Page 3 of Holden’s Resurrection

But that wasn’t the type of person I was. I thought the Towlers had learned their lesson the first two times they dragged me into court. Both cases they’d lost.

Total waste of time and money.

I pushed on the Devil Bitch’s contact and waited.

“What?” Patricia answered.

“Unfit? That’s your new play, really?”

“Totally. First, you keep my niece from her family, then you move her to Maryland so you can chase after the man you cheated on my brother with—”

“I never cheated on your brother,” I cut her off.

“We have witnesses, Charlotte,” she sneered.

“Well, they’re lying.”

“We’re gonna get Faith, and when we do, you’re never gonna see her again. We’ll make sure she knows you never loved Paul. He was a meal ticket. After that other one dumped you, you needed another free ride. That money was supposed to be ours. Not yours.”

Right. The money. Paul’s death benefits. It always came down to the money.

“Paul’s life insurance isn’t yours and it’s not mine. It’s Faith’s.”

Guilt ate at my heart. Was it really Faith’s?

“It should’ve gone to my mother. She earned it.”

“You’re disgusting.”

Who thought like that? Who actually wanted their child’s death benefits? What kind of mother behaved like a vulture waiting to collect money that meant her son was dead?

Beatrice Towler, that was who.

She was horrendous and she’d taught her daughter to be a greedy, money-grabbing cow, too. It was a miracle Paul had turned out the way he did. Just because it wasn’t a love match between the two of us, didn’t mean he hadn’t been a good person. He was. When I’d found out I was pregnant, he insisted on marrying me. He’d loved Faith from the very first moment I’d told him.

He would’ve been an excellent father.

“And you’re a whore who got knocked-up on purpose to trap my brother. And once you had his ring on your finger, you lied and cheated on him. I wouldn’t be surprised if Faith wasn’t even his.”

That was so far from the truth it was laughable. Though I wasn’t laughing, I was feeling homicidal.

Hindsight being what it was, the very first time they’d called me a whore and denied Faith was Paul’s daughter, I should’ve told them they were right. Maybe that would’ve been the time to come clean. But there’d been a reason Paul was so eager to marry me and claim Faith even though he knew the truth. I should’ve signed over Paul’s life insurance and walked away, keeping my daughter protected from Paul’s family.

But I couldn’t do it.

Paul hated his family with a passion. He never wanted them to have a penny of his money. Before he’d married me, all of his money was to be donated to the Navy SEAL foundation. Maybe that’s what I needed to do. That would be the right thing to do. I hadn’t touched any of it. I couldn’t, not when I still had secrets that could ruin everything.

“This is a waste of time. You’re not getting near Faith.”

“We’ll see,” Patricia said in a know-it-all tone. “She’s as good as ours. We have pictures of you cheating on Paul.”

Pictures?

That was impossible. I never cheated on my husband and I never lied to him. Paul was very aware I was in love with Holden even though I was married to him. As I said, we were not a love match; Paul and I were friends who’d slept together once, in a drunken one-night stand. Then we did what he felt was best for my unborn child.

Or did we?

Paul had spent the last eight months of his life in a loveless marriage.