Page 86 of Well Aware

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Cain nodded. “Would it be okay if I stay?”

“No,” Hopps grumbled. “Have the right to serve or not serve anyone I want. You hanging out with her already lets me know the type of person you are. Only way that I would’ve trusted you is if you had run the moment she started talking and showing her face.”

Cain looked pissed.

But at least he was smart.

He turned around and left.

When Seraphina tried to do the same, Black stepped in front of her with his cuffs already in his hands.

“Not so fast, Seraphina. You’ll get to come for a ride down to the station with me,” he said as he reached for her hand and spun her around.

At least Seraphina was smart enough not to resist—which she’d done before.

Black jerked his chin up at me and led my so-called sister out of the bar. The moment the doors closed behind her, the bar cheered.

Yeah, she wasn’t making any friends in this town, that was for sure.

Instead of going back to the table, however, I chose to head outside and see if Cain was still around.

I wasn’t surprised to find him leaning against his car, looking like he was waiting for someone.

I crossed the street, casual as could be. But deep inside, I wanted to pull my conceal-carry pistol and take care of this sick fuck once and for all.

It would solve all of Magnolia’s problems.

He waited until I arrived at his car before he said, “I only want what’s mine. She pays me the life insurance, I’ll leave.”

I eyed him up and down. “You look like you can afford not to have her life insurance pay out,” I pointed out.

He crossed his legs and went into a further lean before he said, “It’s two hundred million dollars. I’m not going to let this one go.”

I blinked.

“What?” I asked. “How did you go about getting that high of a policy on someone? That’s usually reserved for people with high net worth. And from what I understand, Rose didn’t have anything to her name other than a nurse’s usual salary.”

And a kid, but he didn’t need to know that.

“I don’t need to explain myself to you,” he said. “I just know that I have this policy that I paid for out of my own pocket. I deserve that money, not her trash pile of a sister.”

I narrowed my eyes at his use of “trash pile.”

However, I was able to control my automatic reaction of wanting to shut his mouth up the only way I knew how—by punching him—by saying, “Name calling? That’s quite unbecoming.”

He snorted. “Whatever it may be, it’s the truth. Magnolia Baker was nothing but trouble. And her sister was my woman. My fiancée. She gives over the money, and I’m out of her life for good.”

I gritted my teeth so hard that I felt my jaw creak in protest.

“That much money isn’t going to be something that you just get to keep,” I said. “You need to maybe offer splitting it. I don’t know.”

Because I was thinking, even half that could set Iris and her future for life. Hell, her children’s children’s future for life.

Not that I wouldn’t do everything in my power to make her life what it should be. I would. But even I wasn’t worth two hundred million. I had a net worth of eight million, and a lot of that was tied up in real estate I owned in the area.

“Well, that’s just not going to work for me.” Cain smiled, and it was a sickening smile. “I didn’t do all that work to get half. It’s either all, or I make this really hard.”

I forced myself to loosen my jaw.