“Hey, sweetie cakes.”
“Don’t call me that,” I growled. “What the fuck is this, Laura? Another pathetic attempt to win me back?”
“Where’s your phone?” she asked.
My eyes narrowed and I realized I’d left it at the house. I knew why she was asking too; she was going to try to blackmail me and wanted to make sure she wasn’t being recorded.
“I’m leaving, Laura—”
“I’ll go to the papers!” she hissed. “I’ll tell them the distress of you leaving me was too much and that’s why I tried to kill myself!”
“You think they’ll believe that?” I bluffed.
“Even if they don’t, it’ll be everywhere,” she smiled. “Do you really want that kind of shit out there ruining your nice guy reputation?”
I glared at the woman who’d just about ruined my life. Even now, lying in a hospital bed, she looked like an evil empress set on destroying the world. Laura was the kind of girl who’d light herself on fire just to make sure you burned too.
“What do you want, Laura?”
“You,” she replied, morphing her scowl into a smile. “Don’t you want to try again, Aldie?”
“Don’t call me that.”
“We were so good together!”
“Yeah, until you cheated on me,” I growled. “Until I realized just how crazy you are.”
“So I made a mistake,” she mewled, putting on her best little girl voice. “Don’t you think you could try and forgive me?”
“Go to the fucking papers, Laura,” I snapped. “Say whatever you want. I’ve found someone else now and I’m going to be happy with her. I really don’t care what anybody else says!”
And with that, I turned my back on her and stepped out the door. I heard her calling after me as I went.
“You’re gonna regret this, Alden McLaren! You are going to regret this!”
Her cries drew the attention of a couple of nurses, and I tucked my head and pretended to scratch my hair as I made my way back out of the ER. Pete was waiting in a corner and approached me quietly.
“What can I do?” he asked.
“Discharge her,” I told him, pulling a fat wad of bills out of my pocket and stuffing it into his hand. “I don’t care what it takes, just get her out of here and make sure it’s quiet. Call Wagner if you need his help. Can you do that?”
“Yes, sir,” he nodded. “And thank you.”
Steaming, I strode out of the hospital and to my car. I was sweating and wanted to break something.
I sped home like a race car driver, knowing the only thing that could take my mind off Laura and her insanity was waiting for me back at home and I had to see her.
So what if Laura spread her little lies around town? So what if people believed them? I didn’t need or want to be New York’s playboy billionaire anymore; all I wanted was her.
Chapter Seven
Belle
What could be happening? I thought as I did another lap around the enormous closet, running my fingers across the expensive suits that hung around me.
The voice from the intercom had said it was an emergency. Was it family trouble? Something with his business? His parents?
Oh, God, I thought. He doesn’t have kids I don’t know about, does he!?