Page 86 of Ruthless Protector

He scowled. “I said I would.”

“You don’t exactly have the best track record for keeping your word, so you’ll have to excuse me for not believing you in this either.”

He twisted in his seat, searching the room again, before his eyes came back to me. “What is this? What are you playing at?”

“For you to sign away your parental rights, we need to go to family court. It needs to be done properly, legally, or there’s no deal, and I’ll find another way to scrape you off,” I said, forcing steel into my voice.

“You didn’t say anything about that. I’m not dealing with courts and lawyers and all that shit,” he spat.

“You will, or you get not one cent from me.”

His hand shot out and he grabbed my wrist, leaning in closer. “I will make your life a living hell if you don’t give me what you owe me.”

He’d make my life a living hell either way, I knew that now. “You need the money pretty bad, huh?” I said, and yanked my wrist free.

His expression turned ugly. “Don’t fuck with me, Willa. You do not want to fuck with me.”

I ignored him and his threats. “This is the deal. You can take it or leave it.”

His eyes narrowed on me, so much hate coming from him it was a struggle to hold off my shudder. “Listen, bitch…”

“I’ll give you half the money now, ten grand. The other half once we’ve had our day in court. It’s set for four weeks’ time. Four more weeks, and you’ll have the other half,” I lied, making sure that steel was still in my voice, that my eyes stayed locked on his. He’d been specific about the amount he needed. The way he was acting meant he was in some kind of trouble, that someone may even be after him. Ten thousand should be enough to stall whoever he owed. I knew that because we were in the exact same position, only he was my blackmailer.

He’d take the deal.

He stared at me for several long seconds. He wanted to wrap his hands around my throat and squeeze, I could see it written all over his face.

“And just FYI? I don’t have the rest of it at my house. It’s somewhere safe,” I lied again, reading the intent in those mean, beady eyes. “There’s a note with it, to give to the cops, with your name all over it, if anything happens to me.”

He stared at me for the longest time, then finally said, “You have it all worked out, huh?”

“We do this my way, or I’ll make your life a living hell,” I said, throwing his own words back at him.

He leaned in again and the hatred in his eyes had reached levels I’d never seen before. “Fine,” he spat.

“You agree to the deal?” I asked, unable to hide the hope in my voice. God, that I’d actually pulled off my bluff, and that he’d fallen for it.

“Yeah, now give it to me.”

I took the envelope from my purse and handed it to him under the table. He snatched it, stood, and walked out without a backward glance.

21

Willa

I’d dropped Tilly at her friends for a sleepover, and hadn’t been home long, when I heard the sound of Jude’s bike outside. A thrill raced through me, like it always did when Jude was near. That heady rush, combined with the serious adrenaline still coursing through my veins after my meeting with Trent earlier, and I was a live wire. Trembling. On edge.

It had worked. I’d gotten the time I needed, to pack up everything Tilly and I owned, to leave New York and never look back. There was no other choice for us now, not when I didn’t have all the money Trent wanted. And even if I did have it all, would he really leave us alone? Would he go through with it and sign over Tilly to me? I had serious doubts.

That left one choice.

A spike of hope fired through me, chased by sadness. It was going to work. Trent would be out of our lives for good, and Tilly and I could finally get on with ours.

I was already moving toward the door when I heard Jude’s boots on the stairs, desperate to see him, to touch him, and despite the pain I was feeling, made sure I was grinning when I yanked the door open.

Jude glanced up at me, and I rushed to close the distance between us.

“Hey, beautiful…”