Chapter 9 #2
The tension grew inside the cabin of the SUV the longer we drove, and when Levi couldn’t take the silent treatment a moment longer, he dared to glance in my direction.
“Arizona, listen—”
“No.” I gave a firm shake of my head. “We’ll talk when we get there.”
His gulp was audible, and there was a part of me that liked making him sweat. He deserved it after that little performance at the hospital—the one that had the potential to blow up both our lives.
When we finally reached his oceanside mansion, he cut the ignition, and we climbed out, walking toward the door with Austin trailing behind us.
The minute we crossed the threshold, I turned to Austin. “There’s about an hour before sunset. Why don’t you go take a walk on the beach while I have my conversation with Levi?”
The teen grimaced, shooting a sympathetic look at the man in the hot seat. “Eliminating witnesses is the first step before you kill someone. You really fucked up, dude.”
“Language!” The reprimand was a reflex after years of living with Austin.
There was a mischievous sparkle in Levi’s eyes. “You’re just going to abandon your brother-in-law to be murdered?”
“Oh my God,” I groaned, pinching the bridge of my nose. “Austin, just go.”
He clapped Levi on the shoulder with an “It was nice knowing you,” before hightailing it through the house toward the glass doors to the deck, which had steps leading down to the beach.
The second I heard the quiet latch signaling his departure, I aimed the full force of my anger at Levi.
“What the hell were you thinking?” I yelled.
He shoved both hands into his pockets. “I was thinking that woman with the permascowl was going to make it so I never saw my daughter again. So I did what was necessary to ensure that wouldn’t happen. And I have to say, I’m pretty impressed with how quickly I came up with that on the fly.”
Of course he’d be proud of himself for lying to a social worker.
“I offered to take temporary custody until you got your ducks in a row. That wasn’t good enough for you?”
Levi moved toward a bar set on the edge of the living room, pouring himself a glass of what looked like scotch but could have just as well been whiskey or bourbon. Peeking over his shoulder, he asked, “You want one?”
More than I wanted my next breath, but I couldn’t. Not if I didn’t want everything I’d spent the past decade working toward to crumble in an instant. I’d failed Austin once; I refused to do it again.
Instead of pouring out my messy baggage, I simply replied, “I don’t drink.”
His eyebrows lifted at that admission, but thankfully, he didn’t ask why.
When he turned around, he swirled the liquor in his glass, taking a fortifying sip before speaking again.
“You heard Hilda. Even if the official paternity test comes back proving what I already know—that Maisie is my daughter—she’s going to tell a judge I’m not fit to keep her. What else was I supposed to do?”
I flung my arms wide. “Hire a really fucking good lawyer! It’s not like you don’t have the money to secure the best family attorney in the state, if not the country.”
“Oh, I intend to.”
Exhausted from the day’s events, I collapsed onto the couch. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done? If—no, when—Hilda finds out, it’s not just you and Maisie who will be separated. They’ll take Austin from me too.”
Levi stepped forward, taking a seat on the coffee table opposite me. “I’m not going to let that happen.”
Before I could stop it, hysterical laughter burst past my lips. “You told her we were getting married next week. Your little ruse is going to be over before it even begins when Hilda goes to look for a marriage certificate and there isn’t one on public record.”
A smirk tugged onto his lips. “She’ll find one.”
I gawked at him. “How?”
His smile only grew. “We’re getting married.”
Shooting to my feet, I screeched, “What?!”
Levi stood slowly, moving toward me cautiously, as if I were a spooked animal. “Arizona, you’re right about Hilda. She’s going to put in overtime to poke holes in the story we are trying to sell—”
“You,” I corrected. “The story you are trying to sell.”
He scrunched his nose up. “I mean, if you want to get technical, we’re in this together now.”
I flushed hot from head to toe, and my rage finally bubbled over. “And whose fault is that?”
Despite my outrage, Levi didn’t back down. “We both want to keep our kids. And the only way to do that now is by taking what started out as a lie and turning it into the truth.”
I covered my eyes with my hand. “Why did you have to say a week? Why couldn’t you have said a year? Engaged is far less permanent and more easily broken than married.”
“You’re right. But is the court more likely to believe a couple who claims to be engaged to secure custody of a child, or one who is legally bound together? The sooner we make it official, the less chance there is of our ruse being discovered.”
Fuck. I hated to admit it, but he had a good point. You could fake an engagement, but a marriage would be real—at least in the eyes of the law.
My chest heaved with the force of my heavy sigh. “So we just file for divorce and go our separate ways after you secure custody?”
“We’ll probably have to stay together for a little bit longer, just so it’s believable. Maybe a year?”
A year?
Did I have what it took to stay married to this infuriating man who, for some reason, I was ridiculously attracted to for an entire year?
Probably not, but it didn’t matter. Because there wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do for Austin.
And I had a strong feeling Levi shared a similar sentiment when it came to Maisie, or else we wouldn’t be in this predicament.
Though I would probably regret every minute of the next three hundred and sixty-five days, I said, “Okay.”
Levi’s brown eyes lit up. “Really?”
“You’ve made it so that I don’t have much of a choice.”
He ducked his head. “I know I put you in a bad situation, and I want to make it up to you. As a thank you, I’m willing to forgo a prenup, so when we part ways, half of everything I have goes with you.”
My jaw hit the floor.
Half of his assets would be more money than I could spend in a single lifetime. And while my pride demanded that I tell him to keep every cent, it took a backseat to my top priority of providing for Austin and Mom. Levi was offering financial freedom, and I was just desperate enough to take it.
“Deal,” I agreed. “But there need to be some ground rules.”
The man standing opposite me nodded. “Yep, whatever you want.”
Pointing a finger in his direction, I issued my first stipulation. “There can be absolutely no funny business between you and me.”
He stuck his lower lip out in a pout. “Aw, you’re no fun.”
“I mean it, Levi. Sex will only complicate this situation, so it’s off the table.”
“Fine,” he huffed like a sullen teenager.
Suddenly, I had a flashback to when he mentioned that exclusivity was not something he gave women he was with, so I added, “And while we’re on the topic, you can’t be screwing around with other women either.”
Levi reared back, giving the impression of being offended. “Did you miss the part in the kitchen earlier when I said I hadn’t been with anyone else since we met?”
Honestly, I’d figured it was a line. If the man couldn’t be bothered to keep it in his pants when he was dating a woman, how was I supposed to believe he gave two shits about remaining faithful to his fake wife?
I arched an eyebrow. “You expect me to believe you’re going to commit to celibacy for the next year?”
With an expression of pure determination written across his face, he replied, “If that’s what it takes to keep Maisie, then yes.”
“You seem awfully eager to take on the role of single dad,” I remarked.
He hummed. “I never wanted kids. And I’ll confess that I started to have a panic attack when Maisie showed up and it hit me that her claim that I was her biological father was, in fact, the truth.
But I’m all she has, Arizona, and when Hilda said they were going to take her away, it felt like she reached right into my chest and ripped my heart out. ”
“Sounds about right.” I hitched a thumb over my shoulder. “It’s getting late. I should probably get Austin home, but I’ll give my lawyer a call and meet you at the courthouse at nine after school drop-off tomorrow.”
“It’s a date.” Levi flashed me his cheesiest grin.
This was without a doubt going to be the longest year of my life.