Chapter 27
27
Rowan
I sat there for a second, glaring at my phone. Atlas’s voice had been as hard as granite telling me I couldn’t even meet him at Arcadia, that we would go together or not at all. I’d been very tempted to tell him not at all, but I’d arranged the meeting with Charlotte already and I couldn’t back out of it.
My anger simmered. I knew why he was being so possessive. He’d told me after all, and the whole baby situation had kicked that into high gear. But if we somehow managed to deal with Charlotte, would he be like this for the next nine months? And when the baby was born, would he be the same?
I couldn’t live like that and I wouldn’t, which meant he and I would have to have a confrontation about it. I didn’t relish the idea since the last few weeks with him had been so good, but if he wouldn’t even let me leave the loft without him, then something that to be done.
Still, I should have known he’d be impossible about me leaving without him. Pity I hadn’t been able to think of a good enough excuse to give him that he’d believe. Now I was going to have to figure out what to do with Charlotte.
I could ask her to come to the loft instead, but I didn’t want Atlas returning unexpectedly and finding her here, because it would make the entire situation worse. I could go on my own of course, take the subway or an Uber, but Atlas would have a fit if I wasn’t here when he got back, and he might then do something rash. I wouldn’t put it past him.
I thought a minute then texted Charlotte, asking if she could meet me here first. She’d no doubt come with a car and driver, so maybe we could have the conversation in the car, which would mean I could then leap out when I spotted Atlas returning.
Charlotte texted back that would be fine, so I spent the rest of the day thinking about how I was going to negotiate with her, and how I could get her to stop her quest for our baby.
Of course then there was this whole sex show business that I’d agreed to and which I was conveniently not thinking about. I had to get ready for that too.
I took a bath and washed my hair, went through the outfits in my wardrobe, trying to figure out which one Atlas would like me to be in. I eventually chose my flowing blue dress because I knew he liked it, then had a small moment of indecision about underwear. I didn’t want to wear my every day bra and panties, not if people were going to see it, so eventually I chose a silky blue set that I’d conned Atlas into buying for me. They were fairly plain, but they matched the dress, and I probably wouldn’t be wearing them long enough for anyone to see anyway.
That thought sent a little bolt of heat through me, making my mouth go dry, but I didn’t want to think about that yet, so I forced it away.
After that I tried to distract myself with a few things, including a text conversation with Mom who wanted me to know she’d become friends with a wonderful woman in the facility she was in and they’d been getting on like a house on fire. It was so good to hear that. Friends were another thing Mom had had difficulties with in the past.
Then I got a text from Charlotte, that she was waiting outside, so quickly I put my phone down, then dashed outside the loft. A black limo idled at the curb outside. Charlotte’s, naturally.
The security guards outside the loft’s front door began converging on me, but at that moment the rear door of the limo opened, and I had just enough time to quickly slip inside before the door closed.
Charlotte Hamilton sat on the seat opposite, looking ethereal and beautiful in a white dress, her brilliant red hair in a tidy chignon. She wore very little makeup and her skin was perfect, and she smiled at me as I settled myself in the seat opposite.
“Rowan,” she said warmly. “You’re positively glowing. Which I take to mean you have some news to tell me?”
The security guards were scowling through the window and gesturing at me, but I ignored them. “I can’t chat for long,” I said. “Atlas doesn’t know I’m talking to you and he wants me to stay in the loft.” Behind me I heard the driver’s door shut as the driver got in and the car engine turn over.
“I can see that,” Charlotte said calmly, glancing at the guards outside on the sidewalk.
I expected her to ask briskly what it was that I wanted, but instead, the limo pulled out smoothly from the curb and into the traffic.
Instant alarm filled me. “What are you doing?”
Charlotte’s green gaze was steady. “I didn’t believe that you were too sick for the doctor’s appointment last week, so I’ve decided to take you for a check up now.”
“I don’t need a checkup,” I said. “I…I’m pregnant.”
My grandmother smiled. “I thought as much. You’ll forgive me if I require some proof, though.”
Something Atlas had told me echoed in my head. He’d been worried Charlotte might spirit me away once she found out I was pregnant. I thought he was being paranoid, that she wouldn’t do that, but now I wasn’t so sure.
“You’ll take me back to the loft?” I asked. “Afterwards?”
Charlotte ignored the question. “Did you call me because you wanted to tell me about the pregnancy? Or was it about something else?”
My mouth dried. I was not going back to the loft, was I?
A cold thread of fear wound through me, but I shoved it away. I couldn’t let that get to me now, not when I had to start negotiations with her.
“I want to talk to you about the baby,” I said in a level voice, thinking about the plan I’d settled on, the angle I was going to take to get her to give in.
“Oh yes?” She settled back in her seat. “What about it?”
I held her gaze. “I don’t want to give the child to you.”
“That’s unfortunate, dear, because if you don’t. I’ll be forced to use the information I have on Mr. Tennyson Fox and your dear husband, and I’ll?—”
“I have a compromise,” I interrupted recklessly. “If you leave the baby for Atlas and I to bring up, I’ll grant you access as a grandparent whenever you like.”
Charlotte’s lips twitched. “That’s not what we agreed on.”
