“Oh, thank god,” she exhaled and relief made her grin as she unfolded the sheet to see that yes, Shane was Cam’s father without a shadow of a doubt.
Spinning around, she intended to go to him and share the news, but Calvin spoke again. “Boyd brought something else.”
Returning to him, Ginger saw he was more serious. It turned out that her relief was short-lived. Calvin gave her a thick stack of documents and as soon as she took them and began to read, she inhaled and her shock landed on him. “Dissolution of Marriage?” she asked. “You wrote divorce papers?”
“Boyd did,” Calvin said, stepping back to gesture at his lawyer and to pick up a heavy pen from the table. “All you have to do is sign and then we’ll get Warren to—”
“Sign? Now?” she asked.
In one hand she held a document proclaiming her son’s true family. In the other was the document that would sever her ties to that family. “Yes,” Calvin said. “Why delay? If we sign them today, Boyd can lodge them with the court… The sooner you divorce, the sooner we can marry.”
“I—”
Sound from beyond the dining room carried, Shane and Murphy were coming down the stairs together, laughing about something, in a good mood. Oh no. This was going to be explosive. She turned to rush over to the door intending to close it, but Shane and Murphy turned from the bottom of the stairs and saw her in the doorway.
“Well?” Shane asked. “You ready to hear me say I told you so?”
“What?” she snapped, panicked because she had no idea what to do. This situation was a powder keg. Calvin was going to have to force Shane’s hand if he was going to get him to sign the divorce papers. Trouble was, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to sign them either. “Oh, the paternity, yes. Yes, you’re his father.”
Ginger went to close the door, but her abrupt and flippant answer had been a stupid move. Shane hadn’t missed her panic and now he was worried, she saw it in the way his expression grew stern as he came toward her. “What’s wrong?” Shane asked.
“Nothing,” she said, but before she could close the dining room door, Calvin and Boyd were behind her, moving her out of the dining room and into the living area beneath the mezzanine.
There they were. Calvin and Boyd just a few feet from Shane and Murphy, and she was right in the middle. The doctor was out somewhere, Owen was his way into the city, and she didn’t even know where Diane was. It was just her… and them.
“Can I see?” Shane asked, holding out a hand to her, though his glare was fixed on Calvin.
“Uh, sure,” Ginger said, stepping over to hand him the paternity document. He and Murphy both read it, then Shane folded it and put it in his back pocket.
“We’ll need that back for our records,” Calvin said.
Shane ignored him and nodded at her other hand, the one clutching the wedge of documents at her chest. “What’s that, Bit?”
Shit. “This?” she said, glancing at it and then holding it closer. “Nothing. This is… nothing.”
“It’s something we’ll need you to sign,” Calvin said, taking the papers from her trembling hand. “I don’t believe in beating around the bush.”
Shane took the stack, but kept staring at Calvin for a few seconds before lowering his attention to the papers. His scowl got deeper in a flash. “Divorce papers?” he snapped at her. “You knew about this?”
“No!” she said. “No, I—”
“I had Boyd write them up. It saves time, don’t you think?” Calvin said, taking a pen from his inside pocket. “If you could just…”
Calvin must have noticed the same change in Shane’s demeanor that she had because he trailed off. As Shane went through the pages, he paused and his scowl loosened. He glanced at Murphy who just looked surprised as he read over his brother’s shoulder. Then to her utter surprise, Shane smiled… he actually smiled and then… he laughed. A loud, fully-expressive laugh that made his head go back as he burst into hysterics, in unison with Murphy.
“I fail to see what’s so funny,” Calvin snapped, unhappy at the reaction.
Instantly the humor left him and Shane held up the document, shaking it as he was consumed with fury. “This! How long have you known, you fucker?”
She seemed to be the only one at a loss. Murphy closed in next to his brother and Calvin’s anger became a sinister smugness that Boyd mirrored. “A while,” Calvin drawled.
“What?” she asked, searching the men. “What’s going on?”
