glittering in his deceptively calm face, promising retribution.
She was not afraid.
Much.
But more importantly, she realised that one day, she really wouldn’t be afraid. Not at all.
“You can stop pretending,” she said. “Or maybe you can’t. I don’t know. I’ve never really understood how your mind works, but I think you really commit to the lies, don’t you?” Her mouth twisted into something that felt almost like a smile. “I don’t like having you here, so I’ll be quick. Whether you sign or not, eventually, we will be divorced. And when that happens, you will owe me child maintenance.”
Daniel’s innocent expression crumbled like dust, replaced by an acid-sharp mix of hatred and disgust. “Is that how you got this poor fucker to sleep with you? Did you promise him my money, Laura?”
She watched Samir’s hands curl into fists, watched the muscles in his back tense.
“I don’t want your money,” she said, with complete honesty. “I don’t want anything to do with you. I don’t want you to be this baby’s father—I don’t even want your name on the birth certificate. But I will take your money if you make me.”
“You’re a manipulative, conniving bitch.” He said it calmly, his expression smoothing into handsome blankness. The sun glinted off his bright hair. It really was a lovely colour. And he really was so pretty, with the eyes and the smile and the jaw. She’d be so very pleased if he fell off the face of the fucking earth.
“I don’t know what you’re doing with my sister,” she said, “but whatever it is, stop. Leave her alone.”
Surprise flitted across his face for a second. He hadn’t been expecting that. Probably because Daniel had never thought about anyone other than himself in his entire fucking life. He wouldn’t expect Laura to.
But he recovered quickly enough, with a burst of laughter. “Is that what this is, honey? Are you jealous?”
She steeled herself against the mocking words, the insinuations that always drove her off-track and into a corner, the way he corralled her so smoothly. “Listen to me. You will leave me alone, you will leave Hayley alone, you will leave my baby alone, or I will take you to court and demand everything you have.”
That got his attention. The words seemed to carve through that alabaster mask, revealing the truth beneath. The face she recognised, the one she remembered. The one she had nightmares about.
Oh, he was angry now.
“You think I want that bitch?” he sneered. “All she does is whine. And not half so prettily as you. Come home, baby. Come home and I’ll forget her.”
“No. You heard me. Leave.”
His jaw tightened. His nostrils flared, eyes narrowing to snakelike slits. “It won’t change things between you and Hayley, you know. She doesn’t like you. I don’t even think she loves you.”
The words shouldn’t hurt this much—not when she’d suspected that fact for a while now, every time her sister’s quiet spite and resentment flared a little brighter—but they did. Of course they did. Daniel knew they would.
He pushed his advantage. “Look, babe, you’re not thinking straight. You know you need me. You don’t know how to live on your own.”
God, how had she ever believed that? As if she hadn’t been a survivor since childhood?
But before she could respond, she heard Samir say softly, “Laura’s not alone.”
Which was a mistake. Daniel’s gaze flew to Samir, as sharp and vicious as a shark’s teeth. He stared at Samir, not at Laura, as he said, “This guy’s not sticking around, babe. Don’t be fooled. He probably has a fetish or something.” His lips twisted into a smile. “Soon as you drop the kid, he won’t be interested.”
“Laura?” Samir called.
“Yes?”
“Permission to beat the shit out of your husband?”
Somehow, in the midst of this horrible moment, she managed to laugh. Her giggle sounded like a curse word in church, and that didn’t help her composure. Her heart fluttered as she fought to swallow her chuckles. The tension caging her eased, even as she watched a flush of fury stain Daniel’s pale skin.
Oh, she loved Samir so much. So fucking much.
“I don’t want you to get into trouble,” she managed. “He’ll call the police.”
Oh dear. The comment, or maybe the casual distaste with which it was said, pushed Daniel’s always-precarious temper over the edge. With a strangled roar, he lunged for Samir.
Biting panic ripped through her veins at the sight of her worst nightmare, her greatest fear, swinging at the man she