Page 131 of Things Left Unsaid

It’s pissing me off how I can always find him out there. Whenever I stand up from my desk, I manage to see him somewhere. He’s like Where’s Waldo?

Now that we’re married, he owns the largest ranch in North America. Four-hundred thousand acres are his to roam, and yet, whenever I look outside, he’s goddamn there.

“Zee!”

“What?”

He grabs my arm. “You can’t leave when you have his baby.”

“Part of the contract was that he wanted an heir.”

“Don’t make it seem like he was behind the verbiage. My father wrote it. As did your grandmother. Don’t tar Colt with the same brush, not when you signed identical agreements.”

That has me squirming.

I hate it when he’s right.

Which he is.

A lot.

“But I don’t understand. What’s this about leaving when you have his child?”

Ah—did he only read the initial contract and not the amended one?

It’d make sense that Colt would keep that on the DL, considering what I know of Callan’s childhood.

Shit, why didn’t I think of that before I opened my mouth?

“Do you know how hard it was for me to sign that damn thing?”

“As hard as it was for him!” he growls. “Do you know what Colt’s life’s been like? Do you? The one thing he deserved was to have a choice about who he’d spend the rest of his days with, but Pops, I mean, Father can’t even give him that!

“Do you know he practically raised me? He had four years of independence when he went to Saskatoon. Four years out of thirty-two of blood, sweat, and tears, Zee. And do you know how he spent most of those four years?” He barks out a laugh. “Studying his ass off. No parties for Colt. No fun. That wasn’t allowed. He had to get back here, you see. To us. Because Cody was only sixteen when Mum left and he knew what Pops would do when he wasn’t around.

“He drove up every weekend. It’s the only reason he studied in Saskatoon. My brother might not have my IQ, but he has the brains to be a Harvard alumnus. Instead, he went to a tiny university in an off-the-wall city in Canada so that he could drive home as often as he was able.

“You think Father’s a dick now? That’s nothing to what he was like when he was drinking. Mum left us with him and as much as that hurt, Zee, to be left with a monster, we all knew what would have happened if she’d stayed.”

He’s breathing heavily by this point, and my voice is soft as I inquire, “What would have happened, Callan?”

“He’d have killed her. She’d have been a statistic. And knowing Colt’s luck, he’d have been the one to find her.

“Father didn’t want us. He doesn’t like us. But he made sure that he gained custody to hurt her. Just because he could.” His nostrils flare. “Ever since, Colt’s been like both my parents. So bet your damn ass I want him to be happy and I don’t want him to have to raise another kid on his own when you two are freakin’ perfect for one another!”

What?!“Perfect for one another?”

“Yes! And neither of you see it! I’m surrounded by idiots!” he snarls, then he stuns the hell out of me—his hand pounds into the wall.

Once.

Twice.

I grab his shoulder when the drywall gains a crevice I’ll have to cover with a picture frame. “Callan, you will stop that right this second.”

He twists around to glower at me, but his fist immediately drops. “I’m so tired of idiots,” he screams, then he shoves his back into the wall he damaged and he slides to the floor, hands shifting to cover his face.

The bloodied knuckles of one are like an exclamation mark as I study him, uncertain what to do next.

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