“Luke, I--.”
“Go,” he said, his voice hoarse. “Leave now. Don’t bother ever coming back. You’re out of my life.”
He ripped the images into small pieces as he walked down the hallway towards me.
On her part, Mrs. Marshall stood there as the elevator doors closed, her mouth still open in shock. She actually thought that Luke would change his mind when he saw the pictures.
She obviously didn’t really know her son.
Luke came to me and after stuffing the pieces of paper into his jacket pocket, he pulled me into his arms.
“I am so sorry,” he said and stroked my face, his eyes meeting mine. “You should never have had to face that. I sent a text to the front desk to keep her out, but someone obviously didn’t get the message.”
My eyes were filled with tears in response to his complete acceptance of what he’d seen.
“I’m so sorry you had to see those,” I managed through my tears.
“I’m so sorry there are people evil enough to take such pictures or try to use them to blackmail you. If my mother was smart, she’d leave and hope I don’t go to the police and tell them how she tried to blackmail you using pictures she got from your criminal ex. I’m sure they’d want to know the juicy details of how she got those images. If I were her, I’d be contacting my attorney just in case.”
He raised his eyebrows, his eyes never leaving mine.
The elevator opened again, and finally, she left.
Luke pulled me into the suite and closed the door behind him.
We stood in each other’s arms for a long while, just taking comfort from each other’s warmth.
“I am so sorry,” he murmured, his lips pressed against my forehead.
“It’s okay,” I replied. “I just hope she doesn’t release those pictures.”
“She won’t,” he said. “She’s smart enough to know that I will follow through with my threat to go to the police.”
He lifted my chin and wiped tears off my cheeks.
“We’re going to forget this ever happened, okay? You’re going to wipe those images out of your mind and we’re going to spend the rest of the week getting ready for our wedding and for moving into our apartment. There is nothing she can do that will hurt us or break us apart. Do you understand?”
I nodded, trying to do what he said and wipe those images from my memory. I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but if anything could, it would be making plans for my future with Luke and our baby.
For that, I could face anything.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Luke
The rest of the week was a blur of activity and we were both so busy, we almost forgot about the incident with the images.
Almost, until my father called me to speak to me and mentioned it on the Thursday before we went out to Westhampton for the wedding preparations.
“I don’t want to talk to you if you support my mother in what she did,” I said to him.
“No, no, of course I don’t,” he said, his tone defensive. “I knew nothing about it. I would never have approved of it, if she told me. I only called to let you know that I told her that I never wanted to hear another negative word about Alexa or you marrying her or the baby, and if she so much as tried to speak to you or anyone or tried to release those images, she’d be out on her ass so fast she wouldn’t know what hit her.”
“Thank you, Father,” I said and sighed, rubbing my forehead. “This was so bad of her to even try to pay Alexa off or threaten to blackmail her with those images. If she wasn’t my adoptive mother, I’d have already called the police on her.”
“I know and I don’t blame you for feeling that way, but I’m glad you didn’t. She’ll come to her senses. As soon as Alexa has the baby. If not then, as soon as I come back from visiting the hospital and have pictures of me holding the baby. She’ll be so jealous, she won’t be able to stay mad.”
“I hope so,” I said, doubtfully. “If she doesn’t, she’s out of my life. I’ll be sad that my son or daughter doesn’t have a grandma, but better no one than one who hated you from the outset and tried to break up your parents before you were even born.”