Chapter 33
Thirty-Three
“Everyone, Jordan’s here,”Xander announced to the room.
Three heads turned toward me at the same time. Jasper smiled, Joe raised his eyebrows, and Caden was expressionless as usual.
“I already explained a little of the situation on the way here,” Xander continued. “But the short of it is that Jordan is now under my care, and not my father’s, on account of him being an abusive asshole.”
“What?” I blurted automatically before I could think better of it.
Xander shot me a fierce, silencing look as if threatening me with punishment if I dared to contradict him. It was such a far cry from the warmth he generally bestowed upon me that I felt as if I’d been plunged into an ice-cold bath. Numbly, I heard the conversation carry on without me.
Joe’s eyebrows shot up even further. “Why does Jordan need to be under anyone’s care?”
I once had a good working relationship with Joe because we’d been equals at the time, but facing down against him now, in a ratty T-shirt and leggings, I felt like the very worst sort of bottom-feeder. Subhuman.
God, was that a hole in the hem of my tunic?
“Because my father had her entered into a conservatorship after… an incident,” Xander replied. “But I’m going to replace him since he is unfit as a guardian.” He gave me one more look; it gave me a chill because I saw a shadow of Henry in it. “I’m in love with her, and that puts me in the best position to be in charge of her care.”
My shock was like a knife to the ribs. He had promised not to drag out our dirty secret before his brother or anyone else. At least not without my permission.
Joe was equally shocked as he took in Xander’s words. “You two are dating?” he asked, dumbfounded.
Jasper’s eyes rounded, and he looked between me and his brother harshly. “You’ve been seeing Jordan? This whole time?”
God.I closed my eyes, hating the betrayal on his face.
“For the time being, I’ll be assigned her temporary guardian—,” Xander continued, ignoring Jasper’s concerns.
“No,” I cut in, conscious of the men watching like a silent Greek chorus. “Xander, no, I don’t want that!”
How dare he make me plead for my freedom in front of these men? How dare he? I thought he was different. I thought he cared.
“You need someone to take care of you,” he said through gritted teeth. “So why not me? Unlike him, I actually care about you.”
“This is insane,” Jasper said, and even though I was sure the word was unintentional, it gutted me. Because it echoed every doubt I’d ever had as to whether I was of sound mind. If I were of sound mind, maybe then I wouldn’t have gotten into this position in the first place. I would have been strong enough to find a solution. “This is literally something Dad would do.”
“Stay out of this,” Xander said coolly.
Joe shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I need a drink,” he muttered.
I wondered what hewas thinking. Could it be any worse than the truth? Given that he was Henry’s twin, I had a hard time looking him in the eye at all. It was too hard not to imagine what he would say to all of this.
My cheek throbbed, and I clapped a hand to my face.
I could imagine.
Following up on his threat to imbibe, Joe made his way to Xander’s liquor cabinet. As he poured himself three fingers of whiskey, he asked, “Is this what all that subterfuge was about?”
Xander went visibly tense, shooting his uncle what would have been a quelling look if Joe didn’t have the same wintry iron flowing through his blood as his nephew.
I had been conditioned so well that the urge to play hostess rose in me even now to soothe them both before they could square off and—what? Ruin the evening? Forcing it back, I leaned on the marble counter of Xander’s kitchen. “What’s going on? What subterfuge?”
“Xander brought us here,” Caden—who had been quiet this whole time—said without much interest. “He’s been trying to persuade us to oust Henry from the company.”
“What?” The word felt ripped from me. “Why?”
“Because of what he did to you.” Xander’s voice was flat. “The only way to get you out of his care is to threaten the thing he cares about—his business.”
His words hit me like a punch to the gut.
Xander had told me that things would be different than they had been with Henry. But how was he any different than his father? Henry also pushed me and his family away, always thinking he knew what was “best.”
Couldn’t Xander see what he was becoming?
“If Henry remains your guardian, you’ll go back to living in a cold house of make-believe where you either play his game or go back to the institution,” Xander went on, seemingly oblivious to my pain.
I stared at him, speechless, then turned to the grim-faced men.
Not everyone knew I had spent time in an institution. Telling them about it was yet another betrayal. I’d worked hard to hide these insecurities, only to see my carefully constructed facade tumble like a pile of blocks without any consultation with me.
