Bad Boy (An Indecent Proposal) - J.C. Reed Page 0,43

me,” I couldn’t help but comment.

“Just like me, yes.” He grimaced. “Except, my plan doesn’t involve stealing your money or making you lose everything. Actually, quite the contrary’s the case. I’m making sure that Clint doesn’t get your inheritance,” he said. “I never intended to keep it. You have to believe me.”

I exhaled a sharp breath.

“Like I said before, I’m not interested in your money,” Chase continued. “I want revenge.”

“How are you going to accomplish that?”

“As your husband, I can take him to court. Your mother’s money is your family heirloom. It belongs to you. He had no right to take and invest it. Just give me a year to sort it out, and he’ll be ruined.”

I frowned and let out a shaky breath I didn’t know I had been holding. At some point, knots of unease had formed in the pit of my stomach. “Are you saying that you’ll take him to court? A real trial?”

“It’d involve a little detour, but basically, yes. The plan’s to make sure he loses the inheritance, the home that should be yours, everything.”

“Oh, my god.” I shook my head, closing my eyes.

Fighting my stepfather in court was the last thing I wanted—or needed.

The past few years, I had done my best to stay away from Clint, minimizing contact, forgetting the past. Now that I was married, Chase was trying to force me to face my past again.

I wasn’t afraid of Clint. I despised him. I resented him, blamed him for my mother’s suicide.

“Once I take everything away from Clint and expose him for who he is, I can return everything that is rightfully yours.”

“Aren’t you even asking if I want this?” I said weakly.

His brows shot up. “Well, don’t you?”

“No, I don’t.”

My words rendered him silent for a minute.

“You won’t have a choice, Laurie,” he said coldly. “I’m your husband. And I so happen to be your lawyer. You’ll have to leave it up to me.”

“I didn’t hire you as my lawyer, Chase.”

“I bailed you out so, technically, I am.”

My thoughts were racing, and at last I took a deep breath. “I get it. What Clint does is terrible and I agree that he needs to be punished. But why don’t you just move on and let karma do its job? Why is it so important to you to get even with Clint? I’m not saying I’m justifying what he does; I’m just trying to understand why you’re still living in the past when you and your brother are clearly doing well. I mean, Kade owns LiveInvent. Talk about wow. That’s a huge accomplishment. And you don’t seem poor, either.”

It was true.

LiveInvent was where the big-shot strategists and best marketing professionals worked. In the few years it had operated, it had quickly become a household name among celebrities and famous brands, and my big dream ever since I realized they were behind almost every major campaign that had won a prize in the past years.

“It took us ten years to build LiveInvent. It didn’t happen overnight,” Chase said. “But you’re right. There’s a reason why it’s so important for me to get revenge.”

I held my breath as I realized the moment I had been waiting for had come.

“Clint is the reason my father committed suicide,” Chase said. “When my dad couldn’t repay Clint’s loan, we weren’t just miles in debt; we ended up homeless and without any hope. My father was desperate, not because he had just lost his business. My mom grew sick, very sick, and there were medical bills we couldn’t pay. When the medical insurance company refused to pay, my father drove of a cliff.” His voice broke.

“You said your parents died in a road accident when you were nine,” I said.

He shook his head. “It was a lie, Laurie. I couldn’t tell you the truth, not when we barely knew each other.”

“I’m sorry.” I looked up and flinched at the intensity in his eyes filled with pain.

“There’s nothing you can do,” Chase said. “There’s nothing anyone could have done. For a long time, we thought it had been an accident, until we found the note. He had killed himself out of desperation, so that we’d get his life insurance money to pay for my mom’s medical treatment. He did it so that my brother and I could still go to college and have a future; so that my mom would get well. Needless to say, my mom’s treatment came too late and she didn’t make it.” His gaze pierced