Page 18 of His Wild Attraction

Never that.

I was going to destroy her ex. His fate was sealed the moment he touched her. Gary Peters was living on borrowed time. He just didn’t know it yet.

And that was what made it fun.

I’d already used my computer skills to check up on the bastard. He’d been double dealing at work, cheating in his business, and on his now ex-wife, and squirreling away Ellie’s money for years.

She didn’t act like it, but the woman was worth half a billion dollars easily. And after I finished fucking up his plans to mess with Maxwell Mining and her inheritance, my sweet Lupina would be worth double that.

I was already going to fix that for her, whether or not she was interested in me. That she proposed tonight just solidified my tentative plans.

It was the push I needed to go forward. The gunshot at the start of what was going to be a very long and intense race.

“Gary is seeking visitation rights with Sammy,” she whispered, as if saying the thing aloud might make it true. “H-his lawyers informed me that’s just the first step. He is planning to sue for full custody claiming I am an unfit mother. With my inheritance tied up, I can’t fight him. I don’t have the means?—”

“Do you need money, Ellie?” I said, hating myself for making the offer.

“I won’t lie. Yes, I need money. But, you see, part of his claim is that I am a liar. A liar, unreliable, flippant, he used all sorts of words to describe me, claiming I was never there for Sammy. But it’s not true,” she said, her eyes blazing with anger.

Good. I could take her anger. It was her sadness and fear that were knives in my gut.

“I know you’re a good mother, Ellie. Anyone who knows you can see that.”

“That’s the thing. I didn’t notice at first, but over the last few years Gary managed to separate me from anyone who might have been on my side. I never had close girlfriends, but even so, I haven’t seen or talked to anyone who knew me before I married him in years,” she explained.

Fuck.

That bastard had isolated Ellie. Making her dependent on him, not just for money, but for companionship.

Goddamn it.

He’d done what classic narcissists and abusers did. He made her feel beholden to him for even the tiniest crumb of attention.

He was going to fucking pay for that.

It made me glad I’d already started bleeding his offshore accounts. Slowly, of course, so no one would notice.

I wondered how Gary would feel to know his stolen cash was going to help homeless women and children across the globe. Maybe I would tell him before I killed him.

Rat fucking bastard.

Ellie sniffed, and I refocused on her. The kitten was back, rubbing against my ankles, but I left him alone. I needed her to keep talking to me.

“His lawyer is claiming I’m histrionic, that I made everything up. He said Gary never hit me or threatened my son. That I threw myself down some stairs and gave myself a broken arm and bruises. I never filed a police report,” she confessed.

I already knew that. So I said nothing. But Ellie misread my silence as judgment.

“Look, at the time I didn’t care about Gary getting into trouble. I just cared about getting Sammy to safety,” she defended herself.

“You did what you had to, Ellie. I’m so damn proud of you. Now explain how I can help,” I said, not giving her a chance to respond to my praise.

“Gary’s lawyer is saying I can’t offer Sammy a stable home. Apparently, Gary is engaged to his former secretary, and he can. He has money. He still has a job with Maxwell Mining until the company is sold. He has a home, and in a week, he will have a new wife, and a prospective mother for my son.”

“I understand,” I said, and I did.

“Andres, I’m sorry. What I am asking you for isn’t fair?—”

I couldn’t let her finish that sentence, so instead, I reached out across the table and grabbed her hand.

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