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As expected, Holly is right on my heels.
“Speaking of my son, she seemed awfully chummy with her. I have the sense that they have interacted quite a bit. Tell me, Cole. Were you here playing house with your cheap hooker of an assistant?”
Holly has always had this remarkable way of getting under my skin. I stop short, turning on my heel. She stumbles and gazes up at me.
“Cole! Don’t be mad. I’m just trying to get to the truth. If we are going to be moving to London and living together as a family unit, I need to know if you slept with other women while I was gone.”
I take a step back, glowering at her.
“What are you talking about? What are you talking about, when we live together? That’s gibberish.”
“Well?” Holly gives me a sly smile. “Since I will never sign off on you taking Charlie out of the country without me, then you’d better take me too. You don’t have much of a choice. And I figure that we have Charlie, so we might as well be a family unit in a new city. I let my parents know about the plans a couple of weeks back, and they have already paid the deposit on one of the best private schools in the UK. Charlie will love it. Plus, I’ve found a great apartment that we can all live in. Four bedrooms, close to Charlie’s school–.”
I have no choice but to stop Holly’s flow of words. “Jesus. Are you insane?”
She swats my arm.
“Don’t you want to be part of a family again?”
I’m horrified and I don’t bother to hide my expression.
“With you? I’d rather knowingly skydive without a parachute. Maybe I could be ripped apart by a pack of coyotes instead. Or perhaps–.”
“Cole!” She looks pissed. “This was supposed to be a new beginning for us.”
“According to who?” My eyebrows rise and I shake my head in disbelief. “I knew that having you here was a terrible idea.”
Holly grabs my arm hard and looks me in the eye. “You would give up a chance to provide Charlie with the life he probably dreams about at night?”
“How would you know what Charlie dreams about?” I ask, bewildered. “And as for the other part of your question. You left me at the altar, and then I found out you’d been screwing that guy from the gym. We are not a family, and you made sure of that. When you were fucking that mystery guy while my son watched TV downstairs, you killed our family. Our family unit, as you call it, is dead on arrival.”
I rip my arm from her grip and walk away. I can’t ever remember being so angry before. Holly follows me into the main living room, her tone wheedling.
“That was a mistake.”
I march to the large sliding glass doors and head outside. When Holly follows, I round on her.
“We broke up. You left me, standing there waiting for you, in front of everyone we love! I was ready to pledge my life to you, but you rejected me in the most public, and humiliating way possible. The only reason you are here is because you gave birth to Charlie. Notice I didn’t call you his mother, because no mother would manipulate a child the way you have! All of that, in addition to the fact that you cheated on me. You manipulated our son to keep the truth hidden. So I’m at a loss as to why you think I would ever sink so low as to take you back.”
A startled laugh leaves her lips.
“Clearly you aren’t too upset about the wedding to bang your assistant as soon as possible.”
I point at the center of her face.
“That’s not the same and you know it. Now do us both a favor. Cancel the apartment in London. Tell your parents that if they want to see their grandchild, that they can request a visit.”
Holly huffs and folds her arms across her chest. “I’m not letting you take him.”
“Oh, Holly.” I chuckle and it sounds like a threat. “I will drag your ass into court and fight you. Not only that, but I’ll bury you. If you think that photo evidence of your cheating will not come out, you’re wrong. And remember how you lied on your taxes and had to pay big penalties? That will come out, too. Every single thing you have in that huge closet of skeletons will be dragged out and paraded around. I am done with handling you so gently!”
Holly looks like she’s sucking on a lemon. “I don’t understand why you’re being so nasty all of a sudden.”
I swear, I’m about to lose my mind. Fixing her with a scowl, I hiss at her.
“I’ve waited for years, Holly. Years! You know what? I should thank you for not showing up at our wedding. If you had, I might still be trying to make things between us work. It took me coming down here and dating someone who really cares about me to realize what a vile, toxic person you are.” I brush my hands off dramatically. “I’m done with you. If you want anything else, including to see my son, you can go through my attorney.”
She draws herself up and walks back out of the house, slamming the glass door behind her. I follow her, making sure she leaves the house. An Uber that she called pulls up and she gets in, slamming the door.
