“That’s more time than Mr. Latham has gotten with his daughter for nearly six years,” Diaz answers, making another entry into his iPad. “He’s eager to make up for lost time.”
Red’s eyes flare with outrage. “He doesn’t want to make up for anything. This is about revenge! He’s using my daughter—an innocent little girl—to exact revenge for an ego blow his ridiculous little mind can’t handle for some reason.”
Again, Friedman acts like he’s got an emotions filter installed that doesn’t let him hear anything said in the tone of upset. “You have approximately forty minutes to decide whether or not to take the deal Mr. Latham is offering you. Otherwise, you’re welcome to bring a suit against him in court. We, of course, will fight it. And who knows how long it will take for you to gain emergency visitation rights, considering how backed up the family courts are after the pandemic?”
And how many people we’ve paid off to hold up the paperwork, I silently add with an inner smirk. Red might have powerful friends on the other side of the Mississippi, but Las Vegas is my territory. And she doesn’t have the resources to fight me here.
Friedman pauses. As if waiting for another outburst.
But I think it’s sinking in. How fucked she is in this situation.
Red just sits there, as if her mind has exploded from all the grenades I threw at her, and she doesn’t know what to do.
I’ve got her exactly where I want her.
“Give us the room,” I tell the lawyers.
Unlike her, they don’t hesitate to follow my orders. They depart without another word. And then, it’s just her and me.
“You get it now, don’t you?” I say, leaning forward. “This isn’t going to go your way, no matter how much you whine and cry.”
To her credit, she doesn’t prove my point by giving me the satisfaction of her pitiful tears.
“The only thing I’m getting right now is that I was totally right to do what I did,” she answers, her voice low and fierce. “You’re a monster, willing to use a little girl to prove…what? I have no idea. You’re the one who lied to me about who you really were. You’re the one who said you didn’t want kids. I did nothing wrong—”
I lose it before I can think to hold myself back.
“You did everything wrong!” I roar at her. “You hid from me—hid my flesh and blood from me for years. Not a few months. Fucking years. And now you’re acting like I’m the monster for not telling you who I was, Red—real name Bernice?”
She jumps out of her seat too. “No, I’m not going to play your game. I’m not going to negotiate with a lying sociopath. And that’s what you are. You’re toxic—completely toxic. That’s why I kept my little girl’s existence from you. To keep her safe. From you.”
Rage rushes through me, so hot and deadly I have to bunch my fists like Geoff did earlier to keep myself in check.
I hate this bitch.
I hate her for not showing up like she said she would.
I hate her for hiding from me.
I hate her for making me want her more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life. For making me believe in us enough to change—then betraying me, like, psyche!
She’s calling me crazy. Who does she think made me this way?
But she doesn’t give me the satisfaction of her tears, and I refuse to give her the satisfaction of letting her see how bad she’s wounded me—first with her disappearance and then with her lies.
I flash freeze the fire raging inside of me and let my voice go cold and deadly to inform her, “There are people in this world you can avoid and escape. I’m not one of those people. Sign the contract or don’t. Either way, you’re not getting Olivia back. Not unless you play by my rules.”
I sit back down and steeple my hands like the future CEO I’m about to become. “This isn’t the cabin. I’m not going to compromise. I’m not going to bend just because you’re upset. As far as I’m concerned, you started deserving whatever I dish out as soon as you decided to keep this secret from me. So, the only questions you should be asking me now is, ‘What do you want from me? What do I have to do to get my daughter back?'”
She opens her mouth. Then closes it.
And a cold calm washes over me because I know I’ve already won.
She doesn’t say anything for several moments. But I can tell she understands—I’ve made her understand just how bad she fucked up when she decided to cross me.
From there, it’s just a matter of waiting patiently until she hangs her head and asks, “What do you want from me? What do I have to do to get my daughter back?”