Page 40 of Single Mom’s Undoing (Lucky Lady Reverse Harems #1)

“What the hell, Dad?” she asks, then looks at Elizabeth. “You need to put that knife down, Elizabeth. There’s a child here with us. Don’t do something stupid.”

“Your lawyer was shit!” Elizabeth cries out, giving Bill a sour sideways glance. “I can’t get Shiloh back. Not legally, anyway. And this bitch gets to keep her kid? That’s not right! That’s not happening! ”

“Elizabeth, you need to calm down,” Bill replies, but he doesn’t sound concerned, only irritated. I think he wants to see how far she is willing to go.

But that only puts Matty, his grandson, at risk, too. I realize in this moment that it was always about control with both Bill and Elizabeth. They don’t really care about their blood. They just crave possession of it at any cost. And it turns my stomach inside out.

“Fuck this, I’m getting a kid, even if it’s not my Shiloh!” Elizabeth croaks and comes at us.

Margot is quick to react and blocks her. “He’s just a child!”

“Momma!” Matty cries out in my arms.

I take a few steps back and turn to the side in an attempt to shield him from this horrendous scene. I hold him tight and whisper that it’s going to be okay, even though I’m not sure that it is. Time is running out, and I’ve got a feeling that it’s not on my side.

“Elizabeth, please!” I plead, shaking to my core. “Stop it!”

“Get out of my way!” Elizabeth screams and slashes Margot across the arm, but Margot grabs a vase from the coffee table and hurls it at her. It smashes into Elizabeth’s shoulder, shattering into small bits and pieces.

“You cut me!”

Margot isn’t done. She throws a left hook out.

It catches Elizabeth’s jaw, throwing her off balance. She falls, dropping the knife. It clatters, then slides across the floor.

“That felt good,” Margot mutters, then hisses as she notices the blood dripping from her forearm. It’s a nasty gash. She’ll need stitches.

“Alright, I’ve had about enough of this fucking circus,” Bill snaps and takes out his gun, pointing it directly at me. “You. Give up the child.”

“Dad.” Margot tries to reason with him again.

Laura and Wyatt seem confused, uncertain of how this will play out. Laura keeps stealing glances at the semiconscious Elizabeth, while Wyatt frowns as his gaze darts between Matty, me, and Bill’s gun.

“Boss, I don’t think that’s wise. I can get the kid,” he says.

“Shut the fuck up. I’ve got this. I’ve always got this!

” Bill replies, his jowls quivering with unkempt rage while my heart shrinks to the size of a pea.

I think of my son, of my baby growing inside me, of the life I could’ve had.

I realize that I am ready to die, if I have to, if I can keep Matty safe, if I can shield him from what comes next.

The realization tears my heart in two as I tighten my hold on him.

“You stupid little girl. All you had to do was take the fucking money and leave. Was that so hard?” Bill asks me, albeit rhetorically.

I give him a hard look. “What kind of mother abandons her child, Bill?”

“Well, now I have to do the ugly part. Matthew will forgive me, eventually,” he says and switches the safety off his gun.

Laura clears her throat. “Boss, Wyatt’s right. I can just take the kid.”

“You’re not taking my child away from me!” I shout over Matty’s swelling cries. “It’s okay, honey, I promise. You know I always keep my promises. ”

“I’m done asking nicely, Clara,” Bill says.

“Dad, please,” Margot is relentless, tears streaming down her cheeks.

I look down at Matty. For a moment, time stands still, and it’s just him and me again. Just the two of us, our hearts colliding, our souls forever bound as I remind him that I always keep my promises to him. He knows it. And he so desperately wants to believe me. My sweet little boy.

BANG!

The front door bursts open.

Boots on the ground. Thudding and thundering as the house is suddenly filled with special ops officers and federal agents.

“FBI!” one of them shouts. “Drop the guns!”

“Drop the guns!” another yells, even louder.

Men spill into the living room. Wyatt gets tackled before he can draw his weapon. Laura does the sensible thing and puts hers down as they surround her. Margot’s hands go up on instinct, while Elizabeth is still on the floor, trying to recover.

Bill freezes, his gun still pointed at me, finger about to squeeze the trigger.

All I can do is keep holding my son as the world unravels around us, as men in Kevlar vests armed to the teeth come into the room and assume control of what seemed like an out-of-control situation.

“Clara!” Carter’s voice sets everything right.

“PUT IT DOWN!” an agent shouts at Bill again .

Finally, he clenches his teeth and does as he’s told. The moment I see that gun being lowered is the moment I am able to breathe again.

I watch as Carter rushes across the room toward us. He’s not alone either. Damon and Jace are with him. They’re all wearing vests and holstering their weapons as they approach us.

“Oh, God,” I whisper as it all sets in.

“You’re safe now,” Carter says, barely giving his father a glance as he takes Matty and me into his arms. My boy sobs, sandwiched between us, quivering against my chest. “You’re both safe.”

“Easy, Matty,” I say.

Carter kisses my forehead. “I thought I’d never see you again.”

“Oh, Carter. I’m so sorry.”

“Momma,” Matty whimpers and tightens his hold around my neck.

“It’s okay, honey, breathe. Come on, easy now, we’re okay. See? I promised we’d be okay, and we are,” I do my best to soothe him, caressing his hair and showering him with warm kisses to avoid an asthma attack.

Slowly but surely, Matty recovers his steady breathing, relaxing in my arms while I melt against Carter’s hard body.

