“Has Mrs. Boyd gone to visit her family or something?” She asks this because the only time she is away for longer than twelve hours is if she’s visiting her mother.
I shrug my shoulders, trying to keep my cool, but before I can speak, Arianna steps forward and continues.
“Please forgive me now for overhearing your argument.” She swallows hard and I stare at her. “I was up late emailing my son a few things for school when I heard it and I shouldn’t have listened—I know I should have tried to ignore it—but I couldn’t help it. I heard her slam the door and she hasn’t been home since and—”
I hold up a hand, shaking my head and sighing exasperatedly. Tears have filled her eyes, her face turning a hot shade of read.
“Arianna, everything is okay. Colette, I’m sure, is fine. She just needs some space right now. You know how she is.”
Swiping at her tears, she nods rapidly. She stands by the door awkwardly for a moment as I force a smile at her.
And then, in a swift manner, she rushes across the room and around my desk—something she has never, ever done before—and hugs me tightly as I sit in my chair.
I freeze for a moment, taken completely off guard, but I can’t deny the fact that it feels comforting.
To have someone who understands. Someone who cares.
Fuck, she’s making me miss Mom, but I can’t go and see her. Not in her state. She’s too sick, and it will fucking kill me.
I pat Arianna’s arm and press my lips to form a crooked smile as she rapidly pulls away. “Thanks, Ari.”
“I just want you to know that even though I would never encourage it, I understand why you did it. I do think you should make sure Mrs. Boyd is really okay.”
She steps around the desk and walks out without looking back. I stare in the direction she took off in, even when she’s been long gone for minutes.
When I finally pull my shit together, it’s only because my phone is ringing, and the name on the screen is the last fucking name I want to see.
Gabriel Adams.
I ignore the call, and continue with what I was doing before Arianna came in. Contacting Gabriel’s boss—his firm—and letting them all know about his lies. His deceit.
As a client of his, I trusted him to protect my confidentially, but after talking with Angelina, I see that he not only has been lying to my face, but also that he lied to me about some things with the contract.
Yes, she tried to trap me into the whole thing, but if he would have had me sign the new contract it would have been false theorizing their contract and their company. It would have put my business in jeopardy.
I found this out through Kelly, who has a brother who just so happens to be an attorney in Texas. He gave his brother a call and his brother told me everything wrong with the picture.
The Clarks could have sued me if they read over the revisions, and I’m more than certain Gabriel knew that. And like a pride-ridden fool wanting to come out on top, I almost fell for his horseshit.
He wants me to fail.
He wants me to so that my contract can be revoked from Jenkins, Colette can leave, and then I’m left with nothing. Flat broke and on my ass again.
He wants to be Colette’s hero—her fucking Superman. The one to save the fucking day when all hell breaks loose.
Not this time, motherfucker.
No wonder he can’t seem to find a loophole in the contract Jenkins wrote up. He doesn’t want to find one for me. He isn’t helping me. He has never been. He’s trying to commit homicide against me—poison me with lies and betrayal slowly but surely.
Though this is all true, I guess I can see some positives in this. Just because Gabriel can’t find a loophole doesn’t mean that I can’t hire another lawyer who can.
There is still hope—still a chance for me to make it out of this contract alive, well, and still with my business and my money. There may be repercussions, consequences, but as long as I have everything I worked so hard for, I’ll do and give whatever it takes.
I just want to be free again.
I need to find my way out.
And none of that will happen if Colette doesn’t work towards the same goal.
Ultimate freedom.
* * *
I have called Colette over and over again.
Still nothing. It’s 2 AM, my body and mind are exhausted, but I don’t think I can sleep until I know where she is.
I push out of my chair, walking downstairs to the kitchen and preparing a cup of coffee.
My finger scrolls across the screen of my cellphone as I go through my emails. There’s one is from Gabriel.
Fuck him.
