Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 109086 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109086 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
“You fucking piece of shit—” Ashton cut himself off, but I heard the swift curses falling from him. “And if I send men after you? You opened a goddamn back door to my city, you fuck. You’re my enemy now. I know your weaknesses because that’s the kind of enemy I am. I could send men to execute that pretty little delusional woman of yours.”
I waited for him to finish.
“One call and your son is dead. His entire family. His sisters. His mother. You’d have to walk through their blood as you’d be the one who would discover their bodies. You want me to do that? Because that’s who I am, Worthing. You are forgetting who I am in this world.”
“You won’t. Because when you calm down, you’ll remember that I know more about your business than you think I do. And I know your woman. I know West’s woman. I know about your new compound. I know your businesses, the ones you don’t want anyone to know. And I know that in the back of your mind, you’ll think about everything that I knew about my family that I never told you. You’ll start wondering what else I know about your businesses. So, Ashton. It’s your move. You send men after me and mine, I’ll come for you and yours.”
“I despise you.”
I shook my head, holding my phone so tightly, but I knew the truth. I heard through the anger from him, saying, “Maybe. But I also helped give you your sunshine and I know what that’s like now. The war’s at your doorstep. I just opened the door for him to come in.”
“Fuck you, Worthing.”
I ended the call.
Glancing over my shoulder to where Sawyer was laughing at the table with EJ, I was looking at my new life. I meant what I said. He stood by as my lifelines could’ve been taken from me. There was no forgiving that.
This new life was just beginning.
Seeing me through the door, Sawyer smiled and waved at me. “Are you coming? Your beer’s getting warm. What are you doing?”
I grinned at her, sliding my hand inside my front pocket.
EJ gave me a knowing look and stood up, coming my way. He stepped through the door and lowered his voice. “You ready for this, old man?”
He was teasing, already knowing what I had planned when I walked inside.
It’d been hard between us.
Hard for him to accept that his mom never mentioned me. Hard for him to accept the reasons why I stayed away. He learned everything. I was done with keeping secrets. When he found out about Justin, he cried in my arms. “I wish I’d known him.”
I hugged him and shed my own tears. My voice was thick as I rasped, “He would’ve adored you. He did adore you, what he remembered about you.”
“So he knew about me?”
I hesitated. “He forgot a lot from that night. I think it was on purpose, but he never brought you up again. I decided to let it rest. I’m sorry.”
He shook his head, pushing away and raking his hands through his hair. “I’m furious with Mom. Like, I’m so fucking furious, but when I was taken and when you walked into that warehouse, things began to make sense. Things clicked that never clicked before. You were my dad. I could see that right away. I don’t totally remember everything that happened in that warehouse, but I remember that you loved me. That you were going to fight for me. That you did fight for me. I knew that much. That’s what stayed with me until I woke up in the hospital. I looked over and you were in the chair next to me. Everything, just, felt—I don’t know. My chest felt easier. Like I could breathe better. I had this feeling things were going to get better now. Things would make sense.” He looked my way, my jawline, my nose, my face, my hair all looking back at me. He had Justin’s eyes. But he was my son. “You know what I mean?”
I had a hard time getting a word out. “I know what you mean.”
Goddamn. I loved my kid.
I always loved him, but now I got to love him, and that was for the rest of my life.
It’s the type of love that brings a man to his knees. My son brought me to my knees and I knew there’d be more moments in the future.
I couldn’t wait.
He nudged my hand now. “Do you have a plan on how to do this?” He grinned, teasing, “Need to make a fucking list? Like Sawyer’s obsessed with. That’s what you have to look forward to. Lists and then lists upon lists and even lists for those lists.”
“Shut up.” I was grinning.
He was funny and teasing me.
I was happy, and I knew in a moment, I’d be even happier.