Thirty-Four

Jensen

When I finally woke up, it felt like I’d slept for days. It had been so long since I got a full night sleep and days since I slept at all, period, I was shocked that I had even been functioning. The only good sleep I ever got anymore was when Emery was in my arms. Like she was right at this moment—naked and completely satisfied.

We probably should have gone to sleep like she had said last night. But, once she’d stripped me down and put me in bed, I had known there was no way that was happening. I’d been thinking about this girl nonstop—up until Marc had uttered those unbelievable words.

“Vanessa told me.”

I still couldn’t believe she’d done it. She had been hanging it over my head for so long that I’d become complacent to the threat. I never thought she’d actually break down and do it. Then again…it had taken her years to admit to cheating on me with Marc. Maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised that it’d taken her this long to tell him the truth.

The girl was a snake. I didn’t know how I had never seen it all those years we had been together. Or maybe New York had poisoned her. Maybe she hadn’t actually been cut out for the big city and modeling, and her way of coping had been to become worse than the city itself. But these were just excuses. They didn’t justify her behavior. Lots of people moved to New York and didn’t cheat on their husbands…didn’t have a child with someone else.

I closed my eyes, wishing that I could disappear back into last night. Feel Emery’s warm body against mine and pretend not to have a care in the world. But reality was crashing back down. I had to face Marc and Vanessa today. I had to claim my son. Last night had been a dream, but it was time to wake up.

Kissing Emery’s forehead, I washed last night’s events off of my body and changed into a crisp black Tom Ford suit. Everything about the ensemble screamed power and money. Both things I wanted to exert to the two people who had ruined my life. Marc had stolen my wife. He wasn’t going to steal my son, too. It wasn’t enough that I had bought out his company and was in the process of selling it off for parts like a used car. I would bury him before letting him have access to Colton. My lawyers had been working on a case against Vanessa since the day I left New York. We could handle her if need be.

“You’re up early,” Emery mumbled from the bed when I appeared once more.

“Six hours of sleep is plenty for me. You can go back to sleep.”

“Mmm,” she said, letting the sheet slip down her naked body.

“If you keep that up, you’re never going to leave that bed.”

She blushed a soft pink that I adored. After all our sex, she still blushed at my comments.

“I should probably check on Kimber. When do you meet Marc?”

“This afternoon. He had to fly commercial,” I said with a twitch in my lips. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

“Oh, the horror,” she joked.

“So, I can pick you up from the hospital later if that works for you.”

“Yes, as long as you think you’ll be all right.”

I nodded. “I have some work to do and a meeting with my lawyer before that. I’ll be occupied. Plus, you helped me last night. I can face another day with you at my side.”

She smiled lazily at me. “Good. I’m glad.”

It was hours before I would get to see that smile again. Work was torture. I hadn’t wanted to worry her, but the hours waiting, even when I was busy, didn’t help. She dampened the pain. Only her.

By the time I finally got to pick her up again, it was like a balm. I didn’t show nerves or stress. Only a few people—primarily Morgan—even noticed, but Emery seemed to have a radar for it. She put her hand on mine as soon as she sat down in the Mercedes and kissed my cheek.

“I’ve been thinking about you,” she said with such candor.

“How are Kimber and Bethany?” I asked as I pulled away from the hospital and drove across town.

“They’re great. All of them are. Ready to go home.”

“I bet.”

“They’re getting discharged within the hour. So, they get to take the little cutie home with them.”

“I remember what that’s like,” I said softly.

I rarely talked about what it had been like in those first two years with Colton. The facade that Vanessa had created was so great that, when she took it all away, even the happy memories were tainted with her lies.

Emery squeezed my hand and nodded. “We’ll work it out.”

“You’re right. We will,” I said, going back to that cold, detached place that fought my battles and won my wars. I would damn sure win this one.

We parked out front of the lawyer’s office. I recognized Vanessa’s father’s car, which meant she must have left Colton with him for this meeting. Good. I didn’t want Colton anywhere near this. It was going to get ugly. I didn’t know what Marc was driving, but I didn’t see anything pretentious enough for him.

Emery hurried around to the other side of the car and took my hand. She held it, as if we were a united front against the enemy. And I couldn’t have been more thankful to have her there. She made me a better man. And, with her, I had the added benefit of putting Vanessa on edge.

As expected, when we walked into the lobby, Vanessa whipped around and glared at our entwined fingers. Her lawyer was talking on a cell phone in a corner.

“You’ve got to be joking,” she spat. “She can’t be here.”

I shrugged and gave her a cool smile. No reason to give in to her antics. We were only here because of her bullshit. We would end it here, too.

