Total pages in book: 29
Estimated words: 26723 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 134(@200wpm)___ 107(@250wpm)___ 89(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 26723 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 134(@200wpm)___ 107(@250wpm)___ 89(@300wpm)
The thought of going up against them in court deflated me, but I refused to back down. And I finally had the perfect weapon in my arsenal. One they would respect—the power that came from Jeremy’s billions.
Lifting my hand, I wiggled my finger so my engagement ring glistened in the sunshine streaming through the window. “If you want to go up against me while I have Grandpa and Jeremy’s attorneys in my corner, go right ahead.”
My mom scoffed. “Oh, I highly doubt that your fake fiancé will stick around once he discovers he can’t get his hands on the Malibu house through you.” She sneered. “That’s right. I know all about your relationship. Does your grandfather know you got engaged after knowing each other for less than thirty minutes?”
11
JEREMY
Corbin and I came inside when we heard raised voices all the way from the back porch. He was practically turning purple with anger as we made our way to the front of the house. Hearing the words her parents were hurling at McKenna, I badly wanted to step in. But I also didn’t want her to get the impression that I thought she couldn't handle herself.
She sounded mad as hell, and while that would normally make me want to throw her on the couch and fuck her, I was more concerned about her well-being. So I’d planned to simply walk over to her and stand behind her, close enough for her to know I was there to support her, when her grandfather and I entered my home office.
However, that plan flew out the window when they accused us of having a fake engagement. It didn’t matter that we’d started out that way—or at least she thought we had. I wasn’t about to let anyone, especially her deadbeat parents, throw shade on our relationship.
“Don’t say another fucking word,” I warned them, my voice as hard as steel. Stepping around McKenna, I pushed her just slightly behind me so they didn’t have a straight line of sight to spew any more poison at her. “I don’t give a damn about Corbin’s house and land. My only concern is for McKenna.”
Her mother scoffed, and I took a menacing step toward her, causing the woman to shrink back into herself.
“I love McKenna—more than anything money could buy. I would give every last penny I have to make her happy. If she wants to sell the house to my company, that’s up to her. But if she doesn’t, if McKenna wants to keep it, to live there, to raise our family there, then I will fight for her dreams. I will fight you until my dying breath.”
I prowled over to stand directly in front of the selfish assholes who had somehow brought the most beautiful, kind, and loving soul I’d ever known into this world. They tried to put on a facade of nonchalance, but I saw the fear in their eyes. “And I’ll win. Not just because I have right on my side, but because I have the money to fucking bury you.”
Corbin’s intelligence had obviously skipped a generation because McKenna’s mother threw her shoulders back and snapped, “If you think we are just going to let you and McKenna steal my inheritance, you are delusional. We’ll fight—”
“Enough!” Corbin boomed.
The fragile grandfather who was recovering from an injury and was a sucker for his granddaughter was gone. In his place was the no-nonsense businessman I’d heard about.
Corbin was glaring at his daughter and son-in-law. “Carol, you’re my daughter, and I love you. But after the way you’ve acted toward your own child for the past twenty-one years, I have absolutely no qualms about giving McKenna my home instead of you. And if you try to claim that I changed my will under coercion because I’m not in my right mind, I’ll write you two out of the will entirely, and I’ll have the judge witness it. Now, since you can’t afford to go up against Jeremy without my money…you can either leave and get something when I die, or stay and get nothing, except a night in jail when Jeremy calls the police to report you for trespassing.”
McKenna’s mom gasped, her expression filled with outrage, but her husband had a better read on the situation. “Let’s go, Carol.”
“But—”
“Now!” he snapped and grabbed her arm, practically dragging her from the room.
“And for your information,” he called after them, “they got engaged after less than ten minutes!”
He laughed, and McKenna’s parents hurried on their way, ignoring him.
I followed them to the front door, opened it, and slammed it shut behind them.
“Good riddance.”
Turning around, I spotted Corbin leaning heavily on his cane at the entrance to the hallway. He stared at the door sadly, but when McKenna came to stand beside him and placed her hand on his arm, the sparkle returned to his eyes, and he smiled at her.