those steel balls that you’ve always had. That’s a real fucking shame.”
“Hey,” I snap. “My balls are still hanging right where I left them.”
“Then what are you waiting for? Go and march that sweet ass in there and take what you need just like I always taught you to.”
Fuck. He’s right.
I pull up my big girl panties and get the fuck over it. If I’m right, he’ll learn to forgive me and if I’m wrong, then screw him because I was at least trying, which seems like a lot more than what his very expensive lawyers are doing.
I march out of the pool house and don’t stop until I'm storming my way through the massive door of the formal dining room. All eyes fall to mine and the noisy room becomes silent.
Colton watches me through narrowed eyes and I can tell that he’s only moments away from telling me to fuck off out of here.
“I need the marriage certificate,” I say, keeping my chin high and demanding respect.
A few scoffs come from the lawyers and I’m instantly dismissed until Colton notices the phone in my hand and the other marriage certificate. “Give it to her,” he roars, making at least fifteen of the fuckers jump.
They all scramble—grown ass men terrified of an eighteen-year-old kid. It takes a full minute of searching through the mess of papers until the certificate is finally found and passed to Colton as though it holds the secrets of the universe.
He instantly hands it to me and I step up to the table beside him, sweeping my hand over the papers in my way and watching as they go flying off the table.
Nasty comments are muttered under breaths while Colton cringes, knowing that shit isn’t going to sit well with the dickheads around the table. It's Nic’s laugh through the phone that keeps my spirits high.
“You better know what you’re doing,” Colton murmurs beside me, making Nic scoff at his lack of faith.
“Have I ever led you wrong?”
Colton scoffs right back and I decide to get this figured out before it turns into some petty bullshit fight through a phone. “Alright,” Nic says. “Hold the phone down at the table so I can see them both up close.”
I do as I’m asked and as Nic looks over the certificates, Colton looks down at me. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he demands, keeping his voice low but with the silence in the room, every ear has a front-row seat to our conversation.
“Thinking like a woman,” I tell him, earning myself a few irritated scoffs from the table of men before me, every single one of them a sexist asshole. “You dove headfirst into trying to keep her from getting her hands on your father’s fortune that you didn’t even stop to think if it’s even real—”
“It’s real,” comes grunted from the left-hand side of the table.
My eyes snap up to the bastards before me. “Are you sure about that?” I question, looking back at Colton. “If it were real, where’s the marriage license and why the hell are we only hearing about it now? Not to mention, there’s always a delay in getting these certificates. It takes at least six weeks after the wedding to receive it, but according to the date on the certificate, they were married less than two weeks ago. It doesn’t add up. Besides, your dad was a lot of things, but he wasn’t careless. If he was going to marry some gold-digging whore, he would have done it the right way and he would have had the tightest prenup that money could buy. He cared about money bags, his reputation, and his businesses more than his own children. So no, I don’t think he would have risked it all for some girl. Even if she was the love of his life.”
“I’m not going to lie,” he murmurs, “I haven’t been able to wrap my head around him actually doing this but the certificate was there …”
“Are you serious?” a voice says from across the room. “You’re taking advice from an uneducated girl who comes from trash? Colton, please think this through. You need to be smart about this.”
Colton’s stare is sharp enough to kill and the man instantly goes quiet. “Pack up your things and get the fuck out of my house.”
“I … I …”
“NOW.”
The old man reluctantly stands up and starts packing up his things with a huff, but I don’t get to watch the show as Nic’s