Page 42 of Bound For You

“Okay, well then. Here in my hand is a formal letter for Sergi. He can agree to the terms, or I’ll see him in court. I might as well pass this to you; seems as though you’ve finally decided to act like a father while he can’t even be bothered to speak for himself.”

Everyone’s mouths drop open in shock at her words while Juan’s face goes red. He snatches the letter from her, but before he can open it, Phoebe grabs it and hands it to me.

Juan glares at her, then turns that glare to Avery. “And what is it you have on him to make him sign anything? You know we can just make you magically disappear; I hear you have no one that’ll notice you’re gone.”

I glare at Phoebe, she’s the only one who could have told him anything about my girl, but she shakes her head, adamant she hasn’t said anything. I turn back to Avery as she chuckles darkly, and I just stand here like a fucking idiot and let a man who didn’t want me tear into her.

I haven’t seen this side of her before. She looks at Juan, and her words cause my whole body to shut down.

“Wow, threatening the mother of your unborn grandchildren, classy. Turns out, ‘Grandpa,’ your biological son knocked me up twelve weeks ago when he decided I was his whore rather than the woman he loved. Knocked me up with twins, no less.” Everyone looks at her in shock.

Twins? Fuckingtwins?

I look at her closely. Her baggy sweater is more rounded on her stomach, and if I think back to yesterday’s wedding, she did look fuller then too.

Shit, fuck! Twins!

“That letter states he can have joint custody, but he won’t have the babies overnight until they are weaned. I was willing to put the fact he’s a monster and a lying cheating asshole aside so he can be a parent to his children, but after your display, I’m beginning to rethink the shared custody; I don’t want my children around a man like you, who thinks you can talk for the coward, when you couldn’t be bothered to be a father in the first place. But hey, at least you know your DNA flows through him, especially since he also speaks out in anger without realizing the consequences since he threatened to reunite me with my dead adoptive parents.”

Juan’s gone white, realizing he’s just fucked up. Maria has tears running down her face. Dimitri’s trying to console her, but she pushes him away, and Phoebe places her head on Al’s chest, and he holds her tight. His eyes are focused on me, while Damian has a strong hand clamped on my shoulder. If he didn’t, I’d probably fall to the floor at her next words.

She turns to me, making eye contact, and she sneers, “Ever wonder why I came to see you that night in the club? Imagine my surprise when I take a pregnancy test the night before and it becomes positive despite taking the morning after pill after youfucked me like a whorein the Brew Box bathroom. But the pregnancy wasn’t the biggest surprise, was it Sergi?”

Damian and Al suck in a breath, and I struggle to breathe at all. She came to tell me she was pregnant…and I was fucking Mindy.

No, fuck, no.

I look at Damian. His eyes are filled with anguish; history is repeating itself. Sofia did the exact same thing and found Damian with another woman. But she ran. I look back at Avery and see just how strong she actually is; she didn’t run, she was willing to give me a chance to know my children, despite how they were conceived.

I rasp again, only the second time I’ve spoken since she came through the door, “Avery, please….”

I don’t get to finish, because she walks over to me and snatches the envelope out of my hand, then rips it open. She grabs my pen, scribbles something on the letter, then slams the letter into my chest.

“Have your lawyer look over it. I’ll be sure mine is aware of the changes I just made.” She looks around the room as she says, “I believe you’re all aware of Mr. Foster of Foster Family Law. he serves under the protection of the Irish Mafia, who your all allieswith.” Then she looks at me with disgust, shaking her head, but I also see the pain. It fucking kills me.

She turns to walk out.

Phoebe speaks out, “Avery, wait!”

She turns slightly and states coldly, “Sorry Phoebe, your family made it perfectly clear, my needs don’t matter. Don’t think I didn’t see Dimitri nod along with what the other man said to me, despite knowing part of my past and inserting himself where he wasn’t wanted with my biological father. Don’t worry about July; I’ll make sure the office knows to remove your seat. Please don’t contact me again.”

What the fuck does she mean,biological father?

I look at Dimitri and see guilt in his eyes. What the fuck did he do? I look back at Avery only to see her walk out as Phoebe lets out a sob. Al holds her tight, glaring at Juan.

“What?” Juan asks, like he didn’t fuck up big time. Al continues to glare at him.

I snap, “You’ve just ruined a good friendship, because what? You wanted to assert authority as my father when you denied paternity for twenty-nine years? I had to watch my fucking mother wither away with cancer, living in a tiny one-bedroom apartment, while you fucking lived it up. And you think you have the right to come in here and talk to Avery that way?I’mthe one who fucked up, nother. I didn’t tell her I was Bratva, I didn’t tell her who I really was, I was the one who fucked another woman and cheated on her, so why the fuck do you think you can come here and act like you know everything when you don’t know a goddamn thing!”

Juan sighs. “Seriously, Sergi? If you loved her so much, why would you cheat? I understand the Bratva stuff, your mother never wanted you to be involved with this life, its why she never fought against me when I said I couldn’t be involved, but cheating?”

I shake my head, not willing to talk to him about this, he can’t start to act like a father now, it’s too late. I look down at the letter to see what she wrote, and I sigh. “Fuck.”

Damian looks over and reads out loud.

“’No parties involved in the Bratva and Mafia lifestyle are to be anywhere near the children. If these are violated, then Sergi Popov will lose all parental rights.’ Fucking shit, nice one, Juan. And you, Father, seriously? I know you know more about her past than you let on, but you’re fucking out of line. Every day, you looked at Sergi with guilt, but then go and fucking agree with the idiot there, making the situation worse. And what the fuck did she mean, her biological father? Who is he, and what the fuck did you do?”

Juan pales, while Dimitri runs a hand through his hair and looks at his wife, who hasn’t stop glaring at him.

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