“Five hundred million in settlement and half a million a month in child support,” Murphy said, not to her, but to Calvin. “You’re in this for the money, you fuck.”
“What?” she shrieked and marched over to snatch the document. Murphy was right, that was exactly what it said. She spun to Calvin. “I don’t understand.” Did he not want the divorce to go ahead? “How is anyone supposed to afford this? Who could—”
“Maybe the man responsible for WarNet, one of the most successful mapping software companies in the world. The man who also owns one of the biggest security software firms in the world,” Calvin said. “The guy’s worth thirty-something billion dollars… and if the Ventura takeover goes ahead, he could add another ten to that. Right, Warren…? He’s lucky it’s not more.”
Ginger stood frozen for what might have been an eternity. It seemed her whole body was turning to ice and her eyes blurred, not with tears, just with the sheer implication of what this meant. Slowly, she turned and when she looked at Shane, all she saw was a stranger.
“You lied to me,” she whispered. Shane’s fury blinked away and she didn’t even care that he looked at such a loss. “You’re… you’re…”
“Not what he told us he was,” Calvin said, putting an arm around her. “I’m sorry you had to find out this way. I was shocked too. He told us he writes books.”
“I write code and develop outdoor electronics,” Shane said. “You said books, not me… and baby, I never lied to you—” He tried to come over to touch her, but she backed away, moving out of Calvin’s grip and away from Shane’s.
“He’s the one gold-digging, yell at him not us!” Murphy said. “Your fiancé, Gin, look at that damn document! You’re a money train now, you sign that and he gets control of half a billion dollars!”
Half a billion dollars. She didn’t even know what that looked like, couldn’t even begin to comprehend what life would be like with that kind of money. But she didn’t care. She couldn’t care less if he was worth ten cents or ten trillion dollars.
Now tears did grow in her eyes, because she couldn’t trust anyone. Murphy could be right. That was a lot of money for Calvin to ignore. But Shane, why when she tried to focus on him could she no longer see the man who’d rolled around on the floor with their son? She couldn’t see the man she kissed last night or the man who she’d confided in upstairs just a few minutes ago.
“I am not! The settlement is reasonable,” Calvin said. “There is no reason not to sign it!”
Fixated on Shane who was looking at her, he was waiting for the reaction she couldn’t give him. Anger and hurt made her feel so weak. But she wouldn’t be weak if she took control. “Get me a pen,” she said, her voice flat.
“No!” Shane said. “You are not signing that fucking thing.”
“That’s not your decision,” Calvin said, holding out a pen to her. Ginger snatched it from him and went to Shane, who was still holding the divorce papers.
“No,” Shane said, pain in his voice, but it didn’t affect her. “Baby, you don’t want to sign this. You’re upset. Think about this before you do something permanent.”
Grabbing the settlement page, she tore it out and ripped it to shreds before tossing the pieces to the floor. Calvin and Boyd both called out in protest, but she kept her eyes on Shane. “I don’t want your money, Warren. Cam and I will be just fine without it.”
“I’d give you every penny,” he said and tried to touch her, but she ducked away. “You can have it all, Bit. It means nothing comp
ared to you and Cam.”
“We have another copy of the papers in the dining room,” Calvin said, snapping his fingers at Boyd who scrambled away.
“I don’t want the money,” she said. Calvin’s insistence that it was important made her feel sick. Sneering at them all, she pulled off her engagement ring and tossed it at Calvin, who stuttered. The only thing that would make her feel better was getting away from all of them and being near her baby. “Go to hell. All of you.”
Spinning around, she marched to the stairs, needing to put space between her and… everything.
Shane wanted to follow her, but Murphy put a hand on the front of his shoulder before he got the chance to chase Ginger up the stairs. “Give her some space,” Murphy said.
Trying to think of how he could fix this and take away that look of disgust from her face, Shane was reminded of the instigator when Calvin laughed. Whipping around, it took all of Murphy’s weight to hold him back. All he could think about was ripping the guy apart.
