Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 74324 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 372(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74324 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 372(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
It was as if she’d given up cleaning all together when I left, and by the looks of all the take out menus, scattered around, she stopped cooking, too.
“I have to go to a doctor appointment, do you…are you still going with me?” She asked softly.
I shrugged. “Yeah. That’s fine.”
The conversation I wanted to have probably shouldn’t be discussed at a doctor’s office, but I thought that just maybe it’d keep her from throwing a huge fit.
We drove the hospital in my truck that I hadn’t moved from under the carport since I’d left.
As I parked and got out to walk, I wasn’t immune to the looks Jennifer and I got.
Jennifer was beautiful and pregnant, she was stunning.
People looked at us like we were the perfect couple.
Oh, if they only knew!
I hurried to take a seat, and Jennifer didn’t take the one next to me, instead sitting a few seats over.
We sat in silence for five minutes until a nurse called her back.
“You must be so excited. You only have a few more weeks to go!” The nurse said happily. Then, she turned her eyes to me. “I’ve been wondering when you’d show! She always telling us how proud she is of you.”
I gave Jennifer a look that clearly said everything I was feeling, and she looked away with embarrassment.
We waited for the nurse to get done taking Jennifer’s blood pressure, checking the baby’s heartbeat and asking if Jennifer had any concerns.
“I’ve been having what I think are Braxton hicks, but my back’s been hurting for going on a week now,” she said.
That was news to me.
I may not like her very much, but I didn’t want anything to happen to her.
Which reminded me that I needed to get to the point of why I was here with her in the first place.
“Okay, I’ll let the doctor know. He may or may not want to check you,” she said.
I was hoping for not.
I wanted to talk to her, and if he had to check her, I’d have to leave.
“Thank you,” Jennifer said formally.
The nurse smiled and patted her arm, and I wanted to scream at the nurse about how manipulative Jennifer was.
She could make anyone like her.
Anyone.
Well, except me.
I didn’t like her.
Then again, neither did my brothers.
The moment I was left alone with Jennifer, I pulled out a note and handed it to Jennifer to read.
Her eyes widened, and her head hung like I’d gutted her where she sat.
“This man approached me, offered me two hundred thousand dollars to sleep with you. To get some information out of you. I got him your number. Your address off your driver’s license. Little things like that.” Jennifer’s lip trembled, and I never wanted anything more but to put her in her place.
I kept my cool. Barely. She was pregnant with my child after all, and I would never actually hurt her…at least not physically.
“Go on,” I said shortly.
“At first, he just wanted me to sleep with you so he could get pictures of us to blackmail you with should they ever get busted.” Jennifer whispered brokenly. “But when I got pregnant, he decided it would be better to have access to you anytime they wanted it. They planned to use our child to make that happen.”
White hot rage boiled underneath the surface of my carefully calm exterior.
“And that was okay with you?” I asked carefully.
Her eyes met mine, and she looked grief stricken.
“I took every possible precaution when it came to you. I put on a condom for you. I had an IUD. I never intended for this to happen. I just wanted to take care of my…problem, to make it go away,” she cried. “I just wanted to get off of drugs.”
I crossed my arms over my chest.
“And how’d that work out?” I asked.
She shook her head.
“I kicked the drugs in rehab, right before I realized that I was pregnant. So, in a roundabout way, my original problem is gone, but, well, new ones have since emerged,” she admitted.
Ain’t that the fuckin’ truth.
“Why tell me now?” I asked, staring at her stomach.
Oh, how I wished this would’ve happened with Annie.
I wanted Annie to be the woman carrying my child, and not this deceptive bitch in front of me.
“I should be having the baby any day now…and I wanted you to know…in case Liam tries something,” she whispered.
I looked away from her to the wall beyond her head.
“You’re going to sign the paper relinquishing all parental rights to this child and giving sole custody to me. You will leave and never look back. You’ll never try to contact us again, ever. And by us, I mean me, the baby, Annie, my friends. Anyone in my life at all. I’ll get you out. I have a plan in motion through some contacts who can and will make you disappear. You’ll do everything they tell you to do, exactly as they instruct you to do it, and you’ll be able to live your life with a clean slate and a fresh start,” I said slowly, succinctly, making myself clear and leaving no room for negotiation.