Joe and Jasper glanced at me sympathetically. Even Caden said, “Easy, dude.”
I remembered the look Xander’s staff had given me, the mixture of unease and pity when she told me that I was staying here for my own good. That she had the institution on speed dial. Because I was sick.
I wondered if these men now also wondered if I had gone off the deep end as I stood before them dumbly silent in my holey clothing.
When no one spoke, Xander followed up his statement with, “Is that what you want, Jordan?”
But isn’t that exactly what you’re doing to me right now? I thought. Except now, we’re playing your game.Not Henry’s.
Jasper folded his arms over his chest. “You’re starting to sound a lot like Dad right now,” he told Xander.
“I’m nothing like him,” Xander continued as if he hadn’t ousted my mental health to a roomful of people. “Do you see what he did to her face? There are bruises all over her body, too. That was done at one of his so-called corporate galas, where he spent the whole time drunk off his ass. It’s clear that he’s become a liability.
“Not to mention, he was never allowed to marry Jordan. Based on the terms he signed for her conservatorship, it was a conflict of interest. He faked a wedding just to have more control over Jordan. I found their marriage certificate and ran it by a lawyer. It’s not valid. It’s missing signatures and was never filed.”
The blood in my veins ran cold. I had always suspected something wasn’t right but never that my entire relationship with Henry had been built on a premeditated lie from the very beginning.
I didn’t even have time to process it as Xander continued to drag all my secrets before his family like dirty laundry.
He turned toward me, his eyes burning with a dark intensity that scared me. He had looked at me the same way that night on the ship, and the fire in his gaze had melted right through my reserve. “The type of conservatorship Henry applied for didn’t allow him to remain your guardian if he married you. That’s why he never filed the paperwork. You were never married to him.”
“What?”
I didn’t realize I’d spoken aloud until he took my hand in his. His palms were callused, and the way they rasped over my fingers sent a shiver down my spine. His eyes narrowed, and I knew that he’d noticed.
“You were never married to my father,” he repeated. “He lied to you.”
Lied.
The room seemed to spin around me. I hadn’t eaten much today, and my body made me painfully aware of that now.
“I don’t… I don’t understand.”
Xander, looking concerned now, put his hands on me. On my waist, but still. Too familiar. Anyone looking at us would think?—
They already do think that. Because he just fucking told them without my permission.
“You still need a guardian,” he whispered. “I’ll find a program where I can take over from him, but we can still get married. I won’t make the same mistake as Henry?—”
I stepped away from him.
With my eyes closed, I drew in a shallow breath as I remembered feeling sick in the restaurant and my suspicions of what that might mean…
Fuck. I couldn’t be, could I?
This was all happening far too soon.
I gasped, “I need some air.”
“Jordan,” Xander said. “I?—”
“Please.” I pushed at his chest, painfully aware of the men watching. This was all so sordid. I felt as if I had been dropped onto the set of one of those tawdry daytime TV dramas that my grandmother had used to watch in her pink-painted retirement home. “I think I’m going to faint.”
Xander released me begrudgingly, but his weight shifted, leaning toward me as I backed toward the door.
“Let her go, man,” Jasper said. “This is… Fuck, it’s a lot.”
“Are we sure it’s true?” Caden’s cold voice rang out sharper than the others’. “The fake marriage license, the conservatorship, the abuse. There’s a lot of allegations being flung around, and it all seems to be anecdotal.”
They began to argue, Xander’s angry voice going head-to-head with Caden, Jasper chastising his brother for his callousness, and Joe trying to calm everyone down. I saw the staff member from before poking her head out of the kitchen before disappearing.
What a good idea.
Their voices floated fainter as I scuttled down the foyer and toward my room. Or should I say, my cell? A few more of the staff, all unknown to me, had been hovering discreetly. They fled like quail as they saw me approach.
I barely registered their presence, thinking only of Xander’s betrayal and my dizzying fears. I had to know. I had to be sure.
All the stress had put pressure on my bladder, so when I slipped into my bathroom, it was easy to use one of the pregnancy tests Xander had gotten for this very occasion.
Please don’t be positive, I thought, closing my eyes. Please. When I open my eyes, please be one line.
Just one. I cracked open an eye, and two pink lines reached my gaze.
Oh no, I thought. Oh fuck.
What was I supposed to do?