He’s probably trying to let me know the contract he wrote up is finally ready. He’ll see why I’ve been ignoring him when the firm fires his traitorous ass.
There is another email from Quarter. Nothing major. They just need a few updated reports.
And then there is one that makes me completely freeze up, nearly dropping the pot of coffee just as I grab it.
Fortunately I steady the carafe on the counter before whirling around and reading the email word for word. It was sent earlier, around 6 PM.
It’s from Beth, Colette’s sister.
Beth Jenkins: She doesn’t know I’ve emailed you, but Colette is in Tampa with me. She’s fine. Don’t worry. But she’s told me everything. I can’t believe I’m even saying this to you, considering she’s always the one I want to blame, but I am so disappointed in you.
I thought you were better than this, Griffin.
She can’t stay here. I’ll send her back home when I find out why she’s really here, but until then just stop calling her and don’t wait up.
She’s pretty furious. And you and I both know she’s a stubborn mule. She’s never going to answer you… not until she feels like it.
Something about her message irritates me. It replaces the ice in my veins with a splurge of fire. I’m pissed because I can’t go to her. But the fact that she went to Beth—the only sister whom, by the way, she literally hates—proves just how bad of a situation we are really in—how low she will go just to make me stick around.
Because Beth never shuts the fuck up.
If she hears something about me and Colette arguing, having a rough patch, or anything at all, she informs her father. It’s what she does. She’s the update woman on our marriage. She goes off of shit she hears, not what she knows.
At one point she offered to pay Arianna to give her details on us, eavesdrop, but luckily Arianna is a good one. Arianna told me personally with a face smothered in tears, and since then I have never trusted Beth.
If she goes to Steven about this then fuck.
My plan—the one I’ve concocted and designed thoroughly—will go to full blown shit.
Shit!
What the hell is Colette thinking?!
Chapter Six
Colette
I hate my sister.
I really do.
But I have a lot to tell her and even more to gain. I would never come to her because she can’t keep a secret of mine to save her life, but something tells me with this agreement I have in mind, she won’t say a peep.
After her assistant told her it was me at the door she made me wait thirty minutes before finally bringing me into her office.
She didn’t have anyone else inside. She was just being a bitch.
Now, as I sit across from her desk chair, I wait for her to come back in and try and hound me for more answers. She returns with a bottle of water for me, and a cup of coffee for herself.
“I could have used a cup,” I mutter. “I was on the road all night.”
“Yeah, well, you don’t really look like you need it right now. I heard you’re working towards a dance concert or something?”
“A salsa competition and yes.” Well, not anymore. Not after what I’ve done to myself … again.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” She stirs the contents in her mug with a thin black straw, crossin
g her legs and looking me over from behind the desk. After taking a sip and sitting her mug down, she adjusts herself, tucking her curly blond hair behind her ear. Her green eyes meet mine, and I hate how identical ours are to each others. “So, Griffin has been having an affair with another woman? An associate, you say?”
“Yes. And I wouldn’t exactly call it an affair. We haven’t really been acting like a married couple lately.”
“That doesn’t matter, Colette. You’re still legally married. He cheated. Enough said.”
Oh, yeah. I haven’t told her about Gabriel, and I won’t now. I need her on my side in order for this to work out. I need her to have a reason of understanding why I no longer want to be with Griffin. He needs to be declared the liar and the cheat, not me.
“There’s something else,” I say, cracking open my bottle.
Beth’s brows shoot up with anticipation as she watches me take a swallow. “Well?”
“I trapped him.”
Her eyes narrow. “Trapped him. How? What do you mean?”
I swallow thickly, even with the water my mouth and body feels foul. Not pure and crisp. Far from clean. All of a sudden I feel contaminated by Griffin’s semen inside me and God knows what else might be forming. “When I found out about the other woman I needed to take matters into my own hands because if anyone were to assume anything—find out about her—we would be screwed.”
“Right,” she eggs on.
