Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
“ T hank you for agreeing to meet me here.” Amy curled her fingers around her mug and gave Kate a small smile. “I know it’s a little out of your way, but I appreciate it.”
Kate took a sip of her own drink. “Not at all. I’ve got family who live in the area, and they’re always nagging me to visit, so I figured it was a good opportunity. Falmouth is beautiful.”
Amy’s shoulders sagged. “It is.”
Sitting in a booth by the window at Decadent Treats on a quiet Friday morning wasn’t how she expected her weekend to start, but Amy was glad they were doing so here. Being on familiar ground with a friendly face a few feet away helped steady Amy, and it made her feel like she still had some semblance of control.
Even with Eric still trying to take it away from her.
He had done everything from offering her more money and real estate to threatening to go to court in order to get her to sign the NDA. Still, Amy had no idea if she was ready to commit to such a thing, especially considering the consequences if she slipped up.
What if she wanted to come clean to her children about everything?
What right did Eric have to take that away from her?
Amy’s stomach tightened as she took another sip of her green tea. “Is he still refusing to budge on the NDA? I won’t talk to the press or anyone I don’t know, but I don’t think it’s fair that he’s making it so I can’t even discuss the truth with my family.”
Kate nodded and swatted at a flyaway hair. “I agree. That’s why we’re pushing back.”
Amy frowned at her drink. “What if he won’t budge?”
Kate leaned sideways and took a folder out of her purse. She threw it onto the table with a thud and flipped it open. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get there. In the meantime, let’s discuss the other points that were brought up. About the beach house—”
Amy’s phone rang, slicing through the air.
Her fingers were awkward and clumsy when she saw Eric’s name flash across the screen. Ice settled in her veins as she set the phone down on the table and placed him on speaker. “Hello?”
“How dare you? How dare you try and turn my daughter against me?”
Amy’s stomach dipped as she looked up and held Kate’s confused gaze. “Eric, what are you talking about? I haven’t told Sylvie anything.”
“You’re a liar,” Eric said, his voice climbing higher and higher. “I should’ve known you’d stoop this low. You always were jealous of my success, always trying to undercut me. Of course, you went to the children.”
“I haven’t done anything,” Amy maintained in a small voice. “It’s the opposite, actually. I’ve done everything I can not to bad-mouth you in front of the children because you’re still their father.”
Eric’s laugh was low and humorless. “Oh, and you expect me to believe that, do you? How na?ve do you think I am, Amy? I know you and Lily have been in touch, and she filled your head with all sorts of ideas, but I really thought you were smarter than that.”
Fear slammed into Amy, hard enough to make her hide her trembling hands under the table. Something low and unpleasant unfurled in the center of her stomach. Her ears were ringing now, and she wanted to be sick.
She wanted to throw the phone at the nearest wall and watch it shatter into a million pieces, just to avoid dealing with Eric. Another smaller part of her wanted to reach into the phone and pull him out, so she could look him in the eye.
After all of their years together, he owed her at least that much.
But Amy knew she wasn’t going to get anything from him. She lowered her gaze and stared at the table, blinking back the tears of frustration and anger. “Lily hasn’t done anything. Neither have I.”
“I’ll give you this: You’re not as spineless as I thought you were. But you’re still nothing but a sad and pathetic little housewife who got bored. Hiring a private detective to look into me was the last mistake you’ll make. The first was leaving me.”
Amy’s mind spun, her thoughts tumbling one after the other. “What private detective?”
“You need to work on your act, Amy, because when I take you to court, I’m going to make sure everyone sees you for the fraud you are. I’m going to destroy you and make it so you’re never able to set foot in the city again without people talking about you.”
“I haven’t done anything,” Amy maintained in a stronger voice that still held a slight tremor. “You don’t have any proof. You’re just upset because you know you don’t have a case.”
“After everything I’ve done for you, I can’t believe this is how you’re going to treat me. When my lawyer is done with you, you’re going to wish you’d never betrayed me, you lying, thieving gold-digging little—”
“Mr. Taylor,” Kate interrupted in a sharp voice. “You are aware that you’re on speaker and that several witnesses can now testify to you repeatedly threatening my client?”
Silence met her statement.
