Holden’s Resurrection
Gemini Group
Riley Edwards
Holden’s Resurrection
Gemini Group 6
Riley Edwards
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Copyright © 2020 by Riley Edwards
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Cover design: Lori Jackson Designs
Written by: Riley Edwards
Published by: Riley Edwards/Rebels Romance
Edited by: Rebecca Hodgkins
Proofreader: Julie Deaton, Rebecca Kendall
Holden’s Resurrection
ISBN:978-19515670-9-5
First edition: October 27, 2020
Copyright © 2020 Riley Edwards
All rights reserved
To my family - my team – my tribe.
This is for you.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Also by Riley Edwards
Be A Rebel
1
“Seriously?” McKenna Swagger glanced over her shoulder and narrowed her eyes. “But, you just moved here.”
I’d thought a lot about why I’d moved to Maryland. When I was packing up my house in Virginia Beach, I’d had a hundred reasons why I wanted to leave. But only two of them were true. The rest of them I’d made up to make myself feel better for uprooting my daughter to chase some fantasy that Holden Stanford and I could finally get back what we always should’ve had.
That wasn’t going to happen.
Holden made it painfully clear the last time I saw him. That’d been a month ago.
My gaze moved to the kitchen table where my daughter, Faith, sat, and my heart constricted.
Another move.
Another change.
Not that she remembered all the upheaval after her father had died. As a matter of fact, she didn’t know Paul. He died while I was pregnant with her. I’d buried my husband and a week later found myself alone in the hospital giving birth.
Not that my parents hadn’t offered to be in the room. My mom was pissed when I told her I didn’t want anyone with me and complained that all her friends had been in the delivery room with their daughters and even daughters-in-law, so I was making her look bad. Paul’s mom wasn’t pissed—she didn’t bother to come to the hospital and neither did his sister. It was no surprise they hadn’t shown. They’d hated me from the start.
“It won’t be until summer, I can’t move now in the middle of the school year,” I explained.
“Charleigh—”
The doorbell cut McKenna off.
“I’ll get it.” Faith jumped up from the table.
“No, sweets. Let me get it.”
Without argument, she sat back down and picked up the marker she’d abandoned and resumed coloring. That was my kid, always polite, never back-talked, rarely complained. And as strange as it made me, I hated it. It was almost as if she knew that since her birth, I’d been on the edge of a nervous breakdown and she didn’t want to push me off the cliff. Even as an infant she’d been perfect.
“It’s my landlord. I’ll be right back,” I told Micky and swiped the invoice the furnace guy had left earlier that day before I headed toward the stairs.
When I moved to Kent County, Maryland, I rented an apartment above a real estate office in what the locals called the “downtown” area. It didn’t resemble any downtown area I’d ever seen in the city. It was quaint. Historic. Quiet. In another life, it would’ve been the perfect place to live. Hell, six months ago when I moved here, I thought this was where I’d stay and raise Faith.
Now, I knew I needed to leave.
I was weak. I couldn’t face Holden. Actually, I wasn’t facing Holden at all because he was avoiding me.
I opened the door expecting Mr. Travers. However, the man standing in front of me was most certainly not my sixty-five-year-old landlord.
“May I help you?” I asked, and not for the first time wished I had a peephole or a window in my front door.
“Charlotte Towler?”
It had been so long since someone had used my given name it took me a moment to answer.
“Yes. May I—”
“You’ve been served.” The man shoved a large envelope at me, leaving me with no option but to take it or watch it fall to the ground.
“Served?”
“Have a good day.”
The man strode off without another word.
Served?
What the hell?
I stepped back into the small entryway and closed the door.
The outside of the manila envelope was blank. I opened the clasp and shook out the documents. My blood iced in my veins.
Son of a bitch.
Son of a stupid, mean, hateful bitch.
NOTICE OF REQUEST FOR VIRGINIA REGISTRATION OF A CHILD CUSTODY AND/OR VISITATION DETERMINATION FROM ANOTHER STATE.
That bitch.
I quickly scanned the first page. Paul’s mother, Beatrice, was named as the requesting party, and Paul’s sister, Patricia, was named as the other interested person. I flipped to the next page and the thick layer of ice that had formed around my heart cracked until more anger than I’d ever known invaded it.
Freaking bitch.
I dashed upstairs, found my phone, and looked at Micky.
“I have to make a quick call. Will you keep an eye on Faith?”
“Of course I will. Is everything okay?”
“No. Please make sure she doesn’t go upstairs.”
Micky’s face softened and concern washed over her pretty face. I’d always liked Nixon Swagger. At one time, he’d been a good friend, then everything went to shit with Holden. After that, I made a series of bad choices—though Faith had come from one of those choices, so I couldn’t regret all the decisions I’d made. But, those decisions had put Nixon, along with Jameson, Weston, and Chasin right in the middle of a
