Expired Getaway (Last Chance County #7) - Lisa Phillips Page 0,64
did you do?”
Aiden needed this done. “Sasha showed up at my house. Me, an eighteen-year-old kid doing construction, living in a one-bedroom apartment. She had a baby with her.”
Zander’s arms slid around Bridget.
“She told me you were dead. Which, I suppose, was the story she was going with all the way around.” A tear let loose and rolled down his cheek. “Told me that if I didn’t take the baby, she would wind up in foster care.”
Zander caught Bridget before she hit the floor.
“I set you up.”
“You think I care that you handed me fifty thousand dollars and a child. My child. The one I made with Bridget.”
Sasha waved her arm at the window. “Seems like you’ve enjoyed the fruits of it.”
“The money is in a trust. For Sydney. Because I thought her mother was dead, so I figured she might want something to remember her by. Like college paid for, or a down payment on her first house. Not guilt money because you lied. To both of us.”
“She’s alive.” Bridget whispered the words.
Behind Bridget, Zander glared at Sasha. “Are you serious?”
“It was a dangerous time. That kid would be in danger even now if it wasn’t for me. She could’ve been killed!” Sasha’s expression turned desperate.
Bridget let out a deep sob. Her face crumpled.
Zander didn’t let go of her. “You’re the one who took her family from her.”
Sasha stared at the two of them.
Before she could make more excuses, Aiden said, “You did this.”
Bridget had Zander help her to her feet.
Sasha’s face reddened. “It was too dangerous for a child. You’d have had to go into hiding, and you’d have been all alone.”
“So you tore everything apart. All so Bridget could be who you thought she should be.” Aiden swiped the moisture from his face.
“Get out.”
“Bridge—”
“Get. Out.”
Zander looked mad enough to spit fire. “Sasha. You need to go.”
Aiden didn’t know what would happen next but he prayed. He prayed that God would make something beautiful out of the ashes of what their lives should’ve been.
Bridget had missed so much.
Sydney’s life had a hole in it that only her mother could fill.
“You stole her mother from her. Lied to all of us. Took from us.” Aiden could go on, but it would be redundant. She knew what she’d done.
Bridget lifted her chin. “Get out, Sasha. I never want to see you again.”
Sasha strode to the door and walked out. As though dismissing them, though she had nothing with her but a sling.
The other man in the room glared at the door. “I should go too. Let you guys talk.” Zander gave Bridget a hug. He whispered something in her ear, and she nodded. Then he was gone.
And they were alone.
“Bridget.” Her name was a moan.
He needed to get back to Sydney. Aiden didn’t like leaving her alone normally, let alone when there was a dangerous man in town. Was she going to come with him? They should go slow. Meet each other. Not overload Sydney with the sudden news her mother wasn’t dead, an angel in heaven.
How were they going to do this?
“You should go, too.”
Aiden frowned. “Bridget—”
“I need to think.” She looked haggard. Destroyed, the way life had left her. Struggling to put the pieces back together. “Clarke…”
She’d been through so much. It was unlikely to get better without things getting worse first. Things were seriously complicated. The road ahead would be rough going, but they would walk it.
Together.
“Do you want to meet her?” He motioned to the window.
Bridget glanced in the same direction, and he saw tears swimming. “Sasha was right about one thing.”
“No. She wasn’t.”
Bridget shook her head. “She’s not safe with me.” Then she turned to him. “Clarke. Capeira. I can’t be in her life.” She gasped a breath. “What is her name?”
“Sydney.”
Bridget’s face softened into the smallest of smiles, probably at the mention of the name she’d put on the birth—and death—certificate. Just a second, and then it was gone. “I can’t see her. I won’t put her in danger.”
“Bridge—”
“You need to leave, Aiden.” Her expression blanked, and she glanced at him. Her eyes might as well have been dead. “Just go.”
“This isn’t done.” She deserved a relationship with her daughter. Both of them did. They could even be a family if that was what she wanted.
Anything to heal that pain on her face.
Tears rolled down her cheeks. “Please, just go.”
Twenty-one
The front door closed behind him, and Bridget almost sagged onto the floor. She pressed her palm against the wall instead, breathing hard.