Page 143 of Scandalous Contract

“Ma, stop being nosey,” I teased.

“Nosey? Me? You have my doorbell app on your phone, so you can watch my house.”

“That’s only for emergencies, ma. And I only check it at night to make sure no one’s trying to break in. You live alone. I worry about you.”

“You’re my daughter. I can be nosey. Tell me everything about the man. Is he good to you?”

I shifted in my chair, heart racing, not sure if I was ready to tell her yet.

“Tell me, Stefanie. Don’t worry. I won’t tell Indi. I’ll let you tell her when you’re ready.”

“Thanks, ma,” I whispered, and then I told her about Julian.

I told her how he made me laugh until my stomach hurt. How he looked at me like I was something precious instead of someone broken. How he noticed the small things no one else ever bothered to see.

How he listened, really listened, not just with his ears, but with his heart. I didn’t tell her about the contract. Or the scandalous sex. But I told her enough. Enough that when I finally stopped rambling, she let out a soft sigh.

“I’m so glad, Stefanie,” she said, and this time there was no teasing, just pure, earnest love. “You deserve to be loved right. You deserve to be happy, baby.”

“Thanks, Mama,” I whispered.

“Let me give you a word of advice,” she said. “Don’t compare him to that bad seed you were married to. Don’t punish him for someone else’s mistakes. And don’t let the past dictate your present. Let yourself love openly and without holding back. Don’t run from it. Promise me you won’t push away something good because you’re scared it might not last or that it may end up like your last relationship.”

I closed my eyes, swallowing hard. I was trying not to do that.

“I’ll try,” I said, and meant it. But there were still some things I needed to settle before I could love him openly and without restraint.

“Another thing you need to do,” my mom started. “Is cut ties with that bastard’s family.”

I already knew who she was talking about. Archie’s family.

“Ma...” I said, only to have her cut me off.

“Stefanie, when you decided to raise India, I was against it at first. Your dad was, too. But when we saw her little face, all of that changed. She became a part of me, just like you’re a part of me. She’s my granddaughter, and I love her more than anything. I’ll do anything for her.”

“I know, ma,” I said, feeling like this conversation was going to erase my good mood.

“But,” she continued. “The same can’t be said abouthisfamily. They want access to her only because that gives them access toyou. On the day she was born, they didn’t want to take her home with them. They didn’t want to adopt her. Not one person on that side wanted that baby. And his mistress, well, she didn’t have any family. That left you.”

“Ma...”

“And his family pressured you into keeping the adoption agreement, even after you learned that the woman you’d been taking care of for months, the woman you and Archie were adopting a baby from, was actually that man’s mistress the entire time.”

I squeezed my eyes shut, her words bringing back my emotions from that day. Me, learning that all the money my dad had given me after I’d gotten married, the money I’d been saving in case of an emergency or in case we fell on hard times, all of it had been removed from the account. Every penny.

And when I tried calling Archie, he didn’t answer. I’d come home, and the first thing I noticed was that everything in the closet was gone. Even some of my things, like my jewelry and designer bags, which I’d worked hard to buy for myself, were gone.

But he hadn’t touched the baby room I’d put together for the child we were adopting. The bastard had actually left me a note pinned to the baby bed that said:This isn’t working out. I tried to love you, but I can’t. Let’s end it before we start hating each other. You can sell the baby stuff and make some money off it.

That letter had sent me into a rage. But at that time, I still hadn’t known he was leaving me for the woman who’d smiled in my face, who’d been in my home, who’d I’d cooked for almost every day during her last months of pregnancy because Archie suggested we be nice and take care of her and the baby we were adopting from her.

Like a fool, I’d taken care of his mistress and their child for months as she smiled in my face and told me how good of a wife I was and how I was going to be a great mom. And how she couldn’t have chosen a better family to leave her baby with. That motherfucking bitch! No, that husband-fucking bitch.

So no, I hadn’t wanted to keep the adoption agreement. I hadn’t wanted to bring India home with me. But his family threatened to make it public, how I’d adopted a child, and how I no longer wanted to keep the agreement.

Even the adoption agency pressured me into keeping the agreement, stating that it was a binding contract and I’d have to go to court if I wanted to break it. And though I knew I was in the right, I’d still given in to the pressure because I hadn’t wanted the negativity to affect my job, which was all I’d had left.

“Even knowing what their son had done,” my mom continued. “Those people still wanted you to raise that child. Even threatened to sue you, stating that some part of the adoption agreement would be violated if you didn’t take the child. They didn’t care that he’d been in the process of leaving you when the wreck happened. They didn’t care that you weren’t emotionally stable enough to take care of a baby right then. All they cared about was keeping close ties with you. Because it was you who’d been helping them out financially when Archie told them no, and it’s been you who’s been helping his brother all these years after every start-up he’s created has failed.”