Page 86 of Single Mom's Christmas Wish

I’m having trouble breathing.

“How could you do this?”

“It’s my eighty million,” Callie replies.

“Maisie is my daughter, too,” Keith valiantly declares.

“You walked out on her,” Archer replies before his face lights up. “Holy shit, I know what happened.” He pauses and gives Maddox an eerily amused look. “The break-in.”

“You’re shitting me,” Maddox says, then looks at Keith. “You’re the one we caught breaking in. That’s why nothing was missing. Your only goal was to plant that camera. Come here, you piece of—”

Keith bolts in the opposite direction.

Quick as a mouse, he scurries out of the chapel as Maddox runs after him. I’m not sure how this will end, but right now, I don’tthink I care. All I can do is stare at Callie in sheer disbelief. “You orchestrated this,” I conclude, my voice barely audible. “You weren’t at all shocked about the footage, you did not react whatsoever, and you didn’t object to Maddox keeping you here to watch the wedding ceremony proceed with Archer instead of Reed. You knew what was coming. Keith was your backup plan, wasn’t he?”

“Is Archer going to rough me up now? ‘Cause I’m calling the cops,” Callie says and whips out her phone. Donna is quick to make a move, stepping toward her with such deliberation that my sister’s hand freezes before her fingers can move over the screen.

“You need to get out of here beforeIrough you up,” Donna hisses. “And trust me, I will do a lot worse than my sons will.”

“I’m done here anyway,” Callie says dismissively.

She walks away, leaving me in shambles. Everything I’ve struggled for, everything I fought to protect… it’s gone. Tomorrow, that footage will find its way into the newspapers or at least social media, which is infinitely worse. There’s no way I’ll be able to survive what comes next. I’m ruined in every possible way, and the Faulkner brothers will go down with me.

“Oh, God… I can’t do this,” I move away from Archer and his mother.

“Dakota, stop.” Archer tries to reach me.

But I push back, shaking my head. “No, I can’t, I can’t do this anymore. It’s over.”

“Hold on, we’ll figure something out.”

“Dakota, please,” Donna says. “It’s not over yet. We have lawyers. Friends in the media. I can pull a few strings—”

“What point is there in any of that? It’s over,” I say it again. “There will be no wedding. I’m not getting my inheritance. I’ll lose the house. Maisie won’t get her shot at Prescott Academy. And even if your sons, your wonderful, caring, loving sons, do insist on bailing me out, they’re already ruined. I can’t even think straight right now.”

Archer tries again, but I reject him once more. He stills, a devastated look settling on his handsome face. His chest rises and falls heavily with each ragged breath. “Dammit, Dakota. Give us a minute, will you?”

“I can’t…”

Tears prick my eyes as I slip through the side door. I find Chelsea with Trevor and Maisie. The three of them look understandably worried and confused, yet all I can do is scoop my daughter up and reach a hand out to Chelsea.

“I beg you, give me your car keys. I’ll leave them at my place,” I say to my best friend.

Archer and Donna’s voices echo from the hall, and a sense of urgency comes over me as Chelsea reluctantly gives me the keys to her car. “Dakota, what happened?”

“I can’t say. Not in front of the children.”

“Mommy, are you okay?” Maisie asks me.

Trevor frowns. “Are my dads okay?”

“Yeah, honey, they’re okay. We’re just not going to have a wedding today,” I manage, trying so hard not to crumble right infront of him.

Chelsea comes closer. “Honey, talk to me.”

“I can’t. I just… I need to get out of here.”

“Okay, well, I’m coming with you then,” she says.

---