Soon enough, we’re joined by Jace and Damon, each of them hugging us and planting soft kisses on our cheeks, while the federal agents take those responsible into custody .

“I keep my promises to you, don’t I?” I ask as I look down at my son.

“You do, Momma.

I watch in silence as the scene unfolds.

A paramedic checks up on Matty and me, making sure we’re both okay, while another wraps Margot’s forearm with a bandage before taking her to the hospital to get stitches. A third handles Elizabeth, now cuffed to a gurney and also on her way to the emergency room.

“She was completely unhinged,” I mumble, leaning into Damon’s shoulder.

“I might have had something to do with that,” he replies. “But it had to be done. We had to come at Bill from every possible angle, and we were right to do so because we were able to have her followed here.”

“Then Margot confirmed that she’d found you and Matty,” Carter adds.

Relief washes over me as I watch Bill Lockwood and his henchmen escorted out in handcuffs.

“I want my lawyer,” Bill says to one of the agents.

“You’ll get your chance,” the agent replies, clearly unimpressed and eager to toss him in a jail cell.

I’m not one to rush to celebrate anyone’s life falling apart right before their eyes, but I am willing to make an exception for that man. After everything he’s done, after everything he was about to do, jail seems like an easy punishment for him .

“I’m glad you’re safe,” Jace tells me. “You had us spooked, Clara.”

“I think I’m going to spend the rest of my life apologizing for that. I just…I couldn’t see another way out, not with Bill getting so close to me,” I reply. “I had my doubts, and I felt awful for running off again, but?—”

“You were scared,” Carter interjects. “And no matter how hard we tried to reassure you, it wasn’t enough.

I get it, I do. My father has a way of getting to people, of hurting anyone he deems is even remotely out of line.

I don’t blame you for doing things this way, Clara.

I’m just happy we were able to get to you in time. ”

Tears prick my eyes as I look up at him. “He was going to kill me, Carter, with Matty in my arms.”

“He was desperate, out of control,” he says. “I’m so sorry for everything he’s done to you, for all of the pain he’s caused.”

“It’s not exactly your fault,” I mumble, lowering my gaze.

“No, but I should’ve paid closer attention. Damon and Jace were right. We should’ve seen the signs regarding Margot and Stephan. Had we been more aware of what was going on there, maybe we could’ve asked better questions.” Carter sighs deeply.

I cup his cheek and smile softly. “We all have crossroads in our lives that we could’ve handled differently. By that same logic, I should’ve stayed five years ago. I didn’t. I should’ve stayed a few days ago, too, but I didn’t. God, I feel so foolish.”

“Had Bill not come after you, you probably would’ve gotten away from us this time,” Damon chuckles dryly .

“Yeah, it’s a good thing he kidnapped you and Matty,” Jace quips.

That has the four of us laughing. Matty is quiet and calm, genuinely exhausted and ready for the longest nap of his life.

“Are you okay, baby?” I ask him quietly, and he replies with a slow nod.

“We’re going to go to the hospital so they can make sure we’re both okay, and then we’re going back home, alright? ”

“Back home?” he asks with a curious gleam in his eyes. Carter’s eyes.

“The cabin in Blackthorn Falls,” I say. “That’s home for us, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.”

“What are you folks yipping about here?” Margot cuts in, her arm resting in a sling while the paramedic packs his bag and gets ready to transport us to the hospital.

Carter gives his sister a gentle hug. “Just about how impressed we are by the beating you and Clara gave Elizabeth.”

“Margot has a mean left hook. All I had was a mug of hot tea,” I say.

“I also had a vase handy,” she replies, then smiles at me. “We did okay, though. Both of us.”

“We sure did. Thank you, Margot, for not giving up on me and Matty.”

“Never. Stephan would never have forgiven me if I let that situation go any further. And Lord knows, I loved him more than anything and anyone in this world,” she says, her voice breaking. “To think that this whole time, our father?— ”

“He’ll pay for it,” Carter assures her. “He’ll pay for everything he’s done, Margot. I promise. He will rot in prison, and the world will be better for it. We will all be better for it.”

“What are we looking at, exactly?” I ask, glancing around.

The living room is almost empty now, federal agents swarming and searching throughout the summer house. The rest of the guards are outside in custody, while Bill is simmering in the back of Agent Whitfield’s SUV.

“A slew of federal charges, for starters,” Jace says.

“Bribery, racketeering, blackmail, corruption, kidnapping. Then there’s the murder of Stephan.

The judge will probably grant an exhumation order if you give us your signed permission.

There will be a second autopsy done by an independent forensic pathologist, and once they prove that he was struck in the head, we’ll toss your testimony in with everything else and add a murder charge on top. ”

“As far as the kidnapping and assault aspect,” Damon says, “that carries serious years, too. Plus, the attempted murder, given how we found Bill pointing a gun at your head and endangering a minor.”

“If I let you think about it for a little while longer, you’ll probably find a dozen more charges,” I chuckle.

Damon holds me close and presses his lips against my temple. “Baby, I will throw the entire legal system at that old bastard if I have to.”

“What matters right now is that you and Matty are safe,” Carter says and exhales deeply. “We’ll let the law handle everything else.”

Here’s hoping they do handle it. That they won’t let a single crime go unpunished.

That the whole world will learn precisely how dirty and evil Bill Lockwood really is.

Of course, I know that most of the folks in Blackthorn Falls either idolize him or fear him.

Many depend on him. And many will hate me for being at the core of his demise.

I can only hope that they’ll see the light when the time comes.

Right now, all I want is peace and love.

Nothing else.