Page 31 of Single Mom’s Undoing (Lucky Lady Reverse Harems #1)

“Play along, baby,” I whisper in my son’s ear. “Go get a snack. Be a good boy. And I’ll be right here, okay?”

“Are you sure, Momma?”

“I’m sure,” I say and give him a wink.

Matty gets off my lap and lets Laura take his hand.

“Have his inhaler handy, just in case,” I tell her.

“Yes, ma’am,” she replies as she gently escorts Matty out of the room.

The anger I feel is downright suffocating, but I need to play my part in order to figure out what Bill wants from us and how to extricate myself and Matty from this place.

“Thank you,” Bill says and takes a sip of his whiskey. “I’d offer you a glass, but I understand you’re with child again. ”

I glance down, unwilling to confirm as my cheeks catch fire. I shouldn’t have said anything, but the mere thought of that sedative doing something to my unborn baby made me lose sight of what to keep to myself at that moment.

“Is it also Carter’s?”

“It’s none of your goddamn business,” I shoot back. “What do you want, Bill? This is kidnapping. Haven’t you committed enough crimes already?”

He scoffs and shakes his head slowly. “Clara, I’m trying to protect my family here. It’s all I’ve ever done. You wouldn’t understand because you’re not a part of my family.”

“Matty is my son.”

“And Carter’s son, which makes him my blood. My family.”

“It doesn’t cancel out my blood!” I counter, raising my voice in sheer anger as I sit up. “I carried him, I gave birth to him, I raised him, and I will keep raising him because he is my son!”

Bill’s lips curl into a cruel smirk. “We’ll see about that.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Can you not see how easy it was for me to find you and get to you if I tried hard enough? I didn’t try as hard five years ago because I was sure you’d stay gone. At least, I’d hoped you’d stay gone; my mistake.” He sighs deeply.

“I only came back for the trust fund.”

“Which felt like a disaster for me at first, until I heard about Matty. Then your return became a blessing in disguise. My company, my fortune, it needs an heir. Margot isn’t going to bear children anytime soon, or ever, according to her last drunken, pill-induced tantrum.

Given her current condition, I’m not sure she’d be able to carry to term, anyway.

Carter wants nothing to do with my business, so I have to hold on to the reins until my heir comes of age. ”

“Your heir.”

“Matthew, of course.”

I am trying to wrap my head around what Bill is saying, wondering if he actually thinks he’s making sense, because from where I’m sitting, it sounds like he’s lost his mind.

This is the man who killed my brother in a fit of rage, yet the only thing I can do is listen to him, let him talk, and get as much of the truth out of him as I can, regardless of how insane it might sound.

“I thought you wanted me to leave Blackthorn Falls with Matty. You offered me money, all medical expenses covered,” I calmly say after a long moment of silence.

“I changed my mind about you taking my grandson away, but I still want you to leave. The offer stands. Hell, I will triple the payout, provided you leave Matty with us,” he says.

“Never,” I hiss.

“You can’t give him a stable environment, Clara. He needs a family, safety, structure, a home, the best possible medical care; you’re a drifter.”

“I had a home here until you drove me out,” I snap, “not once, but twice. Let’s not forget, you also murdered Stephan and threatened my life. What kind of safety and structure is that for my son?”

Bill bites the inside of his cheek. I can tell it’s becoming a challenge for him to remain calm. I should be more pliable in this conversation, but what he’s saying is ridiculous. He’s skewing reality in order to make me out to be an unfit mother.

“What happened with Stephan was an unfortunate accident,” he says. “I didn’t mean for it to go down like that.”

“And Emmanuel?”

He gives me a startled look. “What about him?”

His reaction tells me everything I need to know.

“Stephan isn’t the only man you killed in order to, what was it again? Oh, right, protect your family,” I say.

“What are you talking about? Emmanuel left.”

“Left where? He fell off the face of the earth, Bill. We both know that nobody wrongs Bill Lockwood and lives to tell the tale. What did Emmanuel do? Did he turn on you after what happened with my brother? He’s been missing for two years.”

He shrugs casually. “Damned if I know where he is. As far as I’m concerned, he did Margot a favor by leaving. That spineless sack of shit wasn’t worthy of my daughter.”

“Spineless? Why? Because he didn’t have the balls to kill Stephan himself? Is that it?”

“You’re damn right it is!” Bill snarls and throws the glass across the room in a fit of rage. The tumbler shatters into a million little pieces as whiskey splatters across the wall. “A man protects his family, his blood. Always!”

Moments pass in heavy silence as I let him cool down a little while I process everything I’ve just learned. The truth is starting to come out, though, and I fear that by the time he’s done revealing everything, I will know too much for him to let me live .

But if I play my cards right, if I wait for the perfect opportunity, I might be able to get myself and Matty out of here.

I may just have enough information for the police to follow up on, enough leads to warrant his arrest. This man belongs in prison.

He needs to rot in a cell for what he’s done, for what he’s still trying to do.

“So, you expect me to just take your money and leave my son behind, is that it?” I ask as I carefully eye him.

“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’s my child.”

“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.