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Carlton sucked his teeth and shook his head. “But the scandal it’ll cause. That, and your playboy ways. Oh, I’m sure there are dozens of other women willing to come forward and claim you’re their kid’s dad.”
The greedy gleam in Carlton’s eyes made Byron’s stomach churn. He wouldn’t doubt Carlton already had women lined up to say they’d slept with him. Even if he had a dozen paternity tests to prove his innocence, the stigma would follow him and cost him the campaign.
“I thought you’d see what I mean,” Carlton said. “Just think it over. But not too long.” Carlton put two fingers to his brow in a mock salute and walked out.
Byron punched his fist into his opposite hand. “Fuck!”
Dominic frowned. “You can’t pay him. Guys like Carlton never go away. I never should have taken his first deal.”
Byron paced back and forth. His mind raced with what to do next. He couldn’t dwell on previous decisions. They were already done. Byron had agreed with all the choices he’d made, and he’d deal with the results of those decisions.
“Protecting Zoe is what matters,” he said. “Carlton just proved what I feared. Her ex is about to get out of jail and he’s looking for her. There’s no way that man needs to get close to her.”
“If you pay him for this, you’ll have a paper trail of past dealings with him. He’ll make things worse and won’t hesitate to out you as a guy leaving babies all over the Southeast.”
Byron stopped pacing and met Dominic’s concerned stare. “No, he won’t. I have no intentions of paying him.”
“Then what are you going to do?”
He was going to outplay Carlton. Byron hadn’t grown up in this family to not recognize when he needed to make a big play in order to win. “I’m going to see Zoe. It’s time we figured out our next move in this game.”
