Chapter Fifteen #2
Alex touched the folder. “The deep dive you should have done
the minute she threatened you. Mal, you’ve been a soldier most of your adult
life. I don’t blame you. This isn’t something that comes naturally, so we’re
going to teach you how to handle a person like this. She told me she’s going to
take you to court because you signed Christopher’s birth certificate. I’ve got
a solicitor Damon recommended working on that.”
He needed to read that folder. How much of a fool had he
been?
Andrea clutched his arm, desperation flowing off her in
waves. “Please, let’s talk. These people have nothing to do with us. I’m in
trouble.”
“Not as much as you’re about to be in,” Cooper said and held
up a hand to the gorgeous blonde walking by the glass walls. “Little sister is
here.”
Vivian was walking like a woman on a mission.
His heart clenched. Well, they’d told him she would be
angry. His first instinct was to go cold. He wasn’t going to beg. If she’d come
here for a pound of flesh she could take it, but he wouldn’t let her see how
much it hurt. How could his stunning, sweet, elegant woman handle all his mud?
“Who is that?” Andrea asked, her tone going cold. “Do you
let prostitutes in here?”
Rage flared up. “Don’t you dare call her that.”
“That’s my sister, and she’s going to kick your ass,” Cooper
said with a grin, and he held his phone up. “My wife will murder me if I don’t
film this for her. Sosa, too.”
But Sosa didn’t need to have the moment memorialized. She
was right behind Vivian, along with Vivian’s mother, aunt, and Ariel, who
seemed to be trying to talk to Vivian.
“You need to stay calm,” Ariel advised.
“Nah, baby girl. You go,” Charlotte said. “That woman is
trying to take your man. You need to set firm and clear boundaries with other
women. Once you haul one out by her hair, the others will take notice.”
What was happening?
Vivian walked through the door and took in the room, then
turned to him, her expression softening. “Babe, this anger is not with you. I
need you to understand that.”
She wasn’t upset with him? “I didn’t know she would show up
here. I didn’t think she knew where I worked. I tried to make this more
private.”
A brow rose above her eyes. “You wanted to be alone with
her?”
Shit. Why had he ever thought this woman was gentle and
sweet? Not that she couldn’t be, but there had been this underlying belief that
Vivian was far too genteel to handle his baggage. He needed to keep her far
from it. The woman in front of him looked like she could handle anything.
Alex looked his way. “I like the expression on your face,
son. You’re starting to get the point. She’s not decoration. She’s a partner,
and you trust your partner to be strong and tell you what she needs. Learn the
lesson so you don’t waste time like I did.”
“Vivi’s got this,” her brother said.
He felt his whole soul go from protective mode to
explain-to-your-wife-before-she-explodes mode. He hadn’t realized he had one of
those, but here it was. “Love, the last thing I want to do is be alone with
her. I thought I was protecting you, but I’m going to let you and your family
handle this.”
“I’m his wife.” Andrea put her hand on his arm again in a
purely possessive fashion that made his stomach turn.
Vivian tilted her chin up. “I can handle her however I see
fit?”
He forced himself to nod. He’d always thought he would have
to give her up, but he faced the fact that he didn’t want to. Ever. She was the
be-all, end-all of his existence, and that meant taking the risk. “I trust
you.”
It made him sick, but he was going to do it. If she got
hurt, he would jump in.
She looked to her father. “Do we have counsel here?”
Her dad gave her a thumbs-up. “We do, but don’t let it get
too bloody. Damon recently replaced the carpet.”
There was a slightly evil light in his love’s eyes, and it
weirdly did it for him. Vivian was still perfectly polished, but there was
something primal in her eyes. The look of a she-wolf defending her mate. She
turned to Andrea, her voice going flat. “You are not his wife. You are his
ex-wife and honestly, he should have sued you for fraud since you knew you lied
when you told him Christopher was his.”
Andrea’s face went pink. “I didn’t know. I thought he was
Mal’s. After all, I was seeing Mal at the time. I only made one mistake. I’m
sure you’ve never made one in your whole life.”
An interesting take. Mal moved closer to Alex and Ian, some
part of him realizing this was his place today. “She told me she’d always
known. We only slept together once, and she was already pregnant.”
Vivian’s expression softened briefly. “I know, babe. Like I
told you I’m not angry with you. I’m not questioning anything but your ability
to properly handle this woman.” She went on her toes and kissed him briefly,
then that light was back in her eyes and she turned to Andrea. “I seriously
doubt you don’t know me. You know exactly who I am and you still walked into my
family’s business and tried to get my man alone with you.”
“We told him it was a bad idea,” her father announced.
