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I smile. “Whether you like it or not, I’m getting drafted. Harris is going to make sure of it. And when I do, I’ll have the national stage yet again. And this time, I’ll let them know exactly what kind of man Christopher LaBlanc is. Years of abuse. Constant overcoaching. And a witness to it all.”
“You do that, and you’re making her life harder. Bring her back into that, when I kept her out of it.” His nostrils flare, hand clenched across the desk. “She needs me.”
I shake my head, calm now in the face of his fury. “No. She doesn’t. She needs therapy, and maybe medication, I don’t know. I’m not an expert. And I’m about to make a salary that ensures she can live without a cent you are threatening her with. And let her find what she needs for her depression.”
“She and that girl she lives with will be out on their asses.”
I laugh then. “I mean, my wife can stay with me. But as for Paloma Blake—as in the girl dating Bennett Reiner, Adam Reiner’s son? I think you’ll have bigger problems when he finds out you kicked her out on her ass.”
Fury makes his cheeks go nearly purple, but that is fear in his eyes. He may hate me, but he is scared of Adam Reiner.
“Are you done?” he asks nastily.
I shake my head, biting back a relieved smile. I did it. I finally fucking did it.
“One more thing,” I say, before turning my gaze sharp like a steel blade. “Make my wife cry again and I’ll do what I’ve been waiting nearly my entire life to do.”
“Is that a threat?” he sneers.
I shrug.
“Threat, promise, vow.” Sliding on my sunglasses, I stick the purple lollipop back between my teeth and smirk, flashing my canines. “Whatever you’d like to call it.”
• • •
Lily looks nervous, anxious in a way I wasn’t expecting.
We’re outside of the Harris household, as if we’re going to ring the doorbell. Normally, I’d walk inside, but the second I clocked Lily’s high-stress fidgeting with her clothes and tights—especially when she snagged her nail on the nylons and almost burst into tears—I stopped for a moment.
“What’s wrong?” I ask. “Why are you so nervous?”
Lily chews on her lip, rocking on her heels. “It’s kinda like meeting your mom.”
“What? No.” I frown, bristling a bit. “She’s not my mom.”
“She kinda is?” Lily shrugs. “She makes you dinner and you live with her?”
“So? Is that what moms do?”
“I don’t know, I didn’t have one either,” she hisses, before looking back at the door. “But the ones on TV shows do.”
Lily and I both had strange upbringings. Maybe it’s why this worked between us originally, that there was a comfort we each gave each other.
“All right.” I sigh, running a hand through my hair. “She’s kind of like my mom.”
That does not make Lily any calmer. In fact, she’s working herself up again, so I press a hard kiss to her mouth. “Relax. She’s your mom, then, too. Your mother-in-law.”
Lily nods.
“But, like . . . maybe don’t call her that.”
She nods again, then straightens her spine. “Okay. I’m ready.”
Chapter 64
Lily
As soon as the initial hugs and greetings ended, Toren and Mr. Harris veered off to help set the table, since Mrs. Harris cooked the meal. Sahara offered to show me around the house while they busied themselves.
