AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Or if it’s something else.
I take the last corner until we make it to the house. In a rush, I grab Jadon and take quick steps to the door, my hand shaking while I screw around with the lock until it clicks open.
Well, it doesn’t click open from my end.
It opens from the inside.
Her face alone rips the air from my lungs and sends my heart into overdrive. I knew it. We shouldn’t have come back. Her smile is the one to fear. She’s the vindictive one that hides in his shadow.
With Jadon tight against me, asking who she is, I take a step back, only for someone to stop me from behind.
“You’re not going anywhere, Allie,” Ted’s voice is in my ear. His icy fingers shift my hair away from my shoulder and he presses his lips to my neck. He breathes me in, holding something hard against my back, while I’m frozen with those blue eyes on me.
She looks at me as though I’m the one that’s done something wrong. As though I’m the one who chose to be born and all that.
I knew I shouldn’t have come here.
Judging by the look on Vivian Vandenburg’s face, she knows what I’m thinking. I’m not fully aware of the dynamics here, but I can sense the tension between Vivian and Ted, and my gut is telling me now why Mark was covering this up.
It wasn’t Ted or Katrina or even Mark that hit me.
It was his jealous wife.
Chapter53
Allie
“You have five minutes to get whatever you need most, and then you are to leave with Theodore.”
That’s all we get. Vivian speaks like she’s the queen of all the ice and every cold thing out there. I get she hates me, but is the gun in my back necessary? Or her sneer?
From what Lucas has said, she and Mark have an open marriage. I’m sensing that’s not her choice, if that’s the case.
I’m assuming Mark will show up at some point. Either he is completely orchestrating this little Vivian involvement, or he knows absolutely nothing about it. I can’t imagine she casually mentioned it over her poached eggs and mimosa breakfast this morning while he probably scrolled through his Twitter or whatever people like Mark do at breakfast.
I don’t waste time, though, following her demands. First, I am ninety-nine percent sure that is a legitimate weapon Ted has pressed against me. Second, she has this too-calm demeanor with an apathetic tone, so she’s not just at the edge of whatever patience she may have had. She’s already hit the bottom.
“Mommy?” Jadon tugs at my shirt while keeping an eye on Vivian. “Who is she?”
Ted pushes me forward down the hallway toward the bedrooms. We still have boxes everywhere, so I have to step around everything.
“Jadon, I need you to stay really quiet right now, okay?”
He ignores me and addresses Ted instead. “Ted, why are you here?”
Ted croons and my spine goes stiff. He pets Jadon’s face with a false sincerity. “You, me, and your mom are going on that trip we talked about a few months ago. Remember, we talked about roller coasters and seeing the—”
“What about my daddy? Is he coming?”
I shudder. If he really was right behind me, he wouldn’t get here in time. She’s given us five minutes and Lucas is at least fifteen minutes behind us if they left when he said they would.
“No, my boy,” Ted says sweetly. “He has to stay here for work, but he wants you to have a good time and said you should be happy that we can be a family again. Isn’t that exciting?”
Family.
“Ted,” I say in a low voice. “You don’t have to do this.” I turn around so I can face him and so Jadon won’t see him. “Whatever this is, you can walk away from it right now, and I won’t say anything.”
I have no control over whatever Lucas might do, though. But if he listens, I’ll do my best to stop Lucas.
