been over this from every angle and discussed it thoroughly with Rod. I will allow this child to have my name and share equally in my estate. The public would expect it.”
The public. Of course.
“You will say nothing of this to anyone,” he told her. “For the next few months you will be the loving, dutiful wife I always hoped you’d be, sharing with me the joy of the coming birth.”
“As if anyone would believe you wanted another child.”
He held up a hand. “Please. It will be up to you to make them believe it.”
“And if I say no? What possible advantage would this be to me?”
“If you don’t agree, I will countersue for divorce. Some proceedings can be dragged out for a long time. And while that’s going on I’ll have you declared an unfit mother and the twins will be removed from your care and custody.”
For a terrifying moment she was afraid she’d faint. “Un-Unfit? But you can’t—”
“Of course I can. Rod is prepared to parade a number of witnesses who will testify to your inability to care for your children. How you leave them for hours to pursue your own pleasures. How I was forced to hire a housekeeper because I feared for their welfare. How I—”
“Stop!” She pressed her hands to her temples. “Those are all lies. Every one of them.”
“Are they?” His features settled into a smug expression. “Who will argue against them? Your little friend Claire? Your support circle is very small, Julia, while mine is large and powerful.”
“You can’t do that,” she whispered. But she knew he could. She’d heard of so many situations where people lost everything, from their families, to their businesses, to their lives because people richer and stronger and more influential pulled the right strings. Right now, she barely had the strength to get from one day to the next, never mind fight a battle she would probably lose. People in Charles’s circle never lost anything.
“No? It happens all the time. Watch television. Look on the Internet. Read the newspapers. Push me and you’ll find out.” He fiddled with the sheet. “When we married you told me more than anything you wanted a stable home and financial security. I gave you that and you made a mockery of it.”
“You made a mockery of our marriage,” she cried.
“Quiet. There’s no need to broadcast this all over the floor. So...” He paused. “You will still have that security you wanted, only under certain terms.”
“Such as?” She was afraid to even ask.
He paused to steady himself with some deep breaths. “This man, whoever he is, will never become a part of your life again. Ever. That’s not negotiable. It would pain me greatly to think as soon as my body was cold, you’d be running off to a love nest.”
“And how will you insure that, you bastard?” Luke!
“I discussed this at length with Rod McGuire. He’ll serve as my executor. He has sealed instructions to follow if you break your promise. He will activate the charge of unfit mother and have my parents sue for custody of the twins.”
“Your parents? I don’t see them as having two children invading the discipline of their lives.”
“They don’t have to. They will immediately ship them off to boarding school.”
“Boarding— What? Are you serious?”
“He’ll have all those witnesses lined up, ready to go at any time. You will only see the children for limited amounts of time each year.”
Her heart was galloping. Lose her children? “I’ll fight you.”
He waved a hand at her. “Feel free. But it’s a long and expensive process. Under these circumstances, your financial settlement would be null and void so you’d be penniless before long. And of course unable to provide a suitable environment for the children. As I pointed out to you many times Julia, power and money control the game. Nobody fucks with me and gets away with it.”
Julia thought she would faint. This was worse than a nightmare.
“I also plan to leave a letter to be delivered to Andrew and Elizabeth detailing exactly what kind of woman their mother is. Instead of staying home taking care of them, she was out whoring in some man’s bed.”
“But you don’t even know who he is.”
“It doesn’t matter. I don’t want to know.” He twisted his lips in a caricature of a smile. “And don’t think the future holds any hope for you. Whore. Rod has promised me any man who tries to make a place in your life he’ll methodically destroy. We have the resources to do it. A word to the man’s employer. Clients. Friends. Again, the power of money and influence. I hope it was all worth it, Julia.”
“God, you are the cruelest man I know.” She felt sick and shaken.
“Cruel? You call me cruel? You’re the one who ran off to another man’s bed.”
She curled her hands into fists, fighting for control. “If it weren’t for the twins, I’d tell you to go to hell, heart condition or not. But I won’t put their security with me in danger. They love me, the only parent who has shown them affection, regardless of what your lying friends might say. I will not jeopardize that.”
“Well, Julia, those are my terms. Take them or leave them.”
The most important thing was the children, all of them, including Luke’s child. She must safeguard its future no matter what it cost her. And she could not put her children through a public scandal.
“I’m waiting, Julia.”
She nodded. “You win. Now excuse me so I can throw up.”
Chapter 12
Bringing Charles home was the easy part. The mechanics of preparing the den for him, of arranging for home health care, of listening to instructions from Rombauer were accomplished with a minimal amount
