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“Something like that. She wants me to shut up. And she wants to shut me out.” He suddenly stands and there’s a nervous energy about him. Kellen paces. “I’ve done no good in my life.”
He scratches his chin and scowls at something in the distance, most probably recounting some of his biggest fuckups. Like lying to me, not just about Wren but countless other times. Like the time he set up Mad to take the fall for something he did in high school, and probably the worst of all, running his younger brother, Arlo, out of town. And those are just the things I know about. Who knows what else he’s done.
“But this is my kid. This is my chance to do something right. I want a fucking chance. I’m not looking to be with Dot. We’d kill each other, and she’s made it perfectly clear what she thinks of me. But no matter what she says or does, I’m the goddamn father.” He stabs a finger at me. “Not you.”
“Hey, I know.” I hold my hands up as if surrendering, but I’ve no wish to fight over this. “I’ve got nothing to do with this. Dot’s the one lying and dragging me into it. Are you willing to go on the record with that? Get a DNA paternity test so we can disprove anything Dot tries to come up with?”
“Hell yeah. She ain’t getting away with this.”
Wren and I share a look. Her face brightens, though I can see she’s trying to rein in her jubilation in the midst of Kellen’s plight.
At long last, we’ve got Dot right where we want her.
It’s over.
Chapter29
Wren
“Ican’t believe how much has changed from yesterday.” I start down the stairs to the ground floor of the library with one hand on the railing and the other holding my phone to my ear. “It’s like a whole new world.”
A giddy, childlike laughter escapes my chest and I don’t try to contain it. I can barely believe how our luck has changed.
Oliver’s deep, hearty laughter hits me through the phone line like what I imagine freedom might sound like, rich and expansive. “I know. It’s crazy and about damn time.”
“So tell me, what did your lawyer say?”
After Kellen left last night, we wanted to run through the streets of Winslow Grove shouting the truth for all to hear. We could hardly sleep knowing Dot’s reign of terror was coming to an end.
Oliver sent a late-night email to Kendall insisting on a meeting first thing this morning. Unfortunately, she was going to be in court in Helena, but she made room for him in her schedule this afternoon.
His voice jerks me back to our conversation. “She's confident that we have a strong defamation of character lawsuit. She even thinks we should give Dot a heads-up before we file?—”
Confusion swims through my thoughts. “But why would we tell Dot what we’re doing? Won’t that give her more time to fight back?”
“You’d think. Kendall believes that when Dot hears what we have, that Kellen is willing to testify and she’ll have to consent to a paternity DNA test, there’s no way she’ll want to go to court.” He pauses and I’m on edge, breathless in anticipation of hearing more.
Why isn’t he saying anything? Did someone come into the shop? Or did the line drop?
“Oliver?”
“Yeah, I’m here. Tyler.” He lowers his voice in that way he does when it’s only the two of us. “We have a winning case. Kendall doesn’t like to guarantee anything, but when I told her everything, she said this is a slam dunk. We have Dot.”
“Oh my gosh.”
“Yeah. Kendall thinks she’ll cave and agree to our terms. She’ll want to make it all go away.”
“What are the terms?”
“This is the best part.” His smile shines bright in his tone, and I wish he was in front of me so I could see it. “Dot will sign over her interest in the Nest. I get the business, one hundred percent. No strings. No money. And there’s a noncompete clause. She can’t open a business or work in a business of any kind that deals with custom furniture, design, anything.”
“Wait. What? Can you do that? She doesn’t get anything?”
“Nope. Again, she reminded me that Dot’s parents lent me the money. I paid them back with interest. The payments were made with revenue from the Nest. Neither Dot nor I paid from our own pocket, which is as it should be. She really hasn’t put anything into the business. Sure, she worked there, but she got a salary. So what she gets out of this is not being taken to court, charged with defamation, and likely having to pay a fine.”
“Oliver, this is amazing. I hope she goes for it.”
“Yeah. She’d be a fool not to.”
