Page 77 of Single Mom's Undoing
“Yes.”
“Who’s going to raise Matty?”
“Carter will. He’ll resent me for it. He’ll hate you for it. But he will be a good father to his son. And when Matthew turns eighteen, I will take him under my wing and teach him everything he needs to know about running my business and multiplying our Lockwood fortune for his future children,” Bill says. “It’s unpleasant now, but it will work out in Matthew’s favor; I promise.”
“What baffles me the most is that you really think I’m going to just walk away from my child.”
Bill gives me a cold sneer. “What can you do about it, Clara? Your brother’s money barely covers the boy’s surgery. Post-op care is insanely expensive. I won’t let you come back to Blackthorn Falls. I will burn that wretched cabin to the ground, if I have to. I will hound you wherever you go. I will always find you. And I will tear you apart, bit by bit, until you beg me to take Matty, so he doesn’t die of starvation, filthy in the streets, like you.”
“You are an evil man, you know that?”
“Perhaps, but you took my money the first time around, didn’t you?”
“I was scared for my life, confused. I didn’t know what options I had. You cornered me; you took advantage of how young and terrified I was,” I reply. “I’m not that little girl anymore, A\and I will never let you take my son away from me.”
He smiles and gets up. “I suggest you take some time to think about it, Clara. Maybe I’m short on patience, but I’m holding on to the hope that you’ll make the right decision. I’d hate to follow through on the scenario I just described, and your son would suffer tremendously in the process. Whereas, if you let go of him now, he’ll heal a lot faster.”
“Bill, he’smychild.”
“But you simply do not have the money or the power to stand in my way, Clara. I went about this the wrong way when I learned about your return to Blackthorn Falls. Consider this my attempt to rewrite the future in a manner that has everybody winning.”
“I will tell Carter about what you did.”
He points a furious finger at me. “And I will slit your fucking throat before you ever get the chance to open your mouth.”
That’s enough to turn the blood in my veins to ice. I remain still in my seat, watching Bill as he casually walks over to the salon door.
“I’ll let you rest for a while. Laura will bring Matty back in a bit. Make yourselves at home for the time being. Just don’t take too long making the right decision, Clara. And prepare Matty for what comes next. Once you bid him farewell, you are never to come near him ever again.”
I let out a heavy breath as he closes the door behind him.
In the silence that follows, dread and grief come over me in devastating waves, and I break down crying. Shocked and horrified, but still wondering how the hell I’m going to get myself and Matty out of this mess.
Bill Lockwood has clearly lost his marbles, but he still has money and enough influence to hurt me—or worse. From where I’m sitting, I can’t see a clear way out.
I’m either going to have to find one or make one.
23
DAMON
We’re not strangers to Baker City. Some of our clients run businesses here—businesses that require our personnel and intelligence resources, which is good, because those very resources can help track Clara down.
Our quest takes us to the city hospital, where Clara was scheduled to bring Matty in for surgery.
“They never showed up,” the head nurse says as she goes through the hospital’s patient registration database on her computer. “We tried calling several times, but according to my colleague’s notes, they weren’t able to get through.”
“Did Clara provide you with a correspondence address?” Carter asks, his brow furrowed as he leans over the counter.
“It’s in Blackthorn Falls,” the nurse replies.
“The cabin,” Jace mutters. “That won’t help.”
“She was staying here in Baker City for the duration of Matty’s surgery and treatment,” I say. “Somewhere close tothe hospital or with easy access to it, anyway. Can you think of hotels or motels she might’ve opted for?”
The nurse thinks about it for a moment. “I’ll pull up a list for you, if that helps.”
“Thank you; it does. It’ll narrow down our search,” I reply.
