Settling the Score (The Summer Games #1) - R.S. Grey Page 0,121

love with her. I just know he’s been helping her falsify the pregnancy! It makes so much sense.”

“Has he said that?”

“They only just started talking about it when you called.”

“Get back in there Georgie, and call back on my lawyer’s conference line so I can have him record their conversation. I’ll text you the number.”

The chance that Caroline would say anything incriminating in a public setting was slim to none, but regardless, I ran back into the conference room and explained the situation to Dave as quickly as possible. Just as I finished, the phone rang in the center of the conference table, and for the next thirty minutes we were all privy to Caroline’s conversation. We sat, stunned as Caroline spoke with her friend, Dr. Dunn.

I didn’t care that my stomach was growling with hunger; I hovered over that conference table and listened to Caroline’s voice through the speaker. She was laying on the charm like I’d never heard before, sweet and innocent and disgustingly pleasant as she droned on with her friend.

At first, I thought Georgie had overestimated the content of their conversation.

“This reminds me of the good old days in Cambridge,” he said with a wistful tone.

Caroline giggled and Georgie cleared her throat.

“You know those are some of the fondest memories I have.”

Dr. Dunn leaned closer to the phone. “I did receive your payment the other day, but it would be quite unnecessary if you were amenable to my alternative. Honestly, Caroline. You know I’m mad about you—are you sure it’s worth faking a paternity test just to be with a man who doesn’t love you? You and I could have—”

“Hush, Nick. You know how much this marriage means to me. I love you, you know I do, but I’m too stressed to think about all of this right now. Please don’t make this more difficult than it has to be. You and I will always have something special between us, truly.”

Their tone wouldn’t have drawn the attention of the patrons around them, but to me, her words were good as gold. From “darling, I adore you”, they slipped so easily into the conversation we’d all been waiting for. Dave practically chomped at the bit, hovering over the conference table, tirelessly taking notes on the things we were overhearing.

“We must keep this between us, darling…”

“You’ve been such a good friend to me through this all, you must know how much your help means to me…”

“Freddie insisted on the paternity test as we assumed he would, but he would never suspect your involvement…”

“Sophie will run the story as soon as I give her the go-ahead…”

Caroline had finally slipped up and dug her own grave, and Georgie, the brilliant little detective, had been there to listen to her do it. I’d known for weeks that Caroline Montague was a manipulative, conspiratorial, dishonest woman, and now the world would know too. It was time to finish this whole thing once and for all.

CAROLINE AGREED TO dinner right away. She answered my call with a ‘darling, I’m so happy to hear from you’ and she’d crooned into my mobile about how she’d been hoping for a reconciliation once we’d arrived back in London. She admitted that the circumstances of the pregnancy must have come as quite a shock, but that she knew, in time, I would come to understand her reasoning behind putting a wedge between Andie and I.

“I just couldn’t lose you like this Freddie,” she said, reaching across the table at the restaurant Georgie and I had agreed upon. We’d only been sitting at the table for ten minutes and I’d already had enough. Her hand fell on top of mine and I took in the sharp shade of red covering her nails. It was the same shade she’d smeared across her lips—lips that were currently tipped up in an innocent little smile. She was dressed in a silky cream dress, back to looking the part of the innocent angel. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could let her get away with it.

“I think you’ll make a wonderful father, Freddie.”

Had I eaten the bread they’d brought to our table, it would have come back up with that comment.

“How is the pregnancy going so far?” I asked, careful to watch her face for any sort of tell.

She pressed her hand to her stomach as if there was really something there other than the French baguette she’d stuffed down her throat a second earlier. “I’ve been having bouts of morning