We waited another five minutes in tense silence before Marc finally showed. I was surprised Abigail wasn’t with him. She went everywhere with him to temper his anger. I wondered if he’d even told her what was happening before disappearing. Instead, he only had his lawyer present with him. I shouldn’t be surprised that he’d gotten someone on his own to represent his interests instead of relying on Vanessa.

Marc’s eyes landed on me first. “You fucking douche,” Marc spat. “You spent all this time taking everything away from me, and now, you took more than six years away from me and my son.”

“We’ll see,” I said.

Marc stalked right over to me and got in my face. Emery squeezed my hand.

“I’m here to take my son back.”

“You can try,” I told him. And fail.

Just then, the door to the lawyer’s office opened, and my lawyer, Jake McCarty, appeared. He was a short, stocky man, who had been my father’s lawyer before me. He knew his shit, and he knew how to get his clients what they wanted.

“You can all come in now.”

We moved into a large conference room with Marc and Vanessa on one side and me and Emery on the other.

“Does she have to be here for this?” Vanessa asked. “She’s not even involved!”

“She stays,” I told her crisply.

“She’s fine by me,” Jake said with a nod at Emery. “Considering my client has made it clear that he wants Miss Robinson in his life and eventually in Colton’s life, I think her presence makes sense for this.”

“Never happening,” Vanessa hissed.

“We’ll see,” I said calmly.

“After going over everything in the last twenty-four hours, I got a judge to approve my request that no new people could be introduced into Colton’s life until we have this all sorted out. That includes you, Miss Robinson, and Mr. Tarman. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the concern over who is the father to Colton Wright, I’ve also asked my client, Mr. Wright, not to have contact with Colton until we have this all resolved. All of this is, of course, temporary, barring no complications in the proceedings. Is that all understood and acceptable?”

The other lawyers agreed with the terms even though Marc looked ready to explode that he had come all this way and had no access to Colton. I was pleased with that even though I was pissed that I couldn’t see my own son.

“Additionally, I’ve requested a paternity test be taken immediately to determine who is Colton’s biological father. That test should be administered at this location,” he said, passing paperwork to both me, Marc, and Vanessa, “within forty-eight hours.”

“My client disagrees that a paternity test is necessary,” Marc’s lawyer said. “He was the only one sleeping with Ms. Hendricks at the time in which Colton was conceived. There is no doubt in his mind that Colton is his.”

“If there is no doubt, then he won’t have any problem with the test,” Jake said dryly. “And, furthermore, if he is so certain, why is he just now coming forward?”

Marc’s lawyer glanced at Marc, as if to say, Want to go to bat? “When Ms. Hendricks told my client she was pregnant, she said the child belonged to Mr. Wright, and she was going to stop seeing my client. He chose to believe her, but it appears that she has been lying to both of them this whole time.”

Vanessa gasped, as if Marc’s lawyer had slapped her. Either way, she was the villain. I approved.

“Regardless of Ms. Hendricks’s actions or comments during or after the pregnancy, a paternity test is mandatory to determine the custody situation for Colton. Our first priority is his continued health, especially his mental health. The last thing we want to do is introduce new people to him without first being sure that what we are doing is legal. If your client wishes to have any contact with Colton, then he must submit to a paternity test.”

“I’ll do it,” Marc said, cutting his own lawyer off.

“Good. Then, we will reconvene after the results have come in, and then we can determine what will happen next.”

Marc and Vanessa glared at me before filing out of the room and leaving the three of us alone.

“That went as well as expected,” I told Jake.

He shook my hand and nodded. “The test takes a few days, Jensen. Don’t do anything foolish in the meantime.”

“Foolish?” I countered.

“Like kidnapping your son.”

I couldn’t deny that I’d thought about it. I wanted to steal Colton away and never have anyone interfere in our lives again. But I wouldn’t. I would be a mess and in a total panic if Vanessa ever did such a thing. I could never do that to her, no matter what she had done to me. And I could never hurt Colton like that.

“I won’t.”

“Good. I might recommend that you take some time off. Just get away for a few days. I can handle the heavy lifting from here, and you should try to take your mind off of this until we get the results in. If you stay here, I suspect you’ll do something else foolish…like assault Marc Tarman,” Jake said with a measured look. “Again.”

“I think, this time, he wouldn’t be so generous,” I said, thinking about how he hadn’t pressed charges all those years ago.

“No, he wouldn’t,” Jake said flatly.

Emery’s hand went into mine again. I hadn’t realized I’d been clenching my fists.

“I’ll take care of him,” she said.

My solid rock.

God, I believed her.