Page 84 of A Very Daddy Christmas

Especially Orson.

The strike damn near spun his head around. His cheek begins to swell and redden as he covers it with his palm, giving her a stunned glare. But Eva doesn’t move. She just looks at him with nothing but the purest rage and hatred.

“This is anything but over,” Eva hisses. “The clause is easy to interpret in any court of law. It really depends on how progressive the judge assigned to this case will be.”

“You’re joking,” Orson gasps.

“I’m fucking tired of you constantly trampling on our lives simply because you can.”

“It’s not my fault your sister—OW!”

She slaps him again. This time a backhand. Just as hard, just as painful.

All I can do is gawk and hold my breath.

“Mind your fucking tone!” Eva shouts. “Or I swear I will put all my manners aside and go feral on your saggy ass. It’s one thing to bully us and wave your stupid antiquated contracts in our faces. It’s one thing to set your faithful church dogs on us. It’s one thing to resort to shitty tricks to make life harder for us. But you will address us both with the respect we deserve, as your tenants and as taxpaying citizens.”

“How dare you strike me. That’s assault!” Orson croaks, shaking with anger.

Eva replies with a slight shrug. “Call Sheriff Foreman. I’m sure he’ll be glad to rush right over so you can hide behind his skirt. In the meantime, you’ve delivered your argument, your proof, your whatever. You’re done. So get the fuck out of my sight and wait for a call from our lawyers. We are contesting every singlegoddamn line in this tenancy agreement. You’re not taking the bakery away from us this easily. And if you show up here to harass my sister or me again before then, you will live to regret it. Mark my words.”

“And you mark my words, Miss Bronx, I will see you in court. And after I win, I will toss you out in the streets and spend the rest of my life making each of you miserable.” He jumps back before Eva can hit him a third time.

“It’sMrs.Bronx, you piece of shit. Now get out of my face before I shove my boot up your ass.”

I’ve never been prouder, and at the same time, more terrified of my sister in my whole life. This rage, however, is remarkably effective, the words stinging, hitting the bullseye with Orson. He pulls back and skips across the street, eager to get in his car and drive off.

The silence he leaves behind reminds me of a tomb. A tomb where I will be buried in just a few moments, if I’m to judge the situation based on the expression on my sister’s face.

She stands on the edge of the pavement, staring into the nothingness. She’s what matters to me the most. My sister, my business partner. My best friend. And I kept one hell of a secret from her.

The kind of secret that undid all of our hard work.

“Say something,” I tell Eva, my voice echoing in the biting wind.

“What do you want me to say?” she replies. Her tone sounds flat. Emotionless.

She’s mad, I know it. She just has a funny way of showing it because this is, by far, the worst thing I’ve ever done. She wasquick to tell Orson we’d see him in court, but I’m sure she doesn’t really believe we’d stand a chance. I’ve thought about this before, though I never imagined such a scenario would actually come true.

“I swear, Eva, we were careful. Rutger Resort is super strict with their privacy and—”

“Clearly, they fucked up,” she cuts me off, giving me a hard look. “I don’t know what’s worse. The fact that you trusted them or the fact that you didn’t trust me enough to tell me what you were doing with…. God, with all three of them!”

“I’m sorry,” I sob, breaking down into a million little pieces. “I’m so sorry.”

“How the fuck am I going to fix this? Orson blindsided me. Had I known, I could’ve… I could’ve stopped you from getting too deep with them. I thought you went away with Sebastian only. I thought Sebastian was the baby daddy. Oh.” She pauses, her eyes widening with shock. “Is he even the father?”

I lower my gaze in shame. “I don’t know.”

“So it could be Riggs or WaylanorSebastian?”

“Yes.”

“Do they know?”

“No.”

“Ah, so you didn’t lie about that, at least.”

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