Chapter 29 #3
“We made sure to only grab some of the guest bedroom furniture,” Steele explained further. “Your staff let us know it hasn’t been used in... a very long time.”
The jab wasn’t unnoticed. Nor was his professional tone that bordered on condescending.
Again, the man had balls. If we weren’t playing for the opposite team, I’d consider hiring him as another one of my personal lawyers. But as it stood, he was public enemy number two.
Folding the paper in half, it was a conscious effort not to rip it up in front of him. “I never gave you permission to enter the home.”
“You didn’t need to. We were given the access code to your gate a few weeks ago.”
My eyes rolled over his shoulder to focus on Ana who remained rooted to where she stood right outside of the archway. It hadn’t crossed my mind before this but her showing up at my door a few weeks ago unannounced must’ve been when she’d gotten the code.
How, I wasn’t sure. Though, it was safe to say that would be changing the second they were off my property.
“Okay.” Reeling in my anger was difficult, especially when all I wanted to do was get them the fuck out of my house as quickly as possible.
The problem was the cops were more likely to throw me in handcuffs if I started threatening anyone, no matter how justified and deserved it was.
“I’m going to be straight with you, I know exactly what you’re doing. ”
Steele let out a short laugh. “I’m sorry?”
“It’s not his. And you know that.”
To his credit, the expression that crossed his face looked like genuine confusion. To the point where if I didn’t know any better, I would’ve fallen for it instantly and backtracked my accusations.
Being from the corporate world, or rather the upper echelon of it, I was accustomed to people trying to pull a fast one on me.
Either to get a better deal, screw me and my company over, or simply cause chaos in order to confuse my shareholders into backing out and finding somewhere else to burn their wealth.
My specialty in smelling out bullshit had felt like a curse growing up, one that ostracized me from a lot of my peers because I demanded authenticity over popularity. Now, though, it was my super power. One I used to protect myself along with my assets.
“I’m... not sure I follow, Mr. McAllister,” he said.
Stepping forward, I watched the moment of hesitation in Steele’s eyes as he contemplated giving in to his baser instincts to step back and give me more space. Whatever he was reading on my face, I hoped it was making his heart pound.
“The baby, Steele. It’s not his. It’s yours.”
His lips parted in surprise.
Heels clacking over marbled floors dragged my attention away from him briefly in order to focus it on the Russian model storming over to me.
“You lie,” she spat out.
“If that’s the case, you wouldn’t mind doing a DNA test right now.” I jerked my head back toward the front doors. “Come with me and we’ll settle this once and for all.”
Steele moved to put his body in between Ana and I. “Mr. McAllister, the DNA test was already done. The results were sent to your lawyer to give to you.”
“You know what’s funny about going to any medical center?” My gaze flitted between them both. “They have cameras set up everywhere. Even in the parking lot.”
Both of them remained quiet, even as I shoved my hand into my pocket and pulled out my phone, bringing up the picture stills Ted had sent over to me after we’d gotten off the phone. Zooming in on one of the clearer shots, I flipped it around to show them both.
“Given the timeline of your relationship, and the fact that my dad was snipped long before you met him, I’m pretty confident that I’m right.”
“This is his baby!” Ana shouted. Her hand darted out to snatch my phone, nearly touching it right as I stepped back to avoid her. “His baby. Your brother.”
“Ana,” Steele grabbed her arm in a gentle hold.
She ripped out of his grasp with a ferocity I hadn’t been expecting. “No! No more. This is his baby. We did test to prove it. End of story—”
A radio crackling from behind us cut Ana off. “What’s going on in here?”
Turning to greet both officers, I spotted Brandon bringing up the rear. His eyes were filled with worry, the obvious want to clear the distance between us and glue himself to my side was palpable, so much so that I nearly reached out my hand to beckon him over.
Before I could, one of the officers—Sergeant Boise—held up his hand. “Mr. McAllister, a word?”
“Actually, officer...” Steele moved around me, ripping the notice out of my hand. “We have a court order stating we have the right to be here.”
“That was gained under false pretenses,” I argued.
“Regardless, if it’s signed by a judge, there’s not much we can do,” Boise countered with.
Such bullshit.
Why was the legal system always so vulnerable to corruption? One measly piece of paper that falsely stated Ana’s baby was my relative was all it took to be able to grant her access to my home, my property and the right to trespass for as long as she damn well pleased.
And there was nothing any of us could do about it.
Anger surged in me. Burning so bright and brilliant that I was surprised I didn’t have smoke blowing out of my ears.
As I turned to Ana again, both of my hands fisted at my sides.
Her satisfied smirk, coupled with her hand circling over her belly in an almost mocking attempt to garner sympathy was more than I could take.
“You’re a fucking snake,” I hissed at her, keeping my tone low.
Her eyes shot to me. “Hold your tone.”
“Why? Pretending like you belong here will be the worst mistake you’ll ever make. I can promise you that.”
“We will see when I leave you out on the streets. You are spoiled, rotten boy.”
Now that I thought about it, her and my father were a match made in heaven.
I fully my body turned to face her, the seething anger slowly morphing into glee.
Going toe-to-toe with this woman wasn’t something I ever wanted to cross off on my bucket list, but if she wanted a fight, she was going to get it.
I’d make her regret ever choosing to mistake messing with my family’s legacy as a smart move—one that would be worth her while as long as she played her cards right.
If I was going to be forced to live with this woman and her bastard child for the rest of my life, I was going to make it hell for her.
After all, wasn’t that the McAllister way?
I was simply passing down my father’s wonderful legacy to her, making her a part of the family she’d soon regret wanting to join.
