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“I can’t do three million. That’s impossible.” I took a shuddery breath. “I might be able to do one, but I have to call my lawyer.”
Lydia put her hands on her hips. “I want three.”
“Lydia.” My father sounded exhausted. “One is plenty, so long as we don’t go back to Foxwoods. Let’s just take it—I want to go home.”
I straightened my shoulders. “Are you going to fight me for Noah? Because if you are, I’m not giving you a dime.”
“Depends.” Lydia lit another cigarette. My father might be done with the conversation, but she seemed to be in no rush to end it. “I’m thinking there’s more than a million available—especially if I ask your husband. Not only is he rich as fuck, but his family’s also in a lot of trouble.”
She blew out a cloud of smoke. “I’m thinkin’ he might not want the press to know that you guys swindled Noah away from us. And that you tried to pay us off to go away.”
“He offered you money in exchange for guardianship—Dad signed the papers in less than one minute! It’s not like it took much convincing.” I shook my head, disgusted. “How do you think that makes you look, huh? And now you’re back and threatening to blackmail me for more!”
“The thing is,” Lydia took another deep drag, “I don’t care about my reputation.”
She let that hang in the air, along with the cloud of smoke she exhaled.
I longed to rush her, smack the cigarette out of her mouth and yank her stupid orangey hair. Instead, I tried to gather what was left of my wits. I needed to get rid of her and my dad. I needed them to leave Northeast Harbor that morning and never come back. No matter how upset I’d been with Bryce, I knew one thing for sure: I didn’t want to hurt him, not like this. If Lydia and my dad went after him for the money, or worse—went to his father or the press—it could be devastating. I couldn’t do that to my husband.
“If you want to come at me and try to get more money—more than anothermillion dollars—go right ahead.” I looked her straight in the eye.
“I just might.” She laugh-coughed again.
I shrugged. “Good luck pulling this with my husband or his father. They will fuckyourshit up, Lydia. Compared to them, you’re junior varsity at a shitty little middle school in the middle of nowhere. They’ve gone pro as first-round picks. They will eat youalive. But like I said, it’s your choice.”
My dad groaned. “Lydia… Let’s just take the money.”
“Fine.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “But I’m not signing nothin’ this time.”
“You don’t have to. Dad’s the only one with legal rights to Noah.” I turned to him. “If I give you this money, you have to walk away once and for all. If you come back asking for more or threatening me, I’m going to have my fancy lawyer go after you. You don’t want to deal with that, trust me.”
“Fine Chloe.” He shook his head. “But what happened to you, huh? You used to be a nice girl.”
“How would you know?”
My father didn’t answer.
Sometimes, there was nothing left to say.
THIRTY-THREE
pinned
Maybe it’s true,I thought as I hustled back to Main Street.Maybe I used to be a nice girl, and now I’m not.Perhaps protecting my brother had made me rabid. Maybe dealing with Gene Windsor and Felicia Jones had gotten under my skin worse than I’d even thought. Maybe Iwasn’ta nice girl anymore.
But… That didn’t make me wrong. That didn’t make my father any less of a deadbeat dad or make Lydia any less selfish. I might not be perfect, but I was still Noah’s best shot at a happy life.
Right?
Daphne was pissed—and finished with her breakfast—by the time I joined her at the restaurant. “Where the hell have you been?”
I sighed. “The dog trainer wanted to talk about Boss’s pedigree or something. I barely understood what he meant, but he wouldn’t stop talking! I should’ve gotten out of there sooner—I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Daphne shrugged. “I saw my friend on the way here. She told me the pictures from last night were pretty bad. Apparently everyone’s talking about it, wondering if you and Bryce are having issues.”
I sighed. “Did you look at them yet?”
Daphne held up her phone. “I had to dosomethingwhile I ate breakfast alone.”
