Page 171 of The Renegade Billionaire

“Don’t go gettin’ all mushy on me now. I’m family, and that’s what family does. If we’ve got a battle on our hands, I can’t be blabbering on with you about my feelins.”

A chuckle is ripped from me even though it’s painful. “I got you, Pops.”

“Ditto, kid.”

39

BRAXTON

“Braxton, get out here,”Grey shouts up the stairs, and I know instantly that something is very, very wrong.

Jumping out of the shower, I wrap a towel around my waist and run down the stairs. Water drips everywhere I step, but I don’t care.

“In here,” he shouts again. I follow his voice to the theater room, and my entire world falls out below me.

There, on the screen, is Madison’s beautiful face, frozen in fear on her own front porch, holding the very same toy shotgun Pops used on me.

“What the hell is this?”

Grey rewinds the segment and then presses play. Alistair Montgomery stands at the foot of the inn’s porch giving a press conference.

“I’m heartbroken to find out my son isn’t mine biologically. It’s even more devastating to me that after raising him as my own, protecting him from the life of celebrity, he’s chosen to completely wipe me from his life. Sadly, he’s even gone so far as to remove me from my own company. I’m not even allowed in the building.”

Grey pauses the television on Alistair’s fake sad expression.

“Is he fucking kidding me? He saved me? He ridiculed me. He left me for Ace to raise.” The anger rising inside me happens so fast, my fists vibrate at my sides.

“He’s the master of manipulation, Brax. He thinks this will force your hand. You better sit down. It gets worse.”

“Worse?” Then I remember he’d paused on Madison holding the shotgun.

I drop like dead weight into the sofa, and he starts the broadcast again. Within seconds, Madison stands on her porch, glaring at the cameras.

“Ah, here’s my son’s fiancée now.”

“You’re a liar,” she hisses. The camera visibly backs away from her, then zooms in for a close-up of her face.

She’s beautiful in her determination.

Pops walks down the stairs, removes the microphone from the podium, a fucking podium, and throws it in the bushes.

“You didn’t raise Braxton,” Madison spits. “You took a bribe from Darren Wells to raise Braxton as your own because you were both too worried about perception to care about an innocent child.”

Oh, shit.

“Is that what he told you?” Alistair chuckles, but for once, he appears uncomfortable.

“This is who you’re going to listen to?” She’s speaking directly to the cameras now. I have no idea how many are there, but I’m guessing a lot. “A man who created a phony documentary on student-athletes he thought would make it to the pro level? Did you know he lied and fabricated every piece of that story so he could follow pretty teenage girls around and harass them?”

“I followed no one, get your facts straight, little girl.” Alistair doesn’t have the microphone anymore, but there’s no mistaking his words even if he isn’t on camera.

“No, you just hired the reporters and paid them exorbitant amounts of money to harass me and fourteen others until we lost control and lashed out. That’s the footage you used, not the truth of any single story.” Alistair stands in front of the cameras, attempting to block her from view, but they move around him, and they’re faster than he is. “And I’ll tell you a little secret, you pompous jerk, my ex was never going pro. He barely made the team. I was the athlete. I was the star player, and you turned me into some kind of pinup girl who ruined careers. I ruined nothing. You did. My ex did. And you know what happened after we sued you?”

“Let’s get back to the matter at hand.” Alistair raises his voice, apparently trying to speak over Madison, but she raises her voice too, and it’s her story they want to hear.

“She really does look good on camera,” Grey says, causing me to scowl, but I can’t tear my gaze away from the screen.

Has she ever looked stronger? Sexier? “She’s beautiful.”