Page 38 of Once Upon a Royal Billionaire

She came down the stairs just as the doorbell rang. Someone in her dry cleaner’s white uniform stood outside—they must be there to pick up her laundry. She grabbed the bag and opened the door, and Jackson’s menacing, mocking grimace met her. She lifted her hand to get the security team’s attention, but Jackson rushed into the house and slammed the door behind him.

She tried to slow her breathing. “Get out. Now.”

“No. We’re gonna sign some new papers before I go.”

“What papers? What are you talking about?”

“These.” He handed her a folder. She sifted through paperwork that would revoke his restraining order and grant him partial custody of Lily.

“No, you’re insane.”

“You can’t take my daughter from me.”

“She was never yours. You hurt her. I pray every day she doesn’t remember you.”

“Oh, she remembers me. She promised never to try to make me mad again.”

“What did you do?” She rushed at him in a rage. But he lifted his arms and easily blocked her seemingly weak punches.

“Leave her alone, you sick pig.”

“She needs a father in her life.”

“Why are you suddenly interested in her?”

“I’ve always been interested. I just finally got the courage. If you’re gonna steal her away to another country, to live in a castle or whatever, I want some part of that too.”

“So you think you would have some kind of claim on her royalty?”

His eyes widened like he’d given away a secret. “No. Just that she’ll be far, and I won’t get to see her.”

“You can’t see her anyway. I have a restraining order out against you. And if you touch her again, if she has to worry about upsetting you even one more time, I’m gonna help you understand what it means to worry about upsetting someone. I am so, so tired of you, of the hold you had over us. You don’t deserve to be in my life or Lily’s, and it’s pretty clear the courts and the police agree. She reached for her phone to call 911, but he snatched it from her hand faster than she could pull it out.

“I see you won’t listen to reason. Let’s do this the harder way.” He snatched the papers back and held them up. “I need these signed before I leave here.”

“And I’m not going to sign them.”

He grabbed her wrist and dragged her down the hall to the kitchen table. “I have something that might change your mind.” He threw her down on a kitchen chair. She stood right back up, but he pulled out a gun and wiggled it at her.

She sat again, slowly. “This won’t hold up in court. A signature under gunpoint isn’t legally binding.”

“It will be legal enough to get temporary custody, and that’s all I need.”

She gasped. “Just leave us alone.”

“I will—if I get what I want.”

Emily searched her mind for something, anything, she could do to get rid of Jackson. But with him standing over her, holding a gun too close to her face, she had no ideas. The best thought she had was to stall.

“Where have you been, Jackson? We’ve heard nothing for years, and then all of a sudden you just pop up?”

“I’ve been busy.” He pulled the paperwork back out and flattened the wrinkles. Then he placed it in front of Emily. He patted his pockets then looked all around them. “Pen. Get yourself a pen.”

She stood.

“No! Changed my mind. Tell me where I can find a pen in the kitchen.”

“I’ve been gone, so I don’t know for sure.”

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