Billy & The Beast (Ever After, New York #3) - Eli Easton Page 0,54

they will strip you and your mother of every grain of rice, every cent, every thread of clothing, every shred of credit you have left. Do you understand me?”

I’d never been spoken to like that before in my life. He was so cold and brutal, so intimidating. My face grew hot and my eyes burned. But, still, I couldn’t believe it was happening.

“I need to speak to Aaron about this,” I said.

His eyes narrowed. “That is precisely what you will not do. Try to contact him again, and you’ll find yourself in jail.” He glanced at the police officer, and the man nodded. The officer looked at me hard, like I was a bug he was eager to crush.

“But I didn’t do anything!” I protested, my head pounding. “I don’t understand. Why are you doing this?”

Emmanuel didn’t answer. He turned and walked away. The policeman gave me another hard stare before going after him. They got in their cars and drove away.

I didn’t feel like I was in my body as I calmly walked to the kitchen, put the injunction on the table, poured myself a cup of coffee (it was cold), and sat down. I read it over. Every word. Just as Emmanuel had said, it was a legal order that prohibited me from speaking about Aaron and—much, much more importantly—from contacting him. Sebastian Montgomery IV was listed as the plaintiff.

I wasn’t even supposed to speak with him? How could that be? How had Emmanuel Clark managed to get a judge to authorize this injunction when I hadn’t done anything wrong? Had he paid off a judge? And why? Why would he do this?

It made no sense. Sure, maybe I’d lied to Emmanuel. Maybe I’d strung him along. And maybe he didn’t like that I was in a relationship with Aaron. But this was, like, hardcore Mafia shit. Why?

Was it a Romeo and Juliet thing? Was he really so incensed that I was poor, a lowly gardener not good enough for Aaron? So much so that he’d go to these lengths to stop us?

And, again, why? He wasn’t even Aaron’s dad. And, from Aaron’s description of his father, he didn’t sound like the type of total asshole who would put restrictions on Aaron’s dating life in his last will or something.

What was going on?

I had to. I had to do it. I took out my phone and called Aaron. Fuck Emmanuel, I needed to speak to him, to know if this was real.

But when I placed the call, instead of going through, a message appeared on my phone. This number has blocked you.

I stared at it. Seriously? I tried texting him. The same message appeared.

I put my phone down. My hand shook. So I couldn’t call or text Aaron. And there’d be guards posted at Malfleur. I had no way to get in touch with him. I was cut off. Completely.

I sat there for a long time, my brain churning. It took a while to accept it, for the reality of my situation to sink in. But, in the end, it was all pretty simple.

Aaron had to know about this. He had to know about the injunction. He was listed as the plaintiff. And it wasn’t like he wouldn’t notice when I didn’t show up at work. Plus, he’d blocked me on his phone.

Emmanuel might be the bulldog, but Aaron held the leash. The great Seb Montgomery IV was done with me, apparently. I’d been cast aside like yesterday’s trash. He’d been sweet last night. He’d kissed me, held me. Fucked me. Had he already been planning this? I wanted to puke.

Tears filled my eyes and I cried, sitting there at the kitchen table. Why, Aaron? It wasn’t like I’d expected a happily ever after. I knew I wasn’t good enough for him. But couldn’t he have just told me, to my face, that it was over? Why hadn’t he told me to my face?

Had I been too pushy? Did he worry I’d talk him out of it? Did my working there complicate things? Like, was he too chickenshit to fire me and dump me at the same time?

Maybe he’d asked Emmanuel to take care of it, in a niceish way, and Emmanuel had taken it too far because he didn’t like me?

The bottom line was this: Aaron had dumped me. My time at Malfleur was over.

Chapter 21

Billy

“Billy? Billy Martin! Come over here.”

I pulled Mr. Barks to a halt on the sidewalk. Mrs. Delphi’s voice came from her front