Be with Me (Return to Haven 2)

“Get your hand off me.”

His eyes widened as he slowly released her. “My Melanie has gotten a backbone, I see.”

“I was never yours,” she retorted.

He gestured to the sleek black town car on the street. “We’ll talk in here where it’s private.”

Melanie gave the car a quick glance and laughed. “You’re delusional if you think I’m going to be in private with you anywhere.”

“If you want to talk about your officer boyfriend out in the open, we can.” Neville’s smile turned into a sneer. “But I’m sure you’d rather keep things quiet.”

Melanie hated this man. She hated him with a passion she couldn’t even explain. Once upon a time she’d believed he was her salvation out of the poverty she lived in. She’d rather live back in her trailer park with a car that barely ran and a father who worked his ass off and a mother who was an alcoholic than to be with this man ever again.

Hindsight didn’t change the past, but it was a hell of a lesson for future decisions.

“If I get in that car, it stays parked right there,” she demanded. “Understood?”

Neville merely nodded his head and extended his arm toward the car. She clutched her purse over her shoulder and stepped forward. When he brushed against her to open the door, she cringed, but didn’t say anything. Giving in to his games would only excite him. She knew how he played, knew how he thought. And he was absolutely right. She did have a backbone now and she damn well was going to use it.

She slid into the back seat and Neville moved in right next to her before closing the door. The driver up front remained facing forward, no doubt paid very well to keep his eyes and ears to himself. This wasn’t the same driver Melanie recalled, so who knew what happened to the other poor guy.

“Will, drive around the block.”

Melanie jerked her attention to Neville. “That wasn’t what we agreed upon.”

“I didn’t agree to your demands,” he countered.

She should’ve known he’d never let anyone better him. All the more reason she needed to end this once and for all.

“Say what you have to say and then have your driver circle back around to my car.”

“I didn’t see your car parked anywhere.”

Melanie smiled and adjusted her cardigan over her lap. “I sold it and gave the money to a charity.”

She didn’t need to say what type of charity, and contributing to Livie and Jax’s restoration project was a charitable move on her part. Oh, the look on Neville’s face made driving her clunker so completely worth every embarrassing horn honk and sitting against a pillow to reach the pedals.

His freshly shaven jaw clenched, nostrils flared, lips thinned. “I don’t even recognize you anymore,” he spouted. “You get rid of the nicest thing you owned, you’re dressing like trash again, and you’re mouthy as hell.”

And here she’d thrown on her nice jeans today. Actually, her belly was getting firm and she was afraid to wear her other jeans because this was the pair that was a little loose. She was already approaching the tenth week. Hopefully only two more to go and the nausea would be gone. Fingers crossed.

Melanie blew out a sigh and crossed her arms. “Just say what you have to say and let’s be done with each other.”

“You’re going to move back in and remarry me. I’ve set everything up, the wedding will be at the New Year and the press has already been given a heads-up.”

Melanie listened as he rattled on about some fantasy world he’d created. She just let him go—maybe he’d feel better once it was all out in the open. She knew she’d feel better once he was finished and she’d sliced and diced his words to smithereens.

“We will raise this baby as our own,” he went on. “As for the boyfriend, he’s not going to be an issue. I’ve come up with a nice amount that I think will please him to stay out of our lives.”

Melanie waited a moment, making sure he was finished with his preposterous plan.

“First of all, I’d rather die than marry you or ever let a child around you. Second, you don’t know Tanner at all if you think even for one moment that he would take any amount of money in exchange for his child. You’re even more of an arrogant ass than I thought.”

Neville’s smile slowly spread across his face. “I couldn’t care less if he takes the money or not. He can either stay out of the baby’s life, and yours, or I’ll have his badge and he won’t work in law enforcement ever again. Not even as a mall security cop. Is that what you want?”

Her blood chilled at the very idea of Neville ruining Tanner’s career. This is exactly what she’d hoped to avoid. She’d never wanted Tanner involved, didn’t

want him harmed or even threatened.