Page 98 of Almost Paradise

“I do, and I’m going to get some goddamn answers. I swear, if Scarlett played a part in this, I’m going to destroy her and her entire family.”

“I’ll come with you.” I don’t bother to tell him no. He’ll come whether I want him to or not. If the answers aren’t what I want to hear, not even Wyatt can get me to calm down.

“Fuck,” I say when my phone buzzes again, but when I realize it’s my second phone, my agitation disappears. “Hey, baby girl,” I answer.

“Hey, husband,” she says back. “I miss you.”

“I miss you too.”

“I put the blanket and pillow on the couch for you.”

Chapter 55

Drake

“Drake,” Mary Banks says.

Like the last time I was here, I barge inside her house without an invitation. Unlike last time, Howard is standing in the middle of the hallway looking down at his phone. He freezes when he sees me. I don’t offer any pleasantries or explain why I’m there. From the wide-eyed look Howard is giving me, I’m certain Scarlett has already warned him. With Wyatt on my heels, I walk to him, slam him against the wall and pin him there.

“Drake!” Mary yells. “He has a heart condition.” She tries to pull my arm off but can’t.

“It’s okay, Mary,” Howard chokes out. “Give us a minute.”

“I will not—”

“Mary! Give us a minute,” he grinds out.

She looks at me one more time but finally leaves.

“Speak, Howard,” I order. “Because it seems like you left out a very important detail when Wyatt tracked you down weeks ago.”

“Come to my office,” he says. Wyatt pulls me off Howard, who stumbles back a few steps. He sighs heavily and gestures for us to follow him to the back of the house. We go through the kitchen and down a flight of stairs to his basement. He finally gestures us into a spacious office. When he closes the door, he holds both hands up and says, “I didn’t approve of any of it. I tried to talk him out of it a million times. I pleaded with him, but—”

“But you went on with the deception. You helped my father keep my son away from me. You let the pregnant mother of my child, a woman I was in love with, think I used and abandoned her. Now, you stand here and say you didn’t approve of it.”

“I was his attorney. Everything was confidential. I couldn’t break the privilege.”

“He lied, and you knew he was lying. You faked a letter on my behalf. I don’t want to hear about your ethics now.” He opens his mouth, but I speak first. “Did Scarlett know? Yes or no.”

“Yes.” The word is barely out of Howard’s mouth when I shove him against the wall again. Not even the look of fear in his eyes or Mary’s warning about his heart condition gets me to back off.

“Drake,” Wyatt warns, but I ignore him and push into Howard.

“He wanted her to go to Berlin and help you get out of your funk. He knew you were hurting, but he was in too deep.”

“Why did he do this?” I ask. I already know the answer, but I need to hear it.

“He had such high hopes for you. He said if this happened to Langley, he could accept it, but not you. He wanted you with someone more—” I put my hand around his throat, and he shuts up. I drop my hand and step away from him, too disgusted to hear anymore.

“Shut the fuck up,” I whisper. “I’m going to make sure you get disbarred,” I warn. He might be retired, but he’s only sixty-two. He might go into business for himself, but I’m going to make sure he never practices law again. “You could have done the right thing at any time, but you didn’t. You continued the deception.”

“Look, you had already ended things with Scarlett and you and Nia found your way back to each other. I’m happy for you. I didn’t want to destroy Scarlett’s life too.”

“Where was this concern for me? Or when you were threatening a pregnant woman who didn’t have the resources to fight you?”

“He was riddled with guilt. He was going to tell you. Then he got sick, and he didn’t want to die with you hating him. He left a video and a letter for you. He didn’t want you to have it until the first anniversary of his death. I have it in my safety deposit box at the bank. I’ll have it sent.”

“A year after his death? Why a year?” I ask.

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