Didn't Expect You (Against All Odds #2) - Claudia Burgoa Page 0,93
him.
“Part of our adult conversation?” I ask.
He nods. “I have to run to Ford’s. Your car is in the garage. The furniture is back the way D found it. We have a lot to sort out, but I hope that you want to solve this with me.”
I feel like he dumped the pieces of a puzzle on a table and wants me to assemble them or just forget about the puzzle—and him. To move on with my life and leave him behind.
Is he scared that this isn’t permanent?
“Hey, can I ask you something?” he asks, and doesn’t wait for a response. “Would you take me if I didn’t have a penny to my name?”
“That sounds like a question for Friday,” I answer, but he’s actually responding to my silent question. “You’re trying to figure out if I’m going to choose my family over you, aren’t you?”
I stare at him, barely breathing.
“No, I don’t want you to choose. I just want to know what you need, because I don’t want you to leave me.” His voice is almost cracking.
“First of all, I need you to trust me that I am not with you because you can just buy a house within a day. I don’t care about your checkbook. I can make it on my own. If you lose everything today, we will start together from the ground up working side by side to build our future,” I clarify. “Also, you have to trust that when I decide to say, ‘I’m in,’ I won’t leave you. I’m me. Not your mother, Bronwyn, or any other woman. I need to figure out what is going to happen with Edward before I can make a decision about my future.”
He nods. “Just to recap, I stopped loving Bronwyn years ago. What I feel for you is a trillion times bigger than what I felt for her. You have all the time in the world. However…I need you to keep me in the loop.”
We kiss briefly before he leaves, and I make my way into the house with Brock by my side.
As Nate mentioned, nothing has changed. Except, the place doesn’t feel like mine anymore. There are flowers all around, just the way we have them at his place. It’s something I recommended a couple of months back, mentioning that they’d bring happiness into his home.
Taking a deep breath, I call Edward.
“I told you I need time,” he snaps when he answers the phone.
“This isn’t a game, Edward,” I say. “Meet me at my house in thirty minutes.”
“I thought you were in New York, being Pierce’s bitch,” he says in a snarky tone.
“Listen, you either control your language or we’re going to have a problem,” I warn him. “The only thing I’m requesting is for you to relinquish the parental rights of a child you obviously don’t care about.”
“I care so much that I’m working with a family lawyer to ensure that you come back to this state where I can make sure my kid is safe,” he threatens me. “I am ready to fight for full custody of my son.”
“It’s a girl,” I announce without mentioning that he can’t file for custody until the baby is born.
“What the fuck?” he growls. “There are no girls in my family. We all are boys. You need to get a real test. Just know that from now on, things will be done my way. You’ll go to the doctor I assign and stay in the state so I can see to my kid.”
“You need to lower your voice,” I demand. “You want to do this the hard way. I’m ready for it. Just know that when this is over and done with, there’ll be a restraining order against you. You won’t be able to approach us.”
He hangs up on me, and I email Pierce right away.
I spend the rest of the week with my family. Ford proposes to Persy on Tuesday. We celebrate her birthday on Thursday. My parents are excited because I have my house back. I don’t have the heart to tell them that it’s Nate’s and not mine. That I haven’t decided what I’m going to do with my future because the last few months with Nate have been the best months of my life.
Yet, I don’t know what we’re doing because Edward might be trying to do something stupid. I’ve worked for the Bryants. I know what they are capable of doing, and they have connections.