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“Whatever lies she’s told you about me, I should get the chance to defend myself. All she does is lie. She needed somewhere to live, and you think it’s a coincidence that she was so willing to fuck a stranger? No. She wanted someone to take care of her. She’s a manipulative liar. She’s always been that way. She told my father things about me to make him hate me. She couldn’t stand that he might love me more.” She let out a fake sob and wiped at a tear that wasn’t there.
When she’d started talking, I’d thought she was making assumptions about the woman I had gotten pregnant, but I realized she knew it was Liberty. She was talking about Liberty.
My blood began to heat as I stared at her.
“She’s not who you think she is. Believe me. She’ll probably rob you blind.”
My hand was around her narrow neck before I knew what I was doing. “She doesn’t have to rob me blind. I’d sign over the deed to my house if she asked. Now, you have one goddamn second to get the hell outta my club!” I said, then shook her because she was a woman and I couldn’t hit her. But, God, I wanted to. I loathed the air she breathed.
“I am telling you, Liam—”
“GET OUT!” I shouted at the top of my lungs. Headache be damned. The only thing I felt was fury.
I heard footsteps, and Tex was there. He looked from her to me.
“Get her out before I throw her down the stairs,” I said, not looking back at her as I walked over to my desk.
“This way, lady,” Tex said.
“He won’t listen to me,” she cried.
“If you don’t listen to me, he will do what he said. He’s not in a good place right now, and you are his target at the moment. You need to run like hell.”
“You’ll regret it!”
“Shut the fuck up, woman!” Tex said, and I watched as Tex grabbed both her arms and shoved her through the door before he slammed it closed.
Liberty had lived with that kind of jealousy and hatred.
I pressed my fist to my chest. That wasn’t easing up anytime soon. I had to fix the royal shit show I had created. If I had to get my whole family over to the house and get down on one knee, I would do it.
Screw old age. I could stay in shape. I’d do whatever was required to take care of her. There was the fear I’d lose her, but I’d be damned if I went the rest of my life without her. I’d go to my death bed, making sure she never again felt the way I’d made her feel yesterday.
37
Liberty
I touched the ultrasound photo that I had left on the kitchen counter for Liam.
When the nurse had first shown me the little face, I had started crying. By the time she told me our baby’s sex, I was in a full-blown sob. They were so worried about me that the doctor came in and someone had to bring me a glass of water. I couldn’t get myself under control and explain I wasn’t going crazy. My emotional wall I’d tried to hold up while I dealt with the swings fate kept aiming my way crumbled upon seeing the life inside me. The one that looked like a baby now. With little fingers and toes. It was the trigger that had cracked me.
That tiny baby’s photos was the reason I’d managed to drive home. After a doctor’s visit where I found out the sex of my baby, alone, without Liam, who never came home last night or called and then blew off the appointment, I’d had the good fortune to run into Selena in the parking lot at the hospital.
No, I wouldn’t think about that. My new OB-GYN had told me several times that I had to calm down. Stress wasn’t good for the baby. I had to be strong and survive this for him.
The letter I’d written Liam lay beside the photo, along with the keys to his car and the house. I’d made sure Ozzy had plenty time outside and filled both his food and water bowls. Thinking too hard about leaving him behind would send me into another fit of tears I might not be able to get under control.
Lifting my eyes, I looked around at the house one more time. It was never meant to be mine. This life here with Liam and our baby. But even though it was ending this way, I would hold the good memories close. I just couldn’t dwell on them for now. I had to heal, and unlike with death, time could heal my soul this time. And if time didn’t, I was sure my son would.
I looked down at my phone. The Uber was seven minutes away.
I bent down and kissed Ozzy on the head one more time. “Thanks for being the best friend a girl could have,” I told him.
Then, I stood up, took the handle of a suitcase in each hand, and pulled them toward the front door. Ozzy whimpered when I walked out and closed the door, leaving him inside. I took one suitcase down the front doorsteps, repeated with the other one, then wheeled them down the driveway.
By the time I reached the end and the gates opened for me, my driver pulled up. Unable to help myself, I glanced back over my shoulder before handing the driver my suitcases and climbing into the back of the car.
38
