Page 117 of Resolute

I look at Vicente, whose face is hard, but the moment our gazes lock, I can see a flicker of the amazing man he is behind his armor.

“Owen didn’t take it well. He texted me for weeks, letting me know everything he really thought about me.”

“Do you still have those texts?” the lawyer asks.

I take my phone out of my bag. “I’m not sure if texts are stored for that long, but let me check,” I say, opening my messages app.

“We can retrieve them if needed. We would just need your phone number and mobile provider,” Patrick explains, looking at Vicente before shifting his gaze to me.

Vicente and I nod in unison. I squeeze his hand, silently thanking him.

“Very well. That would be a good start to unmask Owen. But the real kicker will be making him aware of Ava’s genetic condition,” Patrick advises.

I inhale deeply, knowing he’s right. I still don’t want Ava to know anything about this.

“You have to promise me—my daughter can never know.” My voice trembles. “I can only imagine how devastated she would be if she ever learns there was a man trying to take her away from me.”

Vicente immediately wraps his long arm around my shoulders, and I inhale his scent, a mix of whiskey and wood. So masculine, so him. It immediately calms me down.

“Trust me, Mrs. Godoy. I’ll only use this if they continue pushing after we show them the timestamps on the messages. I hope it doesn’t come to that, but if it does, this will definitely shut them down.”

I nod and go on to tell him how I met Konstantine and how he passed away even before I knew I was pregnant with Ava.

Patrick takes notes, and once I’ve given him all the information I have on Konstantine, he promises he’ll have a file ready for our meeting tomorrow morning.

As we leave Patrick’s office, I wrap myself around Vicente’s arm like a koala, craving as much contact with him as possible. The peace he gives me is something I can’t explain, but right now, I need all the peace I can get.

I can’t believe the lengths some people will go for revenge. That’s the only reason I can come up with for Owen’s actions. But revenge for what? Our fling ended ages ago.

Is he really so greedy to want Vicente’s money? From what I read online, he married into royalty. He must be swimming in money. Not to mention, he and Vicente used to be best friends.

Why would he want to hurt him?

Nothing makes sense, and I don’t have the energy right now to figure it out. I need to focus on Ava and how to keep her unaware of this madness.

“What are you thinking about so hard over there?” Vicente asks as we make it to the lift.

Shaking my head, I give him a smile, but he won’t stop looking at me.

After a sigh, I say, “I’m just trying to understand what is going on? Why would Owen do something like this?”

Vicente leans down and gives me a kiss on the top of my head. “Sadly, there are people in this world whose only motivation is money.”

He leads me out of the lift, and we start walking toward his car.

“I know that because I used to be one of those soulless motherfuckers before I met you,” he admits, a chuckle escaping when my eyebrows shoot up.

“It’s true,” he continues, opening the car door for me. “I used to call myself a ruthless businessman, but now I realize I was just a greedy bastard.”

Although it’s a harsh assessment, I can see the truth in it.

“This day has been beyond surreal,” I say, getting comfortable in Vicente’s car on our way back home. “I was so worried about the Owen request that I forgot to ask you who leaked our wedding?”

I place my hand on top of the gear shift, and he places his hand on top of mine.

“That was taken care of immediately. I hired a PR company that specializes in dealing with tabloids. They’ll get sued and will never want to mess with us ever again.”

I raise a brow at him as he shrugs. These past few weeks have revealed a new side of my husband—but whenever he’s defending us, he’s cold-blooded. And I love that about him—now. How fierce he is when it comes to protecting us.

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