voice comes through the phone again. “O, lower the phone so I can see the bottom half.”
I adjust my phone as silence falls across the room again and after a long, agonizing minute, Nic’s voice cuts through the room. “It’s fake.”
“What?” Colton demands, his brows flying up as he steals the phone and looks at Nic through the screen. “What do you mean it’s fake? How can you tell?”
Nic lets out a sigh. He’s not exactly one who likes having to explain himself but seeing as though this case is a little different from the bullshit he’s used to dealing with, he sucks it up and gets on with his explanation. “O, grab the certificates.”
I slip them off the table and look down at them, one in each hand. “Got them.”
“See the bottom of your parent’s marriage certificate?” Nic questions. “There’s an emblem and it's really clear, bold lines but the Carrington one has bleeding. The picture isn’t as clear. A government-issued certificate wouldn't have that. This was printed by a cheap printer and I bet the paper quality even feels different.”
I rub my thumbs over the paper and look up at Colton. “He’s right. They’re different.”
“I’m always fucking right,” Nic mutters as Colton hands me back my phone and takes the certificates from me, studying them for himself.
Colton takes all of three seconds to notice the differences between the two and when he does, his hand slams down on the table before he glances up at his lawyers. “We’re done here. Come back tomorrow, I want that bitch done for forgery and inheritance fraud.”
“Yes, sir,” they say then dive into the paperwork on the table, hastily getting it all cleaned up before Colton gives them something else to do.
He picks the certificates up from the table and takes my elbow before leading me out of the room. “You could have said that you thought it was fake hours ago and saved me all that bullshit.”
Nic scoffs and I know without a doubt that a sarcastic comment is about to go flying from between his lips. “Yeah, because she’s the one responsible for saving your ass. That was fucking bullshit, man. Your lawyers should have picked that up the second they looked at it.”
Colton’s jaw clenches. He knows that Nic is right but he’ll be damned if he admits it. He meets my eyes above the phone before indicating down to it, silently telling me to wrap it up.
He turns away as if to give me privacy and I roll my eyes before dropping my gaze back to Nic’s. “Thank you,” I murmur. “He’ll never admit it, but you just saved his ass.”
Colton scoffs, but thankfully Nic ignores him. “It’s cool, O. You know I did it because you asked me to, not because that fucker deserved it. I would have slept easy had I said no.”
“I know, but still …”
Nic nods. “Listen, babe. I have to go. I’ll check in with you later, alright?”
“K,” I say with a small smile. “Love you. Tell the boys I miss them.”
Nic scoffs and in the blink of an eye, he disappears from the screen and as I look up at Colton, I find him staring at me with jealousy burning in his hazel eyes.
“Do you love him?” he questions, his gaze not breaking from mine for even a second.
I take a slight step back, preparing to hit him with my A-game. “How is that any of your business?”
“Just answer the question, Jade.”
I let out a heavy sigh and lean against the wall of the hallway. “Part of me still does while the other part wants to hate him so damn bad, but I just can’t. It’s complicated between me and Nic.”
“Did he ever hurt you?”
“Not in the way you’re thinking,” I explain. “He cheated.”
Colton’s lips pull into a tight line and as his eyes remain on mine, I see the exhaustion buried within him. I take his hand and start pulling him down the hallway while sending a quick text to Sebastian.
Ocean - Hook me up.
Sebastian - You sure, babe?
Ocean - Never been so sure in my life.
Sebastian - Give me ten minutes.
“What are we doing?” Colton asks when we reach the private bar in the kitchen and I still haven’t said a word.
I look up at him as I open the door and a wide grin slowly stretches across my face. “We’re getting fucked up and I don’t care what you say about it.”