“Come on then, Warren,” Calvin said, still smiling after he picked up the ring and put it in his pocket. “Hit me… I’ll sue you for every penny you just promised my fiancée. You know, it’s a good thing she ripped up that page. After that promise I think we’ll triple the settlement, maybe quadruple it.”
“You used her for money, you sick fuck,” Shane said, having never felt rage like this in his life. “You put her through all of this, made her jump through all these hoops at this fucking retreat, not because you love her, but because you knew she’d clean up in a divorce… You wanted to make sure I would give her and Cam everything, didn’t you? Is that why you let us share to make sure I was pliable for your settlement?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Calvin said, glancing at Boyd who came back to join the group.
“You’re going to pay for this,” Murphy said. “We’re going to make sure you—”
“On the contrary,” Calvin said. “That piece of paper in his back pocket promises he’s going to be the one paying through the teeth for at least the next eighteen years.”
Shane growled and lunged forward, Murphy hauled him back. “You bastard,” Shane said. “The paternity was never for Ginger, it was never for Cameron. You needed it for the divorce settlement. Soon as you had scientific proof he was mine…”
Murphy exhaled a laugh. “Funny thing is, Shane never denied Cam and never would.”
“No,” Shane said. “I’ll take care of my son, don’t worry about that, Bishop. I’ll take care of my wife too… and I guarantee you’ll never see a dime.”
Calvin laughed again and Shane ground his teeth together watching the bastard and his lawyer exchange a look. “Ginger will marry me… she’ll come back to me,” Calvin said. “I understand her, the woman she is now. She doesn’t even know who you are, we have sixteen months together.”
“Sixteen celibate months,” Shane sneered, glad he had the chance to slap him with that. Calvin hadn’t expected it, but Shane’s satisfaction didn’t last.
“Maybe. But she has such a talented little mouth… I bet you remember.”
Growling again, Shane fought against his brother to try to get his hands on Calvin, it might be worth being sued just to pummel the guy. “We’re not paying him a cent,” Murphy said, throwing him back a few feet and whirling around. “How long have you known, Bishop? Before we came here? Before the meeting at Guinness’ office. How long?”
“A while.”
“A while,” Murphy sneered. “What the fuck is that? Did you know before dinner at your fucking country club?”
Calvin didn’t flinch and a chilling thought crept up on Shane as he read the calculating look in the bastard’s eye. “You’ve known all along, haven’t you, Bishop? You knew before the wedding, didn’t you? Before we ever showed up, you knew exactly who she was.”
“Fuck,” Murphy exhaled, catching up with his thinking. “That’s why one of the richest guys in the country couldn’t find his woman no matter how much money he threw at it or how much publicity he got. That’s why you kept her locked in your Minnesota mansion, didn’t let her have a phone or money, she doesn’t even have a computer or a tablet. Has she used the internet at all in the last sixteen months? You kept her from finding out who she was because you wanted to get your hooks in.”
Calvin said nothing, neither confirming nor denying, there was an angry acceptance in his eyes. Either Murphy was right, or the accusation that he could be so cruel was getting to him. Right now, Shane could only believe his brother’s narrative.
“She was unconscious when you picked her up,” Shane said. “That’s what you said. Did you know then?” He exhaled and drove his fingers through his hair as he realized the kidnapping charge wasn’t far from accurate.
Murphy shook his head. “The private facility. You said you put her in a private facility with private doctors, your doctors, people you paid. All so you could control the flow of information, right? What were you waiting for? Were you going to call in a ransom? Wait until we cranked up the reward?”
The trouble with the reward was that all kinds of cranks called because they just wanted money. Shane had set up a department at his offices to process and investigate every call, but they’d all ended up as dead ends… now he knew why.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Calvin said and tried to turn away.