“So… he came home last night and I seduced him into having sex with me.”
She frowns. “How do you have to seduce your own husband into having sex with you?”
“Beth, we haven’t had sex in months. The last time we did anything sexual was when I seduced him before just so he could stay for the dinner that I had planned with this awful couple. And that turned out kind of strange.”
“Strange how?”
“He hate fucked my mouth… like, my throat was sore for two days. He’s never done that to me before.”
“Wow,” she breathes. “Sounds like Griffin really has changed. Maybe he’s just fed up with your shit like everyone else is. You don’t make it very easy to love you, ya know.”
I glare at her as she cackles. “Whatever.
“Wait!” Her eyes widen when she realizes the point I’m getting at. “Hold on. You mean to tell me that you… that you are trying to trap him with another baby?”
I don’t speak right away. I just nod, and when Beth gasps, I say, “It’s the only way to keep him worried about me. You see he’s been calling me nonstop since I got here.” I glance down at the phone on her desk. “He hasn’t called me like that in months. Not back to back. Not like he’s concerned. I was used to his absence, but before I found out, I noticed how distant he was becoming. How he stopped trying. How he would take off late at night and not return until the next afternoon.”
“So how’d you find out?”
“I went into his home office and read his emails,” I state blatantly.
“Wow,” she breathes for, like, the third time today, as if she can’t believe any of this. “But, do you really think another baby is going to settle all of this?”
“It will settle some of it. Griffin won’t deny or take time away from his own kid or even the pregnancy. The more he has to fill his hands with, the less time he’ll spend with her.”
“So you’re going to make him choose. You and the baby… or her?”
“See… that’s the thing.” I sigh. “I… want him to stick around during the pregnancy. Nine months is more than enough time for him to cut if off with her completely. I know he will eventually because I know Griffin. He won’t choose a woman he just met over his own child, and he damn sure won’t do it if he knows the contract is still on. Yeah, he might fuck her until the baby comes, but who cares? He’s no idiot. He’ll let her go.”
“And you’re so sure,” she says sarcastically.
“Oh, I’m sure. I may not want to tolerate him anymore but I know my husband better than he knows himself. He will let her go. I don’t expect to fuck him while pregnant anyway. But… about the contract.” I stare her in the eyes. “I want you to find something that will get us out of this stupid marriage.”
Her mouth twitches and her head tilts as she looks me over. “Why on God’s green earth would I do that? And for you? I’m pretty sure I would help your husband get out of it before I would help you.” She’s amused by this, smiling behind her mug of coffee, thinking she’s so damn superior to me.
“Because I’m not keeping the baby, Beth. You are.”
A blank stare steals her amusement right away. With wide eyes, she stares at me, her hand pausing on tipping the mug for that next hot sip.
Slowly, she places it down and blinks, lips pressed thin.
She runs her hands over a blank sheet of paper in front of her, and then she says, “Why would you want me to keep it?”
“Oh, please. Do you not know where your blabbermouth comes from? Mom told me all about your infertility issues. That it’s not Pete, it’s you that can’t provide. If you have this baby, you won’t have to try anymore. You can have him or her.”
“You don’t even know if you’re pregnant,” she spits, trying to defend herself.
“I am about 80% sure of it. I know my ovulation dates. I know when I should try. And luckily I found out about Griffin’s shit at this time of the month. I’ve been keeping track just in case I wanted to try again.” I shrug. “I have never wanted to until now… now that we are literally falling apart.”
“And you’re just going to hand over your own flesh and blood, just like that?”
“Yes. I won’t get attached. I’ve endured all of it before. I will be fine.”
“What about Griffin? What if he finds out?”
“He won’t. He’ll know I’m pregnant—think I’m in this to win it—but if you get me out of this contract somehow before the baby arrives, he won’t have a choice but to leave me alone. I’ll get a restraining order if I have to. I’ll get some adoption papers and I’ll set it up. I just need the contract out of the picture before the baby is here, otherwise this won’t work and Griffin will still be in the picture. And if he is, I can’t control what he does. If we get the divorce to fall through, I will be considered a single mother, right?”
