Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 109608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 548(@200wpm)___ 438(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 548(@200wpm)___ 438(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
As he waited for Chet to be brought up, Jamie considered texting Nora to let her know this was happening.
But he decided against it. He could give her the full story when it was all said and done. If he told her now, she’d fret until she knew it was over, and that was the last thing he wanted.
Two security guards escorted Chet in, and Jamie nodded to them that they could leave, which they did.
Chet stood opposite where Jamie sat at his desk, and he saw what Nora was talking about when she described his appearance.
The man looked rough, like he’d lived five years for every one of Jamie’s. His face was lined and drawn, his once-broad shoulders were stooped, his once-thick hair now lank and fully gray, and it appeared he’d lost at least two inches of height, if not more.
When Chet seemed happy to stand there and glare at Jamie, Jamie started it.
“You’ll pardon me if I don’t offer you a seat.”
“I wanna talk to my daughter,” Chet spat.
Jamie raised his brows. “Sorry, do you have a daughter?”
Red crawled up Chet’s neck. “Fuck you,” he bit.
“Do you think that kind of talk is going to get you what you want?” Jamie asked calmly.
Chet’s nostrils flared. “I got things I wanna explain to her.”
“That’s unfortunate, because I can assure you, whatever they are, she doesn’t want to hear them.”
“So, you stole them from me, both of ’em, and now you talk for her too?” Chet sneered.
“I see you’ve fallen on the strategy of revising history in order to be able to live with the man you are and what you’ve done,” Jamie noted.
Chet threw a hand Jamie’s way. “How was I supposed to compete with the likes a’ you?”
“I don’t know,” Jamie drawled sarcastically. “Perhaps not stalking your ex, not beating her to make her become your ex, and giving that first shit about your daughter in the way a father should, rather than using her to extort money from me.”
Chet moved his head like he was stretching the side of his neck before he proclaimed, “I wouldn’t a’ done that shit if I wasn’t in a bind.”
“You seemed to get in binds quite often. Including recently, taking money from Paloma Friedrichsen in order to cause more harm to Rosalind and Dru by sharing your revisionist history with anyone who might listen to it.”
Chet didn’t reply to that, but his eyes did flash with alarm at hearing all Jamie knew.
Instead, he jutted his chin stubbornly and stated, “I think it should be Drusilla’s decision whether or not she wants to hear what I gotta say.”
Jamie nodded. “You’re correct. It should be. In fact, it is. She’s an adult. She has resources. If she didn’t wish to use those, she knows she can utilize mine. Therefore, if she wanted to find you, she would. That said, I suspect she doesn’t want to see you, not only because she hasn’t, nor has she asked me to find you, but also, considering that decision is now hers, she requested I adopt her officially. And although it’s only a document to make what we already have official, it’s important to the both of us, so we’re in the process of doing that.”
The pain and defeat in Chester Lynch’s face at hearing this news was worth every bane Jamie had endured at this man’s hands.
Not the ones his girls had endured, those Chet could never make up for.
But the ones Jamie had endured, absolutely.
AJ and Paloma’s downfalls had left Jamie feeling morose and hollow. He was lucky, in the midst of all of that, Morgan Rawlins had become a part of his life in a way he was making perfectly clear he wanted a place in it, which shined a bright light through that darkness.
This victory, on the other hand, felt fucking phenomenal.
“She’s the only kid I got,” Chet stated.
“She actually isn’t,” Jamie returned.
Chet blinked in confusion. “What?”
“She isn’t yours, Chet,” Jamie said with studied patience. “She hasn’t been yours since she was five.”
“She’s my blood,” Chet ground out.
“You donated sperm,” Jamie replied. “Congratulations. Other than that, you made her mother’s life hell, as well as hers, every time you reared your head. That’s what she’s got from you. That’s all she’s got from you because that’s all you gave her.”
“I loved Rosie,” Chet said softly, and if Jamie could credit it, there was regret in his eyes.
“That isn’t close to true, considering how you treated her.”
“We were young,” Chet defended.
Fuck this asshole.
Jamie was done.
He stood, and he enjoyed watching Chet’s eyes tip up as he did so.
Jamie’s tone was cold and lethal when he declared, “I don’t give that first fuck how young you were. That’s no excuse. If you, a grown man, don’t know that by now, there’s no hope for you. You don’t treat the ones you love with violence and intimidation.”