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“So what if somehow I magically did marry you then? If I was so drunk, then it’s grounds for an annulment. You would never have been my wife to begin with. Case closed.”
“If you file for an annulment, then I’ll have no choice but to file for full custody of Violet. If we’re not married, she’s still my daughter, and I’ll be damned if your little at-home pocket pussy raises my child.”
Oh, hell fucking no. My pulse throbs in my throat, angry and violent.
“There’s no way a deadbeat mother who abandoned her child on my goddamn stoop will ever get full custody.”
“Are you really so sure of that when I have a squeaky clean record, a well-paying job, and all you have to your name is a string of drug and sex scandals and a questionable arrangement with your live-in nanny?” She laughs haughtily. “All I would have to do is imply that the reason I stayed away so long was because you threatened me. And if that doesn’t work… maybe all I have to do is take away the real obstacle here. It’s not that hard to make a woman disappear, you know…”
I grab her by the shoulders. My grip is tight and I know that I’m treading deep, deep water here. I snatch her close to me, though, so close our noses touch.
“You really wanna go there?” I snarl, my voice dangerously low. “Fine. Threaten me all you want. But you keep Olivia’s name out your fucking mouth.”
I shove her away from me. Disgust permeates every fiber of my being. This woman is actually evil.
Somehow, she doesn’t seem shaken up by my display. No, Holly outright laughs. “Oh, God, you actually have feelings for that plain ass little tramp!” she proclaims. “That’s kind of pathetic, but I guess you jock types can’t help but go for the simple ones. After all, they’re so easy when it comes to being wooed by male attention.”
Holly tosses her long hair over her shoulder. She stands and, unfazed by everything that’s happened since I arrived in this shithole, settles herself in my lap. This time, when I go to move her, she grips my wrist. Her perfectly manicured nails dig into my pulse. “You toss me off and I’ll scream. Imagine what kind of accusation I could make up. It would be much worse than anything that’s hit the tabloids yet.”
The glare that I give her is withering. I’m sure she can feel the fury coming off me—and I can tell she enjoys it as she gets comfortable in my lap.
“Let me make one thing very clear for you, Reese Dalton,” she coos at me, like she’s talking to a child who can’t understand how much trouble they’re in. “I intend to play the long game with you. You have what I want. Fame, money, the public eye. A woman these days has to do what she can to get by. You should have thought about that before you took me to bed.”
The fucked-up thing about that? I can’t even disagree with her. Coach always said my wild days would come back to bite me in the ass.
Unfortunately for me, that bite might as well be a whole row of shark teeth with the way Holly grins at me.
She knows that I know she’s right.
* * *
“What do you mean, I can’t get a restraining order?”
My voice sounds more panicked than it does angry. I’m embarrassed by my own fluster but fuck, Holly’s got me over a barrel and I need out. Now.
“She hasn’t actually done anything, Reese. Not in a legal sense.” Elliot tries to placate me on the other end of the line.
All it does is irritate me more. “‘She hasn’t done anything yet’?! She found my number! She’s threatening to take Violet away from me if I annul our?—!”
“Your number can be easily found just using a clever Google search and, as far as we know, she is Violet’s mother and has a right to seek custody.”
“I thought you were on my side.”
“I am. And part of being on your side is not letting you live in a delusion that’ll fuck you over later.”
Elliot’s always been the logical one. Sometimes, I envy him for it. I’m more of the bullheaded variety. I see what I want and I go for it.
And what I want right now is for Holly Wilson to disappear.
“Okay. Fine. What do I do now? I can’t get a restraining order on her and she obviously has plans for me. She threatened Olivia.”
Elliot is quiet, thinking. Silently, I urge him to hurry it the fuck up. Time is ticking. I need solutions. “Well, you’re still with Olivia, aren’t you? I’d say keep her as close as you can. Make sure that there’s some extra safety precautions put in place between the two of you.”
“Like, what. A tracker on her phone? Monitor where she goes?”
“I mean…”
I screw my face up. “Aren’t you supposed to encourage me from doing illegal shit, Elliot?”