“Right?”
“And with the baby, I can do what I will. Put the baby up for adoption if I please. We can work with that judge you know by Daytona Beach. Judge Darrell, right? If Griffin dares to fight it we can make the judge see that Griffin isn’t fit to be a father because he works too much. And the judge will think Griffin isn’t because he is the reason Bradley died. Right? He was supposed to be watching him, but instead he left the damn door open and let him run out to the back and fall into the pool.
“He couldn’t swim—my baby couldn’t swim, and he drowned because of Griffin.” I swallow down the emotion, focusing on my sister. I try not to let the feelings take over me, but it’s hard not to. It hurts, burns to think about my beautiful son, and how losing him shifted my entire world. Tears build in my eyes. “Beth, it is because of Griffin that I am the way I am now. It is because of Griffin that I don’t care about anything anymore. I can’t keep this baby. I fear I may neglect it, abandon it because he or she is not Bradley. I can’t do that to this baby. But what I can do is give him or her a better life. I can give the baby to you, someone who has been dying for one.”
The room is silent for a moment. My heartbeat is the only thing I hear. It’s loud, thudding in my eardrums. Tears threaten me, and unfortunately one escapes me, but I continue looking at Beth because I need this. I need her to see that I’m serious. That I need out of this marriage before I completely lose my shit.
“What about you?” she asks in a whisper.
“What about me?”
“What if you see the baby and change your mind about all of it? You know? Like most women do?”
“I won’t. We’ll set something up—something that says I hav
e agreed to hand the baby over.” I sit on the edge of my chair. “Look, I know you don’t trust me, Beth, but this is something you and I both want. We can make a deal. You get me out of this marriage—call up your best lawyers and don’t let Dad or Mom know anything—and in the end you get the baby. Isn’t that what you’ve always wanted?”
“Yes,” she whispers, her voice cracking as a tear lines her cheek. “But Dad will flip a wig if he knows we cut off his main money supply! Griffin is pretty much all Dad has—the only reason Dad can still live leisurely. Losing Griffin will leave him broke.”
“What’s more important here? Dad, or you and this baby?”
“The baby of course,” she says hurriedly. “Dad can take care of himself. He always has.”
“Exactly. So do what you do best. Make people work. Get them to come through so you can claim your baby.” She blinks rapidly, lips smashing together. Then, in an instant, she picks up her cellphone and dials someone.
With the phone glued to her ear, she says, “Hi. It’s Beth Jenkins from B. Jenkins Incorporated. I need Judge Darrell please.”
I smile at her as she glances my way. That’s our judge. The one who never shows sympathy. No matter how compassionate Griffin may seem, he won’t win the case to take care of the baby. It was his fault we lost our first-born. Only a fool would put another innocent life in his care.
This judge, we both know, won’t see it as giving him a second chance. This judge will see him as a workaholic idiot and a cheater who only cares about himself. She will cut the contract because I’ll pretend I’m miserable and desperate to start fresh somewhere else.
After her small chat, she hangs up and then looks at me with a deep sigh. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Coley.”
“I know what I’m doing. This is the only way to go.” I push out of my chair, collecting my cellphone and the bottle of water.
“Wait.” I turn around as she calls out. “What happens if you aren’t even pregnant? It takes a couple of times for some people, ya know?”
I shrug as I make it to the door. “Then I’ll go to the sperm bank.” I give her a wicked grin as she looks at me, her face full of shock. “What, you thought I went into this without a backup plan? Griffin has sperm stored. It was something we agreed upon when we first got married just in case something ever happened to one of us. I’m pretty sure he’s forgotten about it by now. This was way before Bradley.”
Sudden Flames (Sweet Promise #2) Page 4