Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 87601 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87601 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
“I’m so sorry, son,” I say, aching for him.
His chin snaps up, his eyes narrowing. “Don’t call me son, okay? Not right now. I’m not pissed at you—well, not as pissed as I am at Mom, anyway—but we’re not going to do any father-son bonding right now. It’s too weird.” He glances at Sydney, his voice softening, “But I get it. You two.” His mouth curves into a sad smile. “I told you that you’d like my dad, right?” He exhales, shaking his head. “You must have laughed your ass off.”
“That’s not who I am, Adrian,” Sydney says gently. “You know that. I didn’t laugh. I felt uncomfortable. You’re my friend. I don’t like lying to my friends. It just felt like too big a secret to blurt out in the heat of the moment without talking to Gideon first.”
“We didn’t know, Adrian,” I add. “When we first met and started to have feelings for each other, I had no idea the two of you used to date. Neither did Sydney. We didn’t find out until the night of your fundraising party.”
He nods, his gaze dropping to the floor with a sigh. “Yeah, well, it doesn’t matter, I guess. You two clearly like each other. I wish I’d never seen…anything I saw tonight, but it’s obvious it’s more than fucking with you guys. Or more than blow jobs or…whatever.”
I suck in a shocked breath and Sydney’s hand comes to hover in front of her mouth, her face going pale.
Adrian motions toward the flowers now scattered across the marble. “There’s a camera in one of the butterflies. Mom was coming to bug you about the apartment again one morning earlier this week and saw you and Sydney leaving your place together. She remembered Syd from my graduation party and put two and two together, but she didn’t think I’d believe you were dating my ex unless I saw it with my own eyes. That’s why she sent you flowers and sent me a link to the feed from the hidden camera.”
“That’s fucking insane,” I grit out through a clenched jaw, planning on calling my lawyer as soon as Adrian leaves. Angela truly is insane if she thinks she’s going to get away with spying on me in my own home.
Adrian nods. “I agree. Though, in her defense, I don’t think she ever expected me to see what I saw. When I called her on the way over, she seemed shocked and swore you’re not the kind to do anything provocative outside the bedroom.”
“Your mother doesn’t know me, not even close,” I say. “But she’s going to, once I file criminal charges.”
“Please, don’t,” Adrian says, his gaze softening. “She knows how pissed I am. At her, not at the two of you. This is backfiring on her harder than any scheme has backfired before. I’ll make sure she knows that if she so much as sends you a text message again, she won’t have a son anymore. That’ll scare Mom more than any criminal charge. I’m the only family she has left. Her parents haven’t spoken to her since she got pregnant, and the rest of the family is always trying to make her join their weird cult.” Glancing at Sydney, he adds, “They’re part of some fundamentalist church that thinks women should stay home raising kids and putting up canned goods for the apocalypse while men do firearms training to combat the incoming forces of demonic zombies or whatever. She never had a chance of turning out normal. And she seemed sorry. I think she realizes now that what she did was wrong.”
“Or she’s just sorry it didn’t work out the way she hoped it would,” Sydney says, as astute as ever. “But I’m okay with not pressing charges if Gideon is.” She points a firm finger at the remnants of the flower arrangement. “As long as any and all records of the footage are destroyed. If there’s a chance in hell it’s going to end up on the internet, then I’ll want justice for that, Adrian. Like Noelle said to me earlier, I’ve never even sent a sexy text. I’ve been so careful not to do anything that might damage my reputation or my ability to fill my father’s shoes. It isn’t right for that to be undone by someone illegally filming me without my knowledge.”
“I’ll make sure of it, I promise,” Adrian says. “I’ll get with Mom tonight and take care of it. I’ll destroy all the footage on the app, the cloud, check her devices, the whole nine yards. I’ll wipe it all. You have my word.”
Sydney glances up at me. “Is that okay with you?”
A part of me still wants to call the police and escalate this in a way that will make damned sure Angela doesn’t think about interfering in my life again, but…she’s the mother of my only child. And Adrian’s right, he’s the most important person in her life. It’s why she went to these lengths in the first place, and why I’m confident she’ll take his threats seriously and back off.