Now, Xander would use the conservatorship to force me into being with him for good, and our baby would be just as much a prisoner as me. What would stop him from leveraging it, too?
The old Xander would never use a child as a pawn for personal gain. But the man he had become was not the old Xander.
This man reminded me of Henry.
A crueler, more competent version of Henry who had gotten me to care about him in a way that I never had with the original Henry.
A Henry who had made me hope for something better.
My phone buzzed from the table I’d left it on in my haste. Wiping my eyes clear of the tears that had formed, I looked at the message.
There was no point in calling for help, I thought miserably. Now that Xander had resorted to Henry’s old tricks and started monitoring my phone, anyone I messaged could be used against me. I thought back to a moment early in my marriage when I had spoken to a colleague about some of my concerns about my “husband.” She had been sympathetic and invited me for a chat, not knowing that our texts were being routed to Henry.
He had taken me aside and said, “You sound a little paranoid, Jordan. Be careful how you speak to others. You’ve come so far, and it would be a shame if you ended up back where you started.”
Needless to say, I ended up blowing off that woman. She was probably still wondering what my problem was, and I felt really bad about that.
Unknown: Jordan, it’s Michelle. There are some flowers here for you. I’ve notified Xander, but he isn’t responding. They want you to sign for them.
Had Xander tried to buy me off with flowers? Another piece of my heart flaked off at this classic Henry move. Of course, his father’s favorite attempt at bribery had been jewelry, but I supposed it was only a matter of time.
I kicked my nightstand, causing the replacement lamp to rattle. Then I composed myself and went downstairs to receive my wonderful apology flowers, leaving my phone on the table.
The men were still arguing in the living room. Xander was shouting over the low rumble of Joe’s voice. They would likely be at it for at least an hour, I thought, feeling a shard of pity for Jasper. This had to be traumatic for him, having grown up dealing with these exact kinds of shouting matches with his father.
Xander had always been so careful and thoughtful about his brother and his triggers. Protective. There had been a time when he had always stepped in between his younger brother and his father, cushioning him from the brunt of his father’s wrath as if he were the father shielding his child.
Now, he was putting Jasper through the same kind of hell, and he could not see it.
Fuck, I was going to cry again.
I walked right past them toward the door, stepping out into the garden. There was a crisp, cold breeze scented with flowers. What bloomed in winter? I wasn’t sure. Grass, hay. I shook my head, stepping under the shadow of the Japanese maple that towered over the drive.
I couldn’t even be surprised this was happening to me.
I hadn’t thought Henry would hit me, either. Or kick me.
Every betrayal from every man in my life had always started in a slow cascade. You didn’t see the avalanche for what it really was until you were nearly buried and couldn’t breathe.
Why should this be any different?
My eyes lifted to regard the property and the spacious driveway, just as another car rolled down the street. A gunmetal-colored Mustang. Was that the flower truck? Didn’t they normally come in a delivery van?
I eyed it warily, wondering if it was more security detail. When Xander had assigned guards to me, they had often arrived and departed in cars like this. Perhaps he had ordered more in anticipation of keeping me here.
Maybe his new intention was to hold me in this house under armed guard.
God, I couldn’t tell him about the baby. If he suspected, even for a moment, that I was pregnant, there was no way he would ever let me go. Not after what he’d said before, and the hunger in his eyes when he’d told me that he hoped I’d gotten pregnant.
I glanced at the car again, wondering if I ought to go to them for help. But would a crazed woman running out into the road be a check in my favor when it came to the fight for my own sanity? Probably not. Xander said the staff had my institution on speed dial. For all I knew, he’d gotten his neighbors involved in my “care.”
Just as I’d dismissed the idling vehicle, the car stopped, and a man swung out. A man so familiar, and yet so out of place in this current context, that I blinked rapidly, unable at first to place him here.
Henry.
Henry?!
“Jordan,” he said, smiling in a way that I’d never seen him smile before. It was sharklike and terrifying. A smile that was out for blood. “Oh, good. You’re here. That makes this all so much easier.”
“Makes what easier?” This did not seem like a man who had been begging for forgiveness from the only family he had left.
Unconsciously, I stepped toward the house and felt a flicker of fear when Henry followed. “There’s a delivery man out here,” I blurted.