“No, you wanted to bring the kid up yourself, I know. But….” I took a breath then continued on determinedly. “Being brought up by you basically destroyed my mother. So much so that she never spoke about you. I didn’t even know you existed until you contacted me about being a surrogate.” Charlotte opened her mouth, but I didn’t let her speak. “So quite frankly, if you care anything at all for this baby you need to think long and hard about whether being brought up by you is what’s best for it.” My hand dropped to my stomach automatically, as if to protect it from that cold green gaze. “Because if this child grows up like Mom did, it’s not only me who’ll regret it, you will too.”
The perfect lines of my grandmother’s face hardened, her eyes chips of icy emerald. “My parental skills have got nothing to do with you. How dare you?—”
“I had to be the mom for my mother because of you,” I said, heedless now of any damage I might cause because it wasn’t as if I could make this situation any worse than it already was. “I cared for her, made sure she took her meds, made sure all the kitchen knives were in places she didn’t know about. I made sure she showered and ate, and got exercise when she could manage it. I had to make the money and pay the bills, and buy the groceries, and do the laundry. I was her caregiver from the time I was ten years old, with no help from anyone.”
“Caitlyn made her bed,” Charlotte said coldly. “No one forced her to leave.”
“And no one forced you to cut not only her off, but your grandchild too.”
Finally Charlotte’s stare flickered. “I wanted to meet you, but Caitlyn refused.”
“So you just backed off and said ‘fine’?” I threw the words at her like stones, not fighting the hot burst of anger that had erupted suddenly inside me. “You didn’t bother to fight, because you didn’t care, did you?”
“That’s not quite?—”
“And what will you do if this child you want so badly makes that same choice? Will you cut them off too? Will you tell them that they made their beds too?”
Charlotte’s mouth hardened, her green stare like knives.
I stared back. “Nothing is going to bring Juliana back,” I said into the oppressive silence. “She’s gone.”
Two spots of color appeared on Charlotte’s high cheekbones, the flicker of anger in her eyes. Good. I’d made her mad.
Perhaps if I’d been thinking straight, I’d have stopped then, but I’d spent the past couple of weeks challenging Atlas at every turn, and so I wasn’t afraid of her. “I know losing her must have been unbearable, but you still have a daughter, Charlotte. And you have me. And you have Isabel. And when this baby is born you will have them too.” I took another gamble and added, “You won’t be alone.”
She stared at me for a long moment, then turned her head abruptly and looked out the window. “I’m not alone, dear. How silly of you to think that.” She kept gazing out the window and a silence fell. “I suppose he put you up to this?”
“No. I told you, he doesn’t know I’m meeting with you.”
“I don’t imagine he’ll be very pleased when he finds out.”
“He won’t. But that’s my problem to deal with.”
Charlotte turned her head then, her gaze meeting mine. “He’s a murderer, you know. Mr. Fox. He murdered his mentor and Mr. Blackwood helped him cover it up. That’s what I have on them. Proof of the murder.”
Shock trickled through me, a spill of ice water. “What?”
“Mr. Fox did have reason, I suppose. His mentor had developed a rather unhealthy interest in Isabel, Mr. Fox’s daughter.” Charlotte paused a moment. “My granddaughter.”
“Oh,” I said blankly. “Why are you telling me that?”
“So you know what you’re getting yourself into with a man like Atlas Blackwood.”
“That’s not?—”
“If he’s anything like his father, and it seems as if he is, you’ll need to protect yourself.” She let out a breath then leaned forward. “You should come with me, Rowan. I can protect you from him. You can stay at my home on Martha’s Vineyard. I have very good security.”
I blinked, not understanding. “You’re seriously saying he’ll hurt me?”
“He covered up for the murder, and he destroyed his father’s business, and if you don’t want me bringing this child up, then you certainly shouldn’t want him bringing it up either.”
The flash of defensive anger on Atlas’s behalf swept through me once again, burying the shock. “I don’t care what he did in the past. I only told you he was being possessive and controlling to convince you to meet with me.”
“So he’s a pussycat then, hmm?” There was a whole world of skepticism in her expression. “I don’t believe that for a second.”
“Of course he’s not a pussycat,” I snapped. “He’s possessive and he likes control, yes, but he’s nothing like his father. He’d never hurt me and he’d never hurt this child. He’s a good man.”
Charlotte’s gaze dropped to where my hand had settled over my stomach. “I shouldn’t,” she murmured, half to herself. “I’ll regret it.”
“You’ll regret what?”
She sighed and leaned back in her seat again, considering me. “I want access to my great grandchild,” she said. “Whenever I want it.”
It took me a moment to understand what she’d actually said. And then, when it finally penetrated, the relief that gripped me was so intense I felt dizzy.
“So…you won’t want the baby?”
“You can raise the child,” she said and I didn’t miss the emphasis on you. “But if you have any issues with Atlas Blackwood, I want you to call me immediately.” Her gaze intensified. “I will help you, Rowan.”
I swallowed, the relief flooding through me like drug. “Okay, thank you.”
“I mean it,” Charlotte said, all business. “Now, I still want confirmation of your pregnancy so we’ll be going to the clinic. Then I’ll return you to the loft.”
I couldn’t believe I’d done it, that I’d managed to convince her to let Atlas and I keep our baby. I’d done that, poor powerless Rowan. A billionaire’s fuck toy and a Hamilton pawn.
“No.” I smiled and settled back against the seat. “I’m not going back to the loft. You can take me to Arcadia.”