Page 69 of All Mine

“I can’t believe you’d take up with my adversary.”

“Why do you care? Jealous?” Adversary? She didn’t even know he was the one behind the sale until today.

“She was manipulating you.” He sat on the bench in his cell, leaning back against the wall, and closed his eyes.

“She was? You’re the one lying to me this whole time. I never could figure out why you insisted on that property. It wasn’t even for sale.”

“And I knew you’d never turn down a job. You came highly recommended.”

“Who recommended me?” I needed to thank them with a punch to the face for giving my name to this psychopath. And I’d known from the beginning there was something off about this guy. From now on, I’d vet my clients more carefully.

“I’d accounted for everything. But, I just didn’t foresee that you’d fall in love with my ex-wife.”

“Love?”

He laughed, then groaned. “You haven’t even figured it out, yet… that’s rich.”

What was he talking about? Was I in love with Lauren? I’d never been in love with anyone. I mean, I couldn’t get her out of my mind, her sense of humor, her softness, that smile, the taste of her lips, and the scent of lavender in her hair. And I wanted to make her the best bakery in the world, and the last month apart from her was the worst mistake I’d ever made. Did that equate to love?

“Trust me on this, buddy,” Stephen said. “She ain’t worth it. I think she’s frigid, very vanilla in the sack.”

While I could brag about satisfying Lauren in ways he could only dream of, but what we’d done together wasn’t any of his business. The memories were for me, alone. And not to win a random macho bullshit contest with her ex that I didn’t want any part of.

I laughed at his juvenile tactic. “Dude, come on. Fucking grow up.”

Stephen huffed and laid over on the bench and was quiet for a long time.

“I’m in pain,” he cried out, rubbing his forehead.

Good. “Why?”

“Cause you broke my nose, you idiot.”

“No, not that. I can’t figure out why you’re so dead set at buying that land and building a new shopping—” The thought detonated in my brain like an explosion. “You’re not building anything…”

His laughter broke through the silence and echoed off the cement block walls and steel bars.

“The ultimate way to screw over Lauren,” I said as the realization clanged around my brain. “God, you’re a bastard.”

“You have no earthly idea what it was like to be married to her. Or the humiliation she put me through choosing that life and living in an attic over being married to me. What do people think?”

“So, you planned to do what exactly, buy the land, kick all the businesses out, and…? Isn’t this an enormous waste of money just to screw her over?” This guy was a bigger lunatic than I’d ever imagined.

“Once I win this vote, I’m having those houses torn down while she watches, digging the hole for the foundation, and then pulling out of the project, canceling our contract. She picked this town over me.” He cackled, then groaned.

My mouth opened and closed. Numbness settled through my body. If he canceled before the completion of the building, I wouldn’t get a cent. He’d still be out of the purchase price of the land, and he was willing to create a pit for the sole purpose of upsetting Lauren and making her homeless. If I could break his nose all over again, I would. And then maybe go for the neck.

“You’re willing to spend money on the sale and property taxes each year to dig a hole and leave it?”

“It won’t take much to send this dump town into bankruptcy. With any luck, it’ll be unincorporated in no time.”

Were the polls closed? If so, I needed to find out the results and get out of here in time to do something about it before I inadvertently contributed to Lauren and this town getting screwed over. I’d made friends here, and these people were honest, decent, and hardworking. This town had grown on me. And I couldn’t let this jackass win. But there I sat, trapped in a cage.

An hour or so later, I’d almost dozed sitting propped against the cold wall when the door opened.

“Carter,” an officer called, “you can go.”

“What about me?” Stephen asked.

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