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Friday, June 2nd@ 2:37pm:Okay. I get you are mad, but I have some questions that I need answered. Please text me.
Friday, June 2nd@ 7:52pm:You can’t ignore me forever, you stubborn ass.
Saturday, June 3rd@ 6:12am:… … …
Sunday, June 4th@ 3:16 am:I’m sorry. Please forgive me.
Closing the app, I clicked into my voice messages, quickly deleting those I didn’t give a damn about. When I heard…you have one message received on June 4that 3:20am.
Hitting the speaker button, I listened as her voice simply said…
“I love you.”
That was all she said.
Three simple words.
Words that gutted me so deep I felt as if someone had stuck their hand in my chest, trying to rip out my heart. Leaning forward, I gasped, sucking in deep breaths of air as tears fell down my face.
It was then I fucking knew I couldn’t do this without her. Not anymore. There was no Montana without Tessa. I refused to live in a world without her anymore. She was in my blood, my very breath, the very heart that beat in my chest.
I didn’t care if we fought like cats and dogs. None of that mattered anymore. All I cared about was her and our son.
Fuck everything else.
“Montana?” a soft female voice said. Looking up, I saw Illyria Valentinetti standing in the doorway, holding a vase full of long white stem roses, my mother standing beside her. “I apologize for intruding, but I came to say sorry to Tess.”
Wiping my eyes, I sat up. “What do you have to apologize for?”
Illyria shut the door behind her before talking a few steps deeper into the room. “Tessa visited the club the Friday before everything happened. She wanted her old job back, and I said some things I shouldn’t haven’t.”
Looking at my phone, I muttered, “She sent me several texts that Friday. She said she knew the truth.”
Illyria solemnly nodded. “Yes.”
Narrowing my eyes, I growled. “What the fuck did you tell her?”
“Everything.”
“What do you mean, everything?”
“I was still butt hurt after the way she treated me at the Gala. I wasn’t thinking. I just wanted to get my revenge. So, I told her the truth. Everything you’ve kept from her. Once I started, I couldn’t stop. She knows about Barney Graves, who her father is. I left nothing out.”
“Jesus Christ,” I muttered. “That’s why she texted and called. Why, Illyria? She was out. She wanted nothing to do with me anymore. She was going to take that job in West Virginia. She was going to be free.”
“No, she wasn’t,” my mother spoke up cautiously as my dad and Maxim entered the room. “She wasn’t going anywhere.”
Grinning, I crossed my arms over my chest and shook my head. “You fucking meddled again. Didn’t you? After I explicitly told you to stay the fuck out of my personal life, you couldn’t help yourself. What? What the fuck did you do now?”
Mom looked back at Dad, who firmly stood behind her, angry, waiting for her to speak.
“After Tessa broke it off with you, I remembered the offer at Charleston Memorial was still on the table. I knew she would take it and leave with York. When I called the director, he told me that Tessa accepted the position and would start Saturday, June 3rd. So, I had her served.”
“Excuse me?” I growled, sitting up. “Served with that?”
“Custody paperwork stating that she wasn’t allowed to leave the state until York was eighteen. That you wanted full custody if she took her son out of state. That if she stayed, you would share joint custody with York. I knew she wouldn’t fight it. She was broke, had no job and no family.”
“You BITCH!” I roared, jumping to my feet. “She would have been gone. She would have been safe!”
