Page 68 of The Grump I Got Stuck With

“It was an office romance,” I said, rhyming off the phrasing we’d landed on. Jessica had been a low-level clerk in the accounting department of Voyages when we first met. I hadn’t even known of her existence until she spilled a cocktail on me at an office holiday party. There were a couple sparks after that, some mild flirtation that led into a fling. “I was attracted to her,” I said. “I believed she was attracted to me. We had fun together, nothing serious. But then…we got pregnant, and I knew I needed to step up.”

“Good,” Leo said. “We frame you as the devoted partner and father that you are.”

I had been devoted—not so much to Jessica herself as to the idea of what we were building together. I’d thought we’d be a family. I’d wanted to provide for her and our daughter. “I was all in with being a dad. I was so, so excited. And I thought she felt the same way. Jessica moved in with me, Kenna was born, and I was over the moon. I could see a real future for us together.” I’d even bought a bloody ring!

“Right. And you had no idea that Jessica was using you until the morning you woke up and found her gone along with tens of millions from the company accounts.”

I gritted my teeth.

“We need to make sure the jury understands that Jessica targeted you. Trapped you. This relationship was never real for her. You were the true victim in all of this.”

The words reopened a wound I’d spent so long working to close off. Jessica had never been the love of my life, but I had cared for her deeply. And she’d not only broken my heart but stomped on Kenna’s on her way out the door too.

“And this is everything?” Leo said. “This is the full story of what happened between you two?”

“Of course it is. You already know that.”

“I do, but I need to remind you that everything will be up for scrutiny. So I’m asking you again: Are you sure there’s absolutely nothing Jessica can say that will prove you had any idea what she was doing?”

“Nothing at all,” I growled, my pulse thumping.

“No evidence she can provide that you willingly gave her passwords to the corporate accounts?”

“No,” I muttered. She’d transferred the money using my home computer after figuring out my passwords. I’d never told her a damn thing.

“No angle she can spin about the two of you planning the whole thing together and you getting cold feet?”

“I have no fucking clue what Jessica might claim,” I snapped. “She’s already proven to be an accomplished liar. But the truth is exactly what I’ve been saying this entire time. I had no idea she was planning to betray me.”

It didn’t make any bloody sense anyway. Why would I have gotten involved in that mess? The amount she stole was a fraction of my net worth. It wasn’t money I needed, and it sure as hell was a scandal I would rather have done without.

“And that’s exactly what you tell the jury,” Leo said. “With that same passion. You were a man in love, and she totally blindsided you.”

By the time we hung up, I was practically hyperventilating. I stormed through the house to my room, throwing on a pair of joggers. Then I hurried down the hall toward my office. I needed to message Alfie. I needed him to find me a publicist to deal with the disaster hurtling my way. I’d never been fully happy with the one we’d used before—it was time to get someone new. I needed…

I slowed as I passed Kenna’s room, the room darker than usual since I hadn’t bothered to turn on her nightlight without her there. The only illumination came from the moonlight. It was enough for me to see Princess curled up on her bed, passed out across the sheets, taking full advantage of the space in Kenna’s absence.

I stared around at the drawings tacked to the wall and the beads scattered on her tiny play table, thinking about my bright, beautiful, cheerful daughter—about how happy and carefree she’d been in recent weeks. We were finally getting back to some sense of normalcy. And now here her mother came to destroy it all over again.

I shook my head, crossing the room and sinking down on the edge of Kenna’s bed. Princess poked her head up, tongue lolling out of her mouth. I gave the dog a gentle pat, and she licked my hand. Part of me wanted to drive over to Weston’s right now and pick Kenna up. I wanted to bundle her back to Dunhope and hold her, knowing she was safe behind these giant walls and gates, where people who might harm her couldn’t get to her.

But some small, rationally thinking part of me knew I couldn’t just show up at Weston’s place and force her to leave Lochbrae and Aisling in the middle of the night. It would only frighten her. Still, that old urge to hide her away from the press was gripping me hard.

I needed to protect her in every way that I could. From the burden of another trial. From the weight of my worry. From the stories the media would tell. From hearing my name on the TV or the radio. From seeing her mother’s image plastered across newspapers. Kenna didn’t deserve any of that. She didn’t deserve the harsh looks or the whispers or sneers. She deserved to exist in a world where the most stressful part of her day was deciding what color tutu to put on over her leggings.

Christ. She was supposed to start primary school this year. Was I supposed to hold her back from that too? Hire private tutors? It might be the only way to shelter her from people’s misinformed opinions, to get ahead of lies.

Princess crawled into my lap, nudging my hand with her cold nose. I stroked her fur as I thought about Leo’s comment: You were a man in love, and she totally blindsided you.

I wasn’t just blindsided by Jessica. It was the wave of smaller betrayals that followed that really tipped everything over the edge for me—the Voyages board turning against me, family members selling me out for their fifteen minutes of fame, acquaintances leaking stories to the tabloids, people I called friends no longer taking my calls.

Leo’s words echoed in my head. You were the true victim.

Well, I wasn’t going to be a bloody victim this time. Those media hounds could descend all they wanted; I was going into defensive mode from the start. I wouldn’t let Jessica destroy my life again.

20

MADISON