She turned on her dad, pointing a finger that seemed
aggressive. “You are in trouble, too. How dare you do a deep dive on my
boyfriend?”
Taggart shrugged. “Oh, we’ve been doing that for a long
time. But this was the most fun of them all since she is a shitstorm of a human
being.”
Vivian marched over and looked at the file. “You did this to
help him?”
“I did this to help you,” her father replied. “Though the
deep dive let me know what an honorable man he is. He hasn’t read this yet. I
think he needs to, and he needs to understand that we’re not here to watch him
get humiliated. We’re here to support him.”
“She’s not even your type,” Andrea was saying, and she
cuddled up behind him. “Are you doing this to make me jealous?”
He was sick of her. He forced her away and looked to the men
in the room who seemed to know way more than he did. “What you’re saying is I
should read that folder and allow Vivian to handle the problem.”
Taggart’s arms went up. “He shoots, he scores.”
“Malcom,” Andrea began. “We need to talk like adults. What
you sent wasn’t enough. Christopher needs new clothes and shoes. If you aren’t
willing to help, I’ll make sure everyone knows. You wanted to keep this quiet,
but I can make it loud. Your hometown will side with me. You won’t be able to
show your face there again.”
Vivian’s eyes flared, and he saw an expression on her face
that he’d never seen before.
Volcanic rage. She was an avenging goddess, and his dick
went hard because she was the sexiest thing he’d ever seen. He knew he kept
thinking that, but she raised the bloody bar every day.
Vivian’s heels clicked on the hardwoods, and she didn’t
hesitate. She didn’t try to reason with Andrea. She grabbed a fistful of
Andrea’s brown and gold hair and started pulling her toward the door.
“You can’t do this,” Andrea screamed, trying desperately to
keep up. She was very thin, in a not healthy way.
“Looks like I can,” Vivian replied calmly, and then they
were in the hallway. Vivian had strength in her body, honed by training and
hours in the gym. She only looked soft.
“Vivi, you need to think about this,” Ariel said. Her mother
whispered something in Ariel’s ear that made her step back and nod Vivian’s
way. “In that case, take her down.”
He needed to read what was in that folder. He moved over and
took it from Alex.
“You’re not worried about Vivi?” Alex asked.
He briefly looked up, and Vivian had Andrea in a headlock.
“No. She’s good. Excellent form, love.”
He opened the folder, reading the synopsis while Alex gave
him the audio version.
“She hasn’t seen her children in six months. They’ve been
with her mum, who now has legal custody,” Alex offered. “She’s been in Hungary
following a rock band.”
“I don’t know that I would call them a band,” Taggart
corrected. “That seems generous. More like a bunch of idiots who learned to
play their instruments on YouTube.”
“Bryce. She’s still with Bryce.” He shouldn’t be surprised.
They were a toxic combo, and they couldn’t seem to stay away from each other.
Nothing else mattered. He could guess what happened. His brother got in trouble
with someone financially—likely a gambling establishment—and he sent his girl
out to bleed his brother dry.
“Mal, she’s playing on your fear of embarrassment,” Cooper
said quietly. Well, as quietly as he could over Andrea’s screeching. “But you
don’t have anything to be embarrassed about. You tried to do the right thing
with the information you had at the time.”
Shame has no place here because you haven’t done
anything shameful.
William’s words. The therapist couldn’t know how much he’d
helped. The fact that he was letting Vivian clean up his mess was all because
of William.
And Vivian herself.
“You were honorable,” Alex said. “In uniform and out of it.
I’ve found that sometimes when you’ve made a mistake and corrected it, the
universe gives you a second chance. I think my Vivi is yours and you’re hers.
Or maybe the right chance finally came along.” There was a particularly loud
scream from the hallway. Alex winced. “If you can deal with the fact that she’s
not always ladylike. I forgot about that. I could talk to her if you want me
to.”
Something eased inside him and he closed the folder. “You
really hired a solicitor? I love my nephews, but I don’t want Andrea to have a
leash on me.”
“Oh, I think Vivi cut that right off,” Cooper said. “That’s
going to scar. How good is Damon with the police?”
Alex sat back. “If she tries to get Vivi taken in, I’ll
uncover all the cons she and Bryce have been running across Europe. Pretty sure
they’re wanted in like four different countries.”
He hadn’t gotten to that part yet.
“Page fourteen,” Alex offered. He looked to Cooper. “Did you
teach her that move?”
Mal looked up and Andrea had managed to get out of her hold,
but when she tried to slap Vivian, Vivi caught her wrist and flipped her.
Andrea banged against the floor. “Lucy must have taught her that.”
It was a complete shit show. Apparently, she’d lied about