“I’m glad my father picked you up off the streets.
” Her eyes widened at my words. “I doubt your career would’ve lasted much longer anyway.
I’m going to enjoy every goddamn minute of making sure you regret ever saying yes to that rock on our finger and not sticking to selling magazine covers.
You think being a McAllister is all about blowing money on expensive cars and getting your hair and nails done every week?
You’ve got another thing coming. And I’ll be happy to help you earn your stripes.
Whatever back alley that modeling agency scooped you out of is what you’re going to wish you could return to once I’m done with you. ”
I heard the slap before I felt it crack across my face.
Belatedly, it occurred to me that threatening a pregnant woman as unhinged as Ana seemed to be was probably not one of my finer moves.
However, I wasn’t about to take back any of those words.
Not when she, out of anyone, needed to realize what the fuck she was getting into.
I wasn’t letting her off that easily with her inflated ego and the false belief that as long as she had a lawyer willing to draft up any motion she desired and warm her bed at night was going to get her whatever she wanted in life, it was my job to show her otherwise.
My cheek burned from where her hand had caught me, small pin prickles that radiated pain from what I could only assume were her long nails having dragged across my poor skin.
As I lifted my hand to touch the side of my face, she swiped at me again with the other hand.
“You are nothing!” she screamed. “He said so. He told me all about you. How disappointed you made him. How you and your mother wasted his best years!”
I caught her wrist and held it in a tight grip, nearly missing the other one that came swinging at me as she pivoted her weight to the other side. She screamed again when I grabbed onto the other one, too, holding both of her arms firmly no matter how hard she yanked to be let free.
There was no doubt in my mind that my father had told her any of those things.
In fact, it sounded just like him, right down to their callous delivery.
The only problem was Ana was five years too late for me to care.
I’d heard those same tired words my entire life and had vowed on my wedding day to never let them affect me again.
She could hurl whatever insult she wanted, none of it was going to matter.
“Hey! Let go of her!” Steele shouted.
Before I could even turn around to tell him to back off, he had two fists full of my shirt and was yanking me away from Ana. Out of instinct, I let go of her, stumbling back from the force of another grown man propelling me backward.
There was barely any time to react as a fist came swinging at me, nearly catching me right in the jaw. I jerked my head back out of instinct, giving me enough of a torque on my body to slip free from his hold on me.
“Knock it off!” Sergeant Boise’s voice boomed.
Unfortunately, it seemed Steele was too enraged at seeing me put hands on his mistress, despite it being self-defense in the first place. He reared back once more, clocking me on the shoulder on his way up from swinging and missing my face yet again.
There was a brief moment where I spotted Brandon darting away from the two officers and coming at Steele and I full force. In that instant, my heart clenched with worry. As noble as it was of him to come over here and help defend me, I in no way wanted him hurt in the process.
Thankfully, both officers suddenly seemed to decide that springing into action was a far better choice than waiting for Steele to actually land some kind of hit that would result in me having an open and shut lawsuit against the Palmerston police department for negligence.
The second I stepped to the side, the other office tackled Steele to the ground, flattening him on his stomach. The man let out a shrill howl the moment his arms were yanked behind his back and a pair of cuffs was slapped on his wrists.
My cheek burned, the skin tender when I tapped at it gently.
Bitch...
“No!” Ana screeched, jabbing a manicured finger at me. “Arrest him!”
“Slaps count as assault, ma’am,” Boise stated, motioning for her to turn around. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
I wasn’t afraid to admit how satisfying it was to watch Ana fight with the officer before she, too, was forced into cuffs. Her shouts for them to arrest and charge me with assault rang on deaf ears, even as she was forcefully dragged out of my foyer literally kicking and screaming.
“Jesus...” Brandon mumbled, his arm looping under mine. He tucked his body against me, allowing me to lean my weight into him while we stood by and waited for Steele to be peeled off the floor and taken out to the police cars parked in the driveway.
As soon as the foyer grew quiet, a long sigh of relief left me.
“Let me see.” Brandon maneuvered my face around, his touch gentle. “Oh...”
“How bad?” Judging by his reaction, I had a feeling it was already bruising. For someone so small, Ana sure had a killer wind-up.
“It’s... well, you can definitely see the impression of her fingers. And her manicure.”
I rolled my eyes. “Mind taking a picture? I want to send it over to Ted for evidence. Maybe charging her will keep her off my property.”
After Brandon snapped a few photos and sent them over to me, he slipped his phone back into his pocket in order to cup my jaw again. “We should get you some ice.”
“We should follow up with the cops first. They’ll probably want us to fill out a report first before they leave.”
“Good point. Hopefully, they’ll stay in jail over the weekend. It’s the least they deserve.”
I slipped an arm around his waist, pulling him to my side again.
His warm body was comforting, a solid weight against me that instantly soothed whatever lingering anger I had surging through me. He was my own personal white noise machine, cutting through the chaos in my mind with that unshakable steadiness he wore so well.
My cheek pinched when I leaned down to kiss him, a hiss escaping me.
“Careful,” he murmured.
It was those damn nails. Like fucking razor blades.
The moment I reached down to grab his hand, he laced our fingers together. A warmth spread through my body, starting from my chest where it rapidly trickled down to my toes. The feeling beat in time with my heart, cocooning me in these tender emotions I had for my best friend.
What would I ever do with him?
“Come on,” he said, nodding for the doors. “Let’s get this over with. Then I can get back to babying you.”
With a firm nod and a hand squeeze, he tugged us forward.
I absolutely loved the sound of that.