“What do you think?” The acid in my tone burned even me.
“Answer me.”
“You’ve got all the facts.” I flicked my chin in disgust toward the tablet.
She flinched. “There’s a lot of evidence.”
I shrugged as my gut churned. “Sounds like you’ve made up your mind.”
“This is serious.” She struggled out of bed and got in my face.
I refrained from pushing the loose hair from her eyes. Pretended her wearing nothing but my T-shirt didn’t get me every damn time.
Because she was just like everyone else when I believed she was different.
“How could you do this to us? After all we’ve given you, Patrick.”
“Dad, you can’t believe I’d do—”
“There is evidence that puts you there. Proof. What do you have to say?”
“That I’m innocent. That I would never, ever hurt anyone like what was done to—”
“Quiet. You’ve brought shame on our family, on our name. You won’t say another word. You are no longer my son.”
“But, Dad, I didn’t do it.”
“Don’t ever show your face near your family again. You’re dead to me. To us.”
And now Marlow didn’t believe me. In me.
“It is serious.”
The expression on her face begged me not to make the article true. There was a mix of doubt and anger in every line. The anger, I wasn’t sure if it was at me or the article, maybe both. The doubt? It nearly killed me.
“You have nothing to say for yourself?”
“Do you think I did it?”
“I don’t want to.”
“But you do.”
She looked away before meeting my eyes. “I—”
She did. The person I’d opened up to more than anyone else. The one I’d stood behind, no matter what she did . . . and she didn’t have any faith in me. That was the death blow.
I pulled up my exterior walls and shut down every emotion that threatened to take me out. She didn’t believe me. She didn’t get to see how much that hurt.
“This arrangement isn’t going to work for me. We will have an agreement regarding our daughter, but this time you were right. We should only communicate through our lawyers.”
I ignored the pain those words caused me. But I couldn’t do this. Especially when she didn’t have faith in me. I was sure the article was damning. And I hadn’t attempted to tell my side. Because I wanted her unconditional belief in me. Now I just needed something concrete to make sure I could have Gummy in my life.
Her face crumpled. “Give me my son.”
I held him close. Fuck. I couldn’t give him up.
“Give him to me now.” Mama bear had come out to play.
I could’ve answered her questions and put the brakes on her leaving. But she. Didn’t. Believe. Me. “That’s all it takes to run you off?”
“Is that what you’re doing?” She gripped Blake. I had no choice but to hand him over.
“You weren’t sticking around anyway.” I shoved my empty hands in my pockets. “Just go.”
She was the one I wanted to believe in me no matter what.
It was too much to ask. Nobody ever would. Apparently, the past was out, and I had no one to stand at my side.
No one whose automatic conclusion wasn’t guilty.
Marlow stared at me. “You aren’t who I thought you were.”
“Likewise.” I loosened my tie and headed toward the closet. “Happy now? You get to go back to that tomb you call a home.” Her gasp was so sharp, I had to turn around to see the damage I’d done. “Truth hurts, doesn’t it?”
“Why did you do it?” she asked my back.
“Rape that little girl?” The words were poison as they came out, burning my throat and my mouth. “Didn’t you accuse me of being an opportunist?”
“I meant the calls, the beach, all of it.”
I faced her. Was she truly trying to kill me? She thought the worst of me. I’d give her the worst, even if it was lie. “Because your father asked me to.”
Her features twisted in pain before they hardened. A small thrill of victory bolted through me that just maybe she felt a fraction of the hurt she’d caused me.
She looked down as if only now realizing her legs were bare. Placing Blake on the bed, she swiped a pair of sweatpants off the floor and tugged them on.
I couldn’t stop watching. When she caught me, she paused. “You made me love you.” Her mouth flattened into a bitter line. “Guess I deserve this for not learning my lesson the first time.”
She loves me?
The words I’d wanted finally came, but they were hollow. A lie. If she loved me she wouldn’t have asked if I’d done what they accused me of. She’d know the truth because she knew me.
“My attorney will be in touch.” I didn’t have a fucking lawyer, but I needed one ASAP and it had nothing to do with Marlow.
“Is this why your family has nothing to do with you?” She hesitated in the doorway, almost as if memorizing the room.
“Does it matter?”
When she walked out, my anger deflated, replaced by a sense of loss. I hadn’t even kissed Blake goodbye. Hell, I had no idea when I’d see either of them again. Two seconds ago, I thought I didn’t care if I ever laid eyes on Wicked again. Now, I knew otherwise. And the ache deepened.
I picked up a decorative glass ball from the nightstand and hurled it against the wall. The shatter was satisfying. Anything I could find, I heaved at the wall until a hole formed in the sheetrock.
I ripped the lamp from the electrical socket and smashed it into a stud. I flipped over the chair, both nightstands, ripped the covers off the bed, a tornado of angst and turmoil until I collapsed to the floor.
I buried my head in my hands. Cursed the wetness that coated my palms. The nightmare was just beginning.
For me. For Terra Blunt.
For Gummy.
With this latest round of shit, a court may not grant me any kind of custody. That was the only reason I dug my phone out of