“I have every intention of submitting this to the court should the need arise,” Kate continued in the same calm and measured tone. “We can add verbal abuse to the list of charges. Along with intent to harm and smear my client’s good name.”
“You have nothing that’ll stick,” Eric said in a deadly calm voice. “You’re as worthless as she is, Ms. Wentworth.”
Kate stood and braced her hands against the table. “I look forward to showing you just how worthless I am in court, Mr. Taylor.”
As soon as the line went dead, Amy slumped against the table and released a shaky breath. A loud cacophony of voices rose around her, but she couldn’t make out anything over the hammering of her heart. Eventually, Emily helped Amy to her feet and pulled her into the bathroom in her private office in the back. There, Emily lingered in the doorway while Amy washed her face and stared at her flushed reflection in the mirror.
“That was…intense. Are you okay?”
Amy gripped the sink and released another deep breath. “No, but I will be. I should get going. I’ve got my creative writing course in a few minutes. I’m sorry about the scene.”
Emily shook her head. “No, don’t apologize. I just hope your lawyer can make him pay for what he said.”
In a daze, Amy made her way back outside to collect her coat and purse. Kate walked her to the college campus, her phone pressed to her ear the entire time. Since she was speaking in a low and rapid-fire tone, Amy couldn’t make out anything her lawyer was saying. Nor was she sure she wanted to know all of the intricacies that went into the case.
All she wanted was to go home, crawl under the covers, and hide from the world.
Instead, she was forced to sit through her creative writing course, with William doing his best to draw her into conversation with his witty remarks while she kept replaying Eric’s words in her head. Over and over, she heard his vicious tone, and each time, she felt smaller than the last.
The worst part was believing that he wasn’t wrong.
She was just a woman who’d fallen in love with the wrong man and allowed him to manipulate her for most of her life.
Who was she to have the moral high ground?
By the end of the lecture, while the professor droned on, she was sick to her stomach. Moments later, before he ended the class, she stumbled out, blindly pushing her way through the crowd until she reached the front lawn. There, she stood, buried her face in her hands, and tried to think past the pounding in her ears.
When her phone rang, Amy nearly jumped out of her skin.
William appeared next to her, red-faced and with his eyebrows drawn together. “Is everything okay?”
Amy pressed her lips together and shook her head. With trembling hands, she pressed the phone to her ear and held her breath. She could barely make out the words Kate was saying until her knees gave out, and she sank against William, who lost his footing and stumbled back. His arms came up around her to steady the both of them, and Amy’s shoulders shook.
She didn’t realize she was crying till William took the phone out of her hands and held her to him. “Whatever it is, I’m sure it’ll be okay.”
“He’s going to sign the papers,” Amy repeated, the words sounding foreign even to her own ears and her voice growing higher and happier with each utterance. “I can’t believe it.”
William’s shoulders sagged. “So, congratulations are in order, then?”
Amy laughed through her tears and drew back. “Oh, I’ve ruined your shirt. I’m so sorry.”
William waved her comment away, his expression softening. “Don’t worry about it. Jack’s been telling me I need to retire the flannel look. He’ll probably thank you for this.”
Amy laughed again, and it sounded freer. “I just can’t believe that I…that he…”
Her heart was too full to finish the sentence.
Before she knew what she was doing, Amy was calling Emily to tell her the good news. A short while later, she was still apologizing profusely to William, her face hot with embarrassment, when Emily pulled up in her car. She offered William an enthusiastic wave and pushed the passenger door open. As soon as Amy’s seat belt clicked into place, Emily turned up the music and peeled away from the curb with a screech.
Emily pulled into an empty parking spot outside of O’Malley’s and turned to Amy with a bright grin. “I can’t believe it’s finally over.”
Amy’s mouth hurt from smiling so much. “Me neither.”
Emily pushed her door open and waited for Amy. “We need to have a proper celebration once the papers are signed. I’ll talk to the rest of the family. Everyone is going to be so thrilled.”
Amy pushed the door open and stumbled in, breathless and giddy with impatience and excitement. “I’m just happy I get to put that part of my life behind me.”
For the first time in weeks, Eric didn’t loom over her future, darkening it with his presence.
As the two of them sat down for lunch, complete with a bottle of champagne, Amy wondered if this was the kind of life she had to look forward to.
Full of possibilities and hope and joy.
And completely free of Eric Taylor.