Page 161 of Too Far

“Yeah.” Kendrick nods. He’s still playing the part of a shield, blocking my father’s path to Josephine. “It sure did.”

“It was you?” I accuse. “The boat incidents…bothboat incidents?”

My father doesn’t even bother acknowledging me as he fights against our hold. I dart a glance at Misty, who looks like she’s going to be sick. Like this is news to her. Or maybe because she knew all along, and now she’s worried about being caught.

“Do you have a hold of him?” Josephine asks, breaking me out of the mental spiral.

I close my eyes and focus on breathing. Tension coils in my gut as she takes a tentative step around K. I knew she was going to do this. I knew because, begrudgingly, I agreed to this plan.

And yet, now that I’ve had to physically restrain him so he couldn’t go after her, all I want to do is whisk her back to the mansion and get her away from this scene.

“Cap,” Kendrick murmurs.

He and I share the same concerns. We hate the idea of her even being in his presence, let alone giving him more opportunities to go after her.

But she insisted she wanted to do it this way, and we all reluctantly agreed.

I’m done making decisions for her. Not anymore. Not ever again.

Locking eyes with Kendrick, I tighten my grip, and he does the same, securing the older man in place.

“You’re good,” I tell our girl, bracing for what comes next.

Chapter 72

Josephine

Kylianwarnedmenotto get my hopes up. That I might not get to do this. That it could be too dangerous, or we might not have time.

Now that the moment has come, I’m practically giddy with excitement.

I owe it to my husband to put his awful excuse of a money-hungry sperm donor in his place once and for all, and that’s exactly what I intend to do.

Once the guys confirm they have Thomas secure in their grasp, I step forward, and I don’t halt until we’re standing toe to toe. Locke is standing so close behind me I can feel his body heat radiating off him. Just like they all promised, though, I’m the one who gets to deliver the final blow.

Peeking over my shoulder, I confirm that Misty is watching, face ashen and jaw slack, then I turn back to Thomas and smirk.

“This almost went down differently,” I tell him calmly. “Decker had another announcement prepared for today, but I talked him out of sharing it.”

“I bet you did a whole lot oftalkingto convince him,” Thomas spits out.

I stifle a laugh. He thinks that’s an insult.

“I don’t know… my husband’s pretty stubborn,” I hedge. “He went as far as to draft it out before ultimately deciding to go a different direction.”

“Hey, Kylian?”

“Yeah, baby?”

Misty's and Thomas’s heads swivel comically to Kylian, then quickly back to Decker, searching for his reaction.

Plot twist. The joke’s on them if they think Decker has any issue with the boys calling me by nicknames in his presence. It wasn’t part of the plan to clue in his dad to our relationship today, but it feels like icing on the cake to confuse him while having the last word.

I bite back another laugh, but I can’t hide the grin blossoming on my face.

Kendrick snorts at my apparent glee, chuckling low.

“Mama, you have no chill.”