I laughed, but it didn’t reach my eyes. “You have pennies compared to me. I’ll bleed you dry in a month.”
Her fingers froze on the buttons of her high-neck collar.
“Did you forget what you signed, Snitch? Whatever you see, discover, on my property is mine.”
She blinked. “You said our contract was void.”
“Terms to remain—”
“In perpetuity…” she finished. “But that wasn’t about a baby. It won’t hold up in court.”
“No.” I shrugged. “But you’ll have to stay in New York to fight it, and by the time the case is finished, I’ll have found a way to secure custody of my child.”
A hollow smile flickered across my face.
“You did this to us! You don’t get to just come back and decide you want me again!”
“Do you think I want to do this?” I yelled back.
Silence spread between us like bramble, cutting and catching.
“I know you’re good,” she finally said. “I know there’s good inside you. I know you care the most. Why can’t you stop pretending?”
I didn’t have an answer for her. After all, Snitch was the only one who ever saw any good in me. I don’t know if I ever really believed her.
“You don’t get to have this, Grayson Crowne. I won’t let this be my fate.”
My voice was cold when I spoke. “Good luck trying to retain a lawyer. Every big law firm from the East to West Coast is either on our payroll or trying to get on it. No one will touch you.”
Sixteen
STORY
* * *
Grayson gave me a warning the night we made love at his wedding, and I’d never understood what he meant.
Until now.
You’d never trap me, little nun. But I could trap you.
Trapped. Forced to hire a lawyer, when my only experience with them was on bus benches—and something tells me that guy isn’t going to be good enough to beat a Crowne.
I figured I had a better chance of getting a lawyer to fight Grayson Crowne if I showed them I could pay up front. I know how the world works, money talks. So I went to Crowne Point Credit Union, prepared to withdraw the money I’d been given and give it to anyone willing to help me fight a leviathan.
The teller’s eyes bugged when she saw the dollar amount residing in my account. She went speechless. Story Hale had never had anything more than a little over zero, and now she had millions.
“I…” She blinked. “I think there’s some kind of computer error.” She picked up the phone, dialing as her eyes remained on the screen.
“It’s not wrong. I need to make a withdrawal.”
Her gaze flickered to mine, but still she kept her phone shouldered, speaking low.
“How much?” she asked.
I chewed my lip, thinking. Not all of it, just enough to retain the best lawyer possible. “Five hundred thousand.”
Her fingers slipped and the phone clattered to the desk.