Henry laughed unpleasantly. “My son’s underqualified staff were easy to fool,” he bragged. “And, so, apparently, are you. Let’s go inside and talk.”
Oh God. There had never been a flower delivery. Henry had duped the staff to get past the gates of Ilion with promises of gifts while biding his time inside the belly of his rented Mustang.
I took another step back from him. “I don’t want to go anywhere with you, Henry.”
“Would you prefer to have this discussion at the mental hospital?” he asked in a tone of venomed civility. “My phone’s in the car. I could get it.”
I knew two things, then: one, whatever Henry planned, he didn’t want anyone on the street to see, and two, he had no idea that Xander was already here with the rest of Henry’s family, who also happened to sit on his board.
Playing at reluctance, I let him lead me inside. As soon as the door closed, he shoved me up against the wall by the throat.
“You little whore,” he spat. “You were stupid. You left a paper trail.”
“Careful,” I choked out. “These buildings have security cameras. Wouldn’t be so great for your image if you got filmed strangling your ex-wife.”
His hand convulsed involuntarily at “ex-wife,” although I saw him shoot a wary look around. Then his grip tightened, and my periphery grayed out.My mind spun with terror. I had to save myself and the baby inside me.
“You should have thought about that before fucking my son all over the country. It won’t be hard to declare you unfit, Jordan. Moving to a new country on a whim, abusing your parental role, unstable behavior. As your guardian, it’s my duty to protect your business interests. By removing you from them. Permanently. If anyone asks, I’ll say you attacked me first, you crazy little bi?—”
I raised my knee, crushing his testicles.
My rage was transformative, and it stemmed from my need to protect the new life taking root inside of me. Now I had something to protect, to fall back on when I felt incapable of fighting for myself alone.
I was done being a pushover.
I was over these abusive men dictating my future.
He let out a harsh wheeze, his brows already lowering in anger like a bull about to charge. But he released me, clutching himself instinctively as if that could ease the pain.
Quickly, I turned and grabbed one of the paintings and hit him over the head with it so hard that the glass cracked. Henry howled as the shards rained down from the frame, catching in his hair and, I imagined, falling down his back. “You bitch,” he growled. “I’ll fucking kill you.”
The conversation in the living room had stopped, but Henry, in his rage, hadn’t noticed anything but me.
He didn’t yet realize that he was performing for an audience.
So, when I stumbled to a halt in the room, it took Henry a moment to realize that we were no longer alone. It took him a moment longer to realize that he knew these men and that they were eyeing him with the sort of disgust one might reserve for a backed-up septic tank.
Xander grabbed his father by the collar of his golf shirt, and I stepped forward with a gasp, but Joe was faster.
“Don’t. It’s not worth it.” His voice was hard as steel, his face turned toward his brother. “What do you think you’re doing?”
I had never seen Henry speechless. It was delicious, seeing the look on his face, realizing that he’d been tricked by me, the woman who wasn’t in her “right” mind. His eyes, when they met mine, were filled with hatred. I saw the gears in his mind whirring. How could he play this to his benefit?
“She cheated on me.”
Xander’s fist tightened, pulling the cotton taut around my “husband’s” throat. “She was too good for you. You never deserved her.”
With a growl, Henry shoved Xander away, apparently too arrogant or blind to care that the only reason he was released was because the other man willed it. “She’s unwell. You’re fucking a delusional mental patient.”
Xander snarled and would have lunged if Joe, and now Jasper, hadn’t held him back.
“Xander already spoke to us,” Caden said in a hard tone. “He’s told us about the situation.”
“Oh really?” Henry said, with a nasty little laugh. “Did he tell you about everything he’s gotten up to at the behest of that scheming whore?—”
“I told them all about your fake marriage,” Xander cut in. “And how you took advantage of Jordan. That was your plan all along, wasn’t it? To control Jordan. You could have given up your guardianship and married her, but that wasn’t what you wanted. You wanted someone to control, someone with no power against you. We’re all just pawns to you. Useful—until we weren’t. Until we decided we didn’t want to be controlled anymore.”
“This is going to look terrible if it gets out,” Caden said dispassionately. “This is a family company, after all. What were you thinking with this Jerry Springer shit?”
“And I’m sure there’ll be some jail time involved for the whole wife-beating thing,” Jasper pointed out angrily.
“Very few companies survive a CEO with this kind of scandal to their name,” Caden added.
