Page 77 of Whatever It Takes

His shoulders rose and fell with heavy breaths. The tension in the room was suffocating. Every second that ticked by hung heavily in the air. “I love her.” He dragged his handcuffed hands down his face. “I’ve always loved her. I would never hurt her.”

“You’ve got no idea what it’s like to love someone so much that you would do anything to protect them. All you ever did was lie to her right from the beginning.” His regret-filled eyes turned sideways. It was obvious that he cared for Charlotte. And I would bet my last dollar that he spent the better part of their time together hoping she would return his feelings. Maybe, if he wasn’t so obsessed with claiming her, he could have seen that she was never his to have. She was always mine.

“I know how privileged men like you work. It’s all about your big egos and small dicks. You’re all about control.” He clenched his jaw, looking like he wanted to take me out from across the table. God, I wish he would fucking try.

He leaned forward, contempt spilling from his mouth. “You think you love Charlotte?” he said offhandedly. “But you don’t. You never would have left her if you did.”

I wanted to rip him apart, limb by limb. It took me a minute to compose myself. Who the hell was he to judge my love for her? He had no idea what we had. Or maybe he just wasn’t capable of understanding it. “And you think you do? Exactly when during your marriage did that pretty little DA catch your eye again?”

He turned away, trying to keep his cool. “That’s none of your damned business. Charlotte and Emery are all that matter to me. You don’t deserve Charlotte. You never did.”

“You’re right, I never did. But that doesn’t change the fact that she chose me. That it’s me she loves. It’s always been fucking me!” I shouted as heat spread up his neck and onto his cheeks at my words. “But you knew that, right? You eventually figured out that you would always be second choice. The only reason why she married your sorry ass was because she was pregnant. She thinks she slept with you willingly. She thinks she just had too much to drink that night, but we both know better, don’t we?”

His intense brown eyes narrowed on mine. “She doesn’t know? You didn’t tell her?”

“No, she doesn’t. It would destroy her.” I paused. “But you know, Grant, if you’re willing to cooperate with me, I’ll do my best to make sure she never finds out what you did to her. All you would have to do is sign your name along the dotted line.”

“You think I’m dumb enough to fall for that? Like you’d do me any favors.”

“I’d do it for Charlotte. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for her.”

His lips twisted in disgust. “Of course, you would, because you two share this bond that no one else could ever compete with.” He rolled his eyes. “It didn’t matter what I did or how much I gave her.” He paused for a moment, seeming to catch himself on his words. “I thought once she had Emery, that things would change, but it didn’t exactly turn out that way. I never understood why she could never return my feelings after I gave her everything.”

I dropped into the chair across from him, not knowing what else to say, because honestly, everything he said was true. It didn’t matter what he did for her, or how much money he threw her way on things that didn’t matter. Even if I wasn’t in the picture, it wouldn’t change the end result. She would never love him back the way he wanted. Especially now.

“Is that why you were sleeping around on her?”

“My marriage was falling apart. I didn’t know what to do,” he confessed as I hung on to every word. “So, I started drinking to numb the pain, but after a while it wasn’t enough. I was a drowning man. I had a reputation to protect, a family to support. But the blow and the drinking helped me forget about it all just for a little while. When Pamela came to me and told me she was pregnant with my child, I—”

“Wait,” I cut him off, “back up. She’s pregnant?”

“She was. She lost it.”

That was interesting, because she never mentioned that. He also didn’t look too upset about it either.

“Look, as wonderful as this little heart-to-heart chat is, I’m not your fucking therapist. Although I did take a few psychology courses in college, I’m no expert. Let me use a few technical terms a lawyer like yourself can understand. You’re in deep shit. So deep you’d need a ten-story ladder just to get yourself halfway out. Your family name isn’t going to do you an ounce of good. The buddies that you worked with in the DA’s office want nothing to do with you. And that law degree that you worked so hard for…Gone, once the State Bar strips it away. So, as you can see, you’re screwed.”

Angry eyes slid to mine. “You sure about all that?”

A laugh burst out of me. He really was an entitled ass. He had zero chance of getting off. All I could do was shake my head at his stupidity and look up at the ceiling. “And here I thought you were a smart man.”

“I am a smart man, which is why this isn’t as cut and dry as you think it is. I can tie this up in the courts for years, dragging this divorce out longer than my sentence. I can make sure that Charlotte is never free from me.”

He fucking smirked, but all I saw was red.

I didn’t even realize what I was doing until my fists grabbed ahold of his shirt and I was lifting him up from his chair. I was ready to escalate this to a level that was going to put his physical health and my job in jeopardy.

The guard at the door was watching my every move. He shot me a look that said make your point and wrap this up quick, and then he turned his back to play on his phone. It took Grant half a second to realize that he was royally fucked.

“Let me spell this out for you, nice and slow, so I don’t need to repeat myself. I’m only going to say this once, so you better fucking listen. I’ve spent half of my life loving that woman. If you think for one hot minute that I’m going to let you stand in my way for another fucking second, then you clearly don’t know who the fuck I am.”

I wanted to strangle him. I should have trusted my gut all those years ago when I first laid eyes on his pretty boy face.

Unfortunately, Charlotte only saw what she wanted to see. She saw good where there was none. She saw loyalty only to find out it was manipulated. Because Grant Anderson didn’t give a shit about anyone but himself.

I let my eyes run over him. He was playing a big game. One he wasn’t going to win.

His face was full of rage. “Your threats change nothing.”

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