Page 116 of Almost Paradise

“So are you going to listen to your smart wife?” she asks.

“I always do. And I always will,” I promise.

“And we at HR have some ideas to improve the benefits Paradise offers. Do you think we can get a meeting with the CEO?”

“You’ll have to get past Esther to get to the CEO,” I tease. She drops herself on top of me, and I glide my hands down her body to cup her ass. “But all you have to do to get to your husband is kiss him.” I kiss her, and when she starts to deepen it, I reluctantly leave her mouth. She pouts. “I need something from you,” I tell her.

“Oh, you’re about to get it, husband.” She wiggles her brows and inches closer.

“You’re right, but I’m not talking about that.” She stills and waits for me to say more. “You’re my wife. I need you to do more than work a job in the HR department of our company.” I move my hand from her luscious ass and take both of hers in mine.

“But I love what I do,” she says.

“And you can still do it. You can be a bridge between HR and the C-suite, but I need you at the Paradise Foundation. Right now, my mother and sister are the face of it, but Hannah won’t have much time. Mom will need someone, and she can teach you everything you need to know. You’re the Foundation’s future.” I hold my breath while she mulls over my request. I’ve wanted her to do this since the day we got married, but now is the perfect time to ask.

“Nia Nash as the head of the Paradise Foundation? OMG. Whoever would have thought?” She blushes and averts her gaze.

“Nia Paradise, baby girl,” I remind her. “Is that a yes?”

“I’m your wife, and if being on the Foundation is a part of that, of course, I’ll do it. I want to support you,” she says. “This is my family now.” I expel my breath and inch closer, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “Do you think I’ll be any good at it?” she asks with a hint of shyness. “I have no idea what to—”

“You’ll be terrific,” I tell her. “Thank you. I know this is asking a lot because of what my father did, but—”

She puts a finger to my lips. “This is about what we’re going to do in the future, not the past. We’re going to do so many good things.”

I don’t know when Scarlett will go in front of a judge, but since it’s only Saturday, she’ll be in jail at least until Monday. According to Bertram, who used to be a Boston police officer, they made sure the magistrate denied releasing her until the court can open on Monday. She’s been booked, fingerprinted, and photographed. When I get there, she’s still in the clothes she had on yesterday. She has a bruise on her cheek where Nia smacked her and it’s starting to turn a purplish-blue.

Her eyes widen in shock when she sees me standing in the small office they are letting me use. She doesn’t say a word when she sees me. In fact, after her eyes darted away when she saw me she can’t even look at me. She’s not handcuffed and stands as far away from me as the small office will allow.

After several minutes, she says, “I’m pressing charges against your whore. She assaulted me in front of witnesses.”

That was the wrong thing to say to me, especially from the woman who took my son. “You’ve never been smart, have you, Scarlett?” I ask. “If you had at least one working brain cell you would have walked away quietly.”

“Quietly? After you married her and dumped me? After you humiliated me?”

“What I did was end a relationship I never should have been in. What you should have done was walk away and go on with your life. Now you’re facing up to twenty years for kidnapping, and believe me, I’m going to make sure you serve every single day.”

At first, she shrinks away as if she’s hearing about the possibility of going to jail for the first time, but then her expression changes and with a bout of bravery she scoffs.

“Scoff all you want. Don’t think you’re going to cry and get away with this like everything else. Your daddy won’t be able to keep you out of jail.” As disgusted as I am with her, I walk to her. Her back is now plastered against the wall. “If you had come after me, I might have shown mercy, but you went after myson.You went after an innocent child, and what you should never, ever do is go after mywifeor myson.”

“I was never going to hurt him,” she says, tears now streaming down her face.

Disgusted by her, I look away. “Then why?”

“I don’t know,” she finally sobs after several moments. “Maybe I wanted to punish you both, but I was never going to hurt him. I gave him candy and told him I was going to take him to the park, but he said he wanted his mommy.”

“You wanted to punish me?” I ask, my voice low. “After you and my father worked your little scheme, you thought I needed to be punished?

“He made sure the kid was taken care of. He was getting child support. He had a college and trust fund. But you see them once, and you throw me aside like a used tissue and went on with your life like I never mattered. You proposed to me!” She jabs a finger at her chest. “You said you wanted to spend your life with me and then you dump me like I’m nothing! All the while you start an idyllic life with your wife and son. When I’ve wanted to be with you my entire life. I’ve loved you—”

“Shut up!” I thunder and she closes her mouth. “Shut your mouth. You don’t know a thing about love because if you did, you would have never colluded with my father to keep my son away from me. Don’t you ever open your mouth to tell me that you loved me again!”

“I did love you,” she insists. “And you’re damn right I didn’t tell you. If I had told you, you would have gone back to her, and it was my time. I wasn’t going to lose you to some little nobody who just happened to get hired by your company.”

I throw my head back and laugh. “Some little nobody? As opposed to you?” I gesture at her. “She’s everything. Always has been and always will be. As long as she exists on this earth, that’s who I’m going to be with. And if by some cruel twist of fate, I outlive her, I’ll never be with anyone else again.That’slove, and she never had to do anything other than exist for me to love her.” Her sobs get louder at my declaration. “This is the last time we will ever speak.” I look at her again. She’s a shell of a human being. It’s like she’s aged ten years overnight. “Don’t think your father or your family’s connections can get you out of this. They can’t. I’m going to make sure of it. You went after my son, which means you went after my wife. There will be no mercy, and for once in your life, Scarlett, there will be consequences.”

All color has left her face now, but the sobs have tapered off. She’s standing stock still and as pale as a ghost. I leave her there, too disgusted to be in the same room with her for another second. I didn’t want to come see her, but I had to let her know that for once she would have to deal with the consequences of her actions.

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