“I’m a grown man. I don’t need to be checked on. Especially not by scantily clad ex-girlfriends,” I said, adding, “I took her key back already. Now I’m taking yours.”
“What?” Her eyes were wide. “Ford, I’m your mother. I need a key.”
“Fine, keep it. I’m having the locks changed anyway.”
My mother looked dismayed, but it did nothing to stop her from plowing forward with her coercion. “You need to apologize for the way you treated Claudia. She was very hurt.”
“Shewas hurt?” I asked, holding back an incredulous laugh. “What about my wife and her feelings? Did Claudia happen to mention what she said to Emzee?”
“It hardly matters, Ford. You’re getting a divorce,” my mother said. “Regardless of what was or was not said, it’s all water under the bridge.”
I wanted to throw her under a bridge. “We’re not getting divorced.”
My father lowered his newspaper, frowning.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” he said. “You already signed the papers.”
“I didn’t. Emzee forged my signature,” I said. “I’ll fight it in court if I have to, and I’ll win. Emzee and I are working things out.”
My mother let out a little hiss.
“Youwillmarry Claudia,” my father said adamantly, tossing his paper on the table. “It isn’t up for discussion.”
“No,” I said. “I won’t.”
“This is nonnegotiable,” my father insisted, but I just shook my head.
“If you want her in the family so badly, why don’t you marry her?” I said.
He narrowed his eyes and got up from the chair, pulling himself to his full height, which matched mine. He was seething. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen him so furious.
“I’ll cut you off,” he said. “Your inheritance, all the money we have, you won’t get a single penny of it. You’ll be as good as dead to the family. And you think your job is safe at MREH? I was planning to have you take over when I retire, but you can say goodbye to that.”
My mother sucked in a shocked breath. I wondered if she was thinking that my father had gone too far, but if she did, she immediately chose a side.
“That’s right,” she said, moving to stand next to my father in an attempt to present a united front. “You’ll be entirely on your own.”
It was obvious they thought they had me, judging by their smug expressions.
What they failed to realize was that I didn’t care about the money, or my inheritance, or even my job at Malone Real Estate Holdings. Hell, I could start my own real estate firm if I wanted to. I’d already been doing the lion’s share of my father’s job for years. Most of the employees would probably come with me. The only thing I cared about was Emzee and our baby. Our family.
Nothing else concerned me.
“I don’t care,” I told them. “It’s not happening. I love Emzee. I’m staying with Emzee.”
My father’s face was turning red. He wasn’t used to losing, but he had just played his only hand and come up empty. He didn’t have anything else to use against me.
“You’re being unreasonable,” my father said.
“Me?” I asked. “I’m not the one trying to strong-arm their only son into some kind of arranged marriage.”
“It’s for your own good,” my mother said.
I didn’t believe that for a second. But me marrying Claudia had to be for someone’s benefit—and I’d bet anything it was theirs. There was no other reason for them to be pushing me so hard.
“Why are you two so intent on getting me to marry her anyway?” I asked.
“Because she’s the right choice for you,” my mother said.