“You’ve never been as subtle as you think you are,” Joe said offhandedly. “If word gets out about how you had all of us attend your fake marriage, no amount of major damage control can save our stocks from plummeting.”
Henry looked white. “All right,” he said, not to them but to Xander. “You’ve made your point. I’ll call off the press. I’ll take down the photo, too.”
“That’s not enough.” Xander’s tone was cold.
“What the fuck do you want then?” Henry snarled. “Blood?”
“Don’t be so dramatic.” Xander reached into his blazer pocket and shuffled through some documents. “I want you out of our lives for good. If I see one more text from you, I’ll leak this to the press.” He threw down some papers, and I presumed one of them was my fake marriage license. “Before you think about tearing these up, I have backup copies.” He clicked a pen. “First things first, release yourself as Jordan’s conservator, and grant me temporary power of attorney until I sort out how best to take over.”
“No.” It took me a moment to realize that the outraged cry came from me. “Please, Xander. I don’t want to be under another person’s control.”
Xander didn’t even look at me, his stoic face devoid of emotions.
Henry scoffed. “So much for the white knight.”
Xander’s eyes hardened as he looked at his father. “Sign.”
“You know what? You’re welcome to have her.” Henry looked at me unfeelingly. “Just as long as you stay the fuck away from my business. She’s really not worth this much trouble.” Henry yanked the pen out of Xander’s hand.
Xander watched Henry sign with a gleam in his eyes. “I have everything I ever wanted right here. You and your business can fuck off, Dad.”
Unable to watch myself be bartered away like a piece of property, I turned and headed for the stairs.
I thought he had valued me as a person, but he was using me like an object, in the crudest sense of the word. And he had done it in front of his entire family.
I had a flashback to being kicked and punched within earshot of Henry’s friends at his party. The public humiliation of knowing the man I had hitched myself to cared so little for me had been almost as painful as the ensuing wounds. Xander had never hit me, I had told myself, in consolation.
But this betrayal felt worse.
I felt it in my soul.
Henry moved like he was going to follow, but Joe dragged him away. “Let’s take twenty to talk about how we’re going to move forward,” he said in a low, angry voice.
“What about Jordan?” Jasper asked. The concern in his voice touched my heart and reignited the guilt I felt over this whole situation. His love and affection for me had always been so pure.
“Let her go,” I heard someone—Caden—say.
I went to my bedroom and knew immediately it was time for the whole damsel in distress thing to end.
No one would give me freedom. I had to take it for myself.
I walked to the window. I looked down at the ivy-strewn fence I had observed earlier. It was close enough and wide enough that I thought I could make it. It wasn’t that different than the monkey puzzle tree that had been in my parents’ front yard, but I hadn’t been pregnant then, and now I was wary about demonstrating the same level of athleticism.
A breeze gusted at me as I opened the window. I swung out a leg, testing the strength of the fence to make sure it would support my weight, and then slid out the other foot cautiously, gripping onto the underside of the frame as I levered myself out the window. I felt one of my nails break and gasped at the pain, which, in turn, made me wobble. I had to bite back a scream, my arm twitching as I resisted the urge to cradle my midsection.
I lost my balance and hit the ground hard, rattling the teeth in my skull. My first instinct was to make sure that the impact hadn’t caused any internal damage. But I had no cramping or pain. The shock to my knees was like being knocked about by a stone, though; it pounded me to the dusty dirt belt beside the driveway, which hadn’t yet been landscaped. I was pretty sure my left knee was bleeding.
Groaning, I got to my feet. Henry’s car was still on the curb. Idling.
Had he left the keys in the ignition? That was the first real stroke of luck I’d had. I swung the car door shut, breathing through my nose to calm myself, and let my eyes fall to the buttery leather seat.
Henry’s phone.
I picked it up, swiping through his lock code—the day he’d founded his company, so predictable—and dialed a number.
Piya picked up on the second ring. “Hello?”
“Piya.” I put the phone on speaker as I pulled away from Xander’s house, fighting back the tears finally descending.
“Yes, who is this?” she asked, her voice wary. In the background, I could hear the distinct grumbling of her husband saying something to the extent of, That better not be another man you’re talking to.
“It’s Jordan. I’m sosorry to call like this, but I need you to do me a huge favor.”