A nuclear blast shattered all that was left of his icy veneer. He was beyond furious. “You’ll be hearing from my attorney,” he hissed.
“Fine,” Sylvie hissed back. “Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.”
Heath stomped out of the apartment. When he didn’t see his car, he skidded to a stop, and Sylvie nearly did hit him in the ass when she slammed the door shut with a bang.
He heard the distant sounds of crying babies. Served her right, he thought.
“Enjoy getting them back to sleep now,” he muttered.
He glanced around, wondering where his car was, then remembered he’d left it back at the hotel. He began walking. It would be good for him. He wasn’t fit to see anyone until he cooled down.
If he could ever cool down again.
Chapter Twenty Nine
SYLVIE MAINTAINED A STOIC EXPRESSION and a tight rein on her emotions until she heard the light tapping on her door. She’d just gotten the babies back to sleep so she rushed to open the door.
It was Neesa, who Sylvie had called within moments of Heath stomping out of her life.
Sylvie felt guilty about calling Neesa so late. She had probably just gotten home from work when she got Sylvie’s cryptic call that she needed her friend. But instead of putting Sylvie off until the next day, Neesa had gotten in her car and driven into town.
All of the emotions finally overwhelmed Sylvie, and she sniffled.
“Oh, sweetie, what happened?” Neesa asked. She stepped across the threshold and gave Sylvie a hug.
Neesa patted her back and told her that everything would be okay.
After Sylvie pulled away, Neesa gave her a sympathetic look. “I’m here now. Tell me what happened.”
“I screwed everything up so badly that I don’t think it can ever be fixed,” Sylvie said. “And I’m so mad, too. I don’t think I’ve ever been this furious … ever.”
“Let me make you a cup of tea. That will calm you down,” Neesa said.
She pushed Sylvie across the room and settled her onto the couch. Neesa headed to the kitchen to boil water while Sylvie stayed in the living room, stewing, almost literally.
Neesa return shortly, bringing a steaming teacup over and setting it in front of Sylvie.
Neesa sat down beside her cousin and patted her shoulder. Sylvie took a sip of the tea, sighed, and blinked back an angry tear.
“Okay, spill it. Don’t hold back. You’ll feel better if you just get it out of your system,” Neesa said, briskly.
“It’s such a mess. You wouldn’t believe it. Heath is Heath Collins, not Cartwright.”
Sylvie figured it would be best to start at the beginning. Nobody knew about Heath’s background. She wasn’t going to go into the whole billionaire thing, but she didn’t want to hide the truth from her closest friend.
“Heath Collins is a very successful businessman, and he has lots of money.”
“We kind of figured that already. His attempt to pull off being a writer was weak. Did you ever read any of his fake articles? Horrible. The man would have been eating ramen noodles with those skills,” Neesa said, waving a hand dismissively. “Collins, Cartwright, what does it matter? It’s easy to get them confused.”
Sylvie shook her head. “No, there wasn’t any confusion here. He lied about he who was. And I lied about knowing who he was for a long time.”
Neesa frowned. “I don’t get it. I’m confused. How long have you known his real name?”
“Er, since I was seven months pregnant.”
“Then I’m even more confused. If you’ve known who he was for a while, why didn’t you tell him that he might be a father?”
It was the question of the day. The question of the year. Even Neesa went straight to the heart of it.
Sylvie knew deep down that she was a chicken. She had let her fears and insecurities get in the way of what was undoubtedly the best thing for her babies. She’d done a bad thing, and she was sorry for it.
She probably would have gotten around to admitting that to Heath, but when he kept coming at her with all that anger and self-righteousness. It put her on the defensive. And it bothered her that he’d pushed his own lies under the rug.
“I don’t know. I think it has something to do with what happened with my daddy.”
Neesa clucked her tongue. “Oh, Sylvie. That was a long time ago. I don’t remember your daddy, but from everything I’ve heard, he was nothing like Heath.”
“I know. But letting someone else into my life means losing control.”
“Aren’t you always the one claiming that the universe is a chaotic place and trying to control it is a waste of time?”
“Yeah, but this was different.”
Neesa smiled. “If you say so.”
“I mean I’ve done everything for Quentyn and Jadyn. They’re my world. I’ll always do whatever I need to do to protect them. It makes me feel sick to think that there might be someone in their life who would hurt them. Somebody who’s supposed to love them the way I do.”
Neesa wrapped her arm around Sylvie’s shoulders. “It’s part of sharing the responsibility of being a parent. It’s part of being in a relationship with their father. Eventually, you have to take that risk. You have to let him in.”
“Well, it doesn't’ matter now. It’s all over. I said some things that were pretty terrible to him. I accused him of being ruthless and cruel. I demeaned his work and his life. I basically called him shallow.”
Sylvie was ashamed of herself. Now that she was outside the heat of the moment, she admitted to herself that she was partly to blame. There was no doubt about that. But at the same time, he hadn’t been kind to her, either. His accusations still rang in her ears and stung in a way that made her skin itch.
“Heath has had a lot to deal with,” Neesa said. “I think he might’ve come here thinking he was going to sweep you off your feet. Then, not only did he find out that you had the twins, but then he found out that he was the father of said twins. It’s a lot to take in. You’ve got to give the guy credit for sticking around. He could have run for the hills. Instead, he started to get to know you and all of us. That doesn’t look or sound like a guy who would set out to hurt you or the boys.”
Sylvie had to grudgingly admit that her cousin was right. She hadn’t really thought about it that way. “I don’t know, Neesa. When he left, he was furious. He talked about getting an attorney and taking me to court.”
“Why would he say something
like that?” Neesa looked shocked.
Sylvie grimaced. “It might have had something to do with me telling him I wasn’t going to let him see the boys anymore.”
Neesa gave a low whistle. She looked at Sylvie with an expression Sylvie knew well. Neesa was about to tell her something that she didn’t want to hear.
“Sylvie, I love you. You’re my best friend, well, you and Phae. So that’s why I’m telling you this with deep love and with the utmost respect for our family and our friendship.” She paused and then said with even enunciation. “You are an idiot.”
Sylvie’s brow furrowed. “I think that’s a bit of a strong assessment, don’t you?”
Neesa shook her head. “Nope. Heath is great. He did everything he could for you and the boys, everything you’d let him do. He was itching to do much more. I see the way he looks at you, and I dream of having someone who’ll look at me that way, too. You’re so lucky.”
Well, if she was going to put it like that … Sylvie admitted there might be something to it.
Neesa was far from finished with the tough love. “And why in the world did you date that loser, Alan, forever, even though you knew he was a total douche? We couldn’t get you to let go of him for anything, even when he cheated on you with skank after skank. Now here’s Heath, a terrific, handsome, and apparently, wealthy man who treats you like a queen and is, hallelujah, the father of your children. Why have you been pushing him away? It doesn’t make sense. Why would you ever tell a man like Heath that you’re not going to let him see his sons? That was just plain crazy talk. If you had stopped and thought about it for one minute, for twenty seconds, you would have known that you aren’t the type of person who would keep someone away from their kids. That’s just not who you are.”
Neesa was right. The thing was, Heath didn’t know that about her. “I was angry and said things I didn’t mean. He was talking about how all we’ve done is lie to each other since the day we met, and how there’s nothing about our relationship that’s true. And it’s always felt true to me, even when it wasn’t. He hurt my feelings, Neesa.”