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The man sneered in my face and it took a whole lot of willpower to stop myself from decking him right then and there. “You think you’re hot shit, don’t you Mr. Moneybags?”
I heard the door open behind me and Nicole slide out, sounding both scared and exasperated. “Guys, let’s not do this. Jason, just go home. There’s nothing for you here.”
“Nikki, I get it,” the apparent-cop said, turning on the charm. All of the hairs on the back of my neck stood up, sensing the change was not as genuine as it seemed. “You’re scared, and you think this guy is going to protect you. But he’s not.”
The man smirked at me again, and I could tell that he was so proud of himself. “I took the opportunity to run your plates when I left yesterday. Turns out you have quite the background check on ya.
“Mr. James Hines, billionaire extraordinaire, but you weren’t always like that. About seven years ago you filed complete and total bankruptcy, screwing over all of your investors. I didn’t find it at first because you filed under a different name. Looks like you’ve had a little identity shake up, haven’t you, Mr. Hines?” He looked to Nicole and I felt my stomach drop. “You see? I get that you’re with him to support that baby inside of you, and that life has been hard since you left ton, but he’s just going to do what he did with his last company. Give you all of these promises and then leave you empty handed when he blows everything.
“He isn’t the type of man that you can trust to take care of you.”
I stood there like an absolute idiot. I was so shocked by the revelation and the flood of emotions rushing through me that I didn’t know what to say. I was enraged, mortified, embarrassed, but before my mind could slog through the chemicals flooding me, Nicole stepped between the two of us.
“Who the hell do you think you are, Jason!? How on Earth do you have the gall to show up here after you left me to the wolves back home!
“You are a selfish, egotistical douche and I never want to see you again. I’d slap you right now but I know you’d probably try to leverage your job as a way to slam me in jail because you’re not man enough.”
“You-”
“You what?” She spat, standing on her tip-toes so she was almost in his face. “You’re gonna threaten a pregnant lady? How civil servant of you! Get out of here, Jason. And you better hope to God that I never see you again!”
He sputtered something for several moments, and I was sure that I was going to have to step in, but he ended up just shrugging and walking away, probably to go shoot something once he was back home at the range.
Nicole turned to me, red-faced and with angry tears in the corners of her eyes, but to me she was absolutely beautiful. She was like a vengeful Valkyrie, swept up in the heat of battle. But as she looked at me, I saw that fierceness crumble, and she grew more and more exhausted by the second.
“Do you think that maybe we could just order in? I’d like to just be a homebody today.”
“Of course,” I said, opening the door for her so she could go back in. Sure, it would have been nice to go sit at a diner and have a quintessential breakfast like the ones that I had with my parents back in the day, but as far as I was concerned, Nicole’s needs came first.
As I followed along behind her, my mind was still reeling from everything that had just transpired. She had found out my grand secret, the one that nobody in my current employ knew besides my lawyer. She knew that I had once so thoroughly messed up that I had to file for the biggest black mark on a business man’s records.
And she had still defended me.
Who was this woman, and how did she turn the entire world inside out so effortlessly every time we met?
Chapter Twenty-Eight
~Nicole~
I stared at James from across the couch, not quite sure what to say. We’d had quite the morning that I definitely hadn’t expected, and I was still reeling from everything.
So, he’d been bankrupt at one point in his life? That was certainly intense, but I supposed a risk when you were dealing with large businesses. The only thing I was bothered by was why Jason thought that was some sort of great secret, and why he had reacted so strongly.
Although I couldn’t see his face because I was behind him, I could easily see how his shoulders tensed and his spine went ramrod straight. Heck, it was more of a reaction than he had when he found out I was pregnant. Did he really think that was a big deal?