But Shane wouldn’t let him off the hook so easy. “Makes sense now, nobody finds a person at the side of the road and ends up marrying them, not a rich, selfish bastard like you.” Calvin was rich all right, probably thought of himself as quite the mogul with his few million in the bank. Shane had never measured himself by the yardstick of money like it was clear Calvin did. “If she’d been some crack whore, you’d have dumped her at the hospital and driven off. So you figured it out fast… how fast? Huh? Our campaign wasn’t national, not in those first few weeks. Is that when you paid to have her looked after by a select few? Once you realized she had amnesia, you picked men who wouldn’t push her to remember or think too hard about her past. It wasn’t about moving forward, you weren’t doing what was best for her. You didn’t want her to know.”
“Did you just decide to keep her forever?” Murphy asked. “Why the hell did you hold her for sixteen months?”
Shane couldn’t figure that out either. The plan must have been fluid, decisions made spontaneously. Calvin picked her up and took her to people who had no idea who she was. Calvin may have assumed he’d get a reward from a grateful husband, then the amnesia had changed his strategy.
Frustratingly, if Calvin, or a proxy, had called and asked for a fortune, Shane would’ve have paid it. But money was short-lived, it ran out… unless it was a regular payment. He was so surprised by the truth as he figured it out that he fell back against the pillar holding up the mezzanine.
“Cam… You found out she was pregnant… Shit, Murph… they were going to give her back until they found out she was carrying my child… This was all about child support.”
“I’ll deny everything,” Calvin said, the superior sonofabitch looking down his nose. “I love Ginger very much.”
“Maybe now you do,” Shane said. “But this didn’t start with altruism.”
Murphy laughed. “He doesn’t love her. He’s just sticking to the plan. He talks her into divorcing you and she marries him and that’s it. You have no choice. You have to send the money and he’s got her so brainwashed that she’ll let him control it all… Must be easy to control an amnesia victim. You convince her she has no friends and family, that she doesn’t need any contact with the outside world. You fill her head with your story, your version of events, and she is a blank slate, so she just absorbs it all.”
“Who would call it,” Shane muttered, remembering what Ginger had said about not having a cell phone. Murphy was right. He was spot on the money. Squinting, he shook his head. “One thing I don’t get, how did you know I’d show up?”
“He knew you
’d show up eventually,” Murphy said. “And that press article… geez, was that a fucking plant? There were no other media articles about the mysterious woman found by the side of the road by the millionaire… you found her in Washington and brought her back here to your state. You kept her hidden and then right when you were ready to collect, you did the interview. She wasn’t questioned by the reporter, only you were, so you could control what was revealed, again, it’s all about control. And the picture… that was the first picture of her ever released.”
Calvin glanced at Boyd. “I think we’re done here.”
“Yes, sir,” Boyd said. “I think we should collect your fiancé and depart.”
Shane was so angry that he sneered a laugh. “Over my dead fucking body… you’re not taking my wife anywhere.”
12
A knock on her bedroom door made Ginger pick up the shoe she’d just put in her open suitcase. When the door opened, she hurled the shoe at the door and was mortified to see the doctor duck to avoid it.
“Oh my god, Doctor Guinness, I’m sorry!” Rushing over, Ginger pulled him into the room. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—”
“I can see emotions are running high here too,” Guinness said, clearing his throat and taking a moment to compose himself. “I came back from my walk to find Shane and Murphy arguing with Calvin and Boyd… there seems to be a bit of confusion?”
“No confusion,” she said, but he looked past her.
“Yet, you seem to be packing your things.”
“Yes,” she said. “Thank you very much for your help. The retreat has been… helpful.” Maybe not in the way she’d hoped, but she had a clearer picture now of who was in her life and how she’d been set up.
“But you’re leaving? We haven’t completed our journey.”
She didn’t want to be rude, but was at the limit of her patience. “I understand. But I think the group will now disband, there is no need for us to be here. Shane and I will be getting a divorce,” she said and looked at her naked ring finger. “Calvin and I will not be getting married either…” She took a breath. “I will wait for my brother to come back from town. When he does, Cam and I will be leaving.”
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