Page 45 of Don't Lie to Me

It helped immensely. I needed the reminder I wasn’t alone and that Jack was here to support me with this.

“We’ll tell him after dinner so we can leave immediately if you need to.”

My bottom lip trembled and tears filled my eyes. “I can’t, Jack.”

He softly brought his hands up to my neck and laced them together behind me. His thumbs came up and brushed just under my chin. I loved when he held me like this. His hands were large and strong and I loved how the roughness of his hands rubbed against my soft skin.

“I won’t let him hurt you,” he said softly and leaned in to kiss my escaped tear away from my left cheek.

I knew I needed to do this. Jack was right – and had been for weeks. Marcus deserved to know the truth and even if I didn’t want anything to do with him, Logan had the right to know his father. And I had Jack standing in front of me, keeping me safe. He would do whatever he could to keep me from being ruined by this.

I nodded and noticed that it was time to sit down to eat.

“I just need a few minutes. I’m going to go to the bathroom to freshen up a little bit, okay?”

Jack released his hands but kept his gaze on me. “Want me to come with you?”

With one hand resting on his elbow I nodded towards our table. “It’s fine. I’ll be back in a little bit and then we can enjoy our food.”

I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t eat a single thing of the delicious food that we’d be served but it seemed to comfort Jack, and that was all I needed to do.

As I walked away to the restroom, I saw Marcus follow me out of the corner of my eye. I focused on the artwork in front of me, some portrait of a woman with a tortured expression and refused to look at him; too afraid that if I did my expression would mirror the artwork.

After taking a few minutes to rub cold water on the insides of my wrists and dot my neck with paper towels, I was finally able to take a deep breath and relax. I walked through the door of the women’s restroom, only to gasp in fear when an icy cold hand gripped my arm.

Before I knew what was happening, my back hit a wall, and my attacker’s forearm pushed against my chest, keeping me pinned in place. I gasped loudly, and waved my head around, trying to see if anyone saw what just happened to me. It was then I recognized the evil, slimy looking pair of steel-blue eyes. They haunted my dreams for months, years even after Marcus left. There were a few more lines around the eyes now, and my attacker’s hair had more silver in it; but other than that, he looked the same. I resisted the urge to spit in his face.

“Senator,” I spit out. I would not allow this man to scare me again. Even though every nerve ending in my body was sparking with fear.

He leaned in to my ear making me cringe in disgust. He smelled like scotch, just like always. “I see you’ve moved on to whoring around with even more successful men now. I should applaud your good taste.”

“You don’t know shit.”

He tsked at me twice. “That’s not how a lady speaks. Although I suppose with how easy you spread your legs for the rich, you’re not much of a lady are you.”

“Get off me, Senator, before you regret it.”

He pushed his arm into me and then took one step back. We were still standing much too close for a casual conversation if anyone should walk down the hall and see us, but at least I was able to breathe again.

“What do you want?” I asked with ragged breaths. I still felt the pressure of his arm against me and rubbed it tenderly, hoping it wouldn’t bruise.

“You will let Marcus see his son. And me.” I paled instantly.

“You … you know?” I asked as I felt all the blood rush from my head and straight down to my toes. It may have even seeped directly into the plush carpeting beneath my feet. Marcus’s dad knew I had a son.

He scoffed. “You didn’t think I was going to give you that money and then just trust you’d do the right thing, did you? I’ve watched you and Logan occasionally for years, in order to anticipate you reaching out to Marcus. It’s impressive, really, that you never caved. I appreciate your tenacity.”

He knew Logan’s name. He fucking new my kid’s name. I wanted to throw up. I wanted to bash his skull in and run away to Bora Bora like I did the night Marcus showed up at Jack’s penthouse. But this….Senator Whitmore knowing the details and knowing he’d actuallywatchedus made my skin scrawl. I felt like I had a colony of ants crawling up my entire body, itching me and fighting for entrance into every pore of my body. I fought the urge to scratch my arms and legs and faced him bravely.

Five years ago, he had walked into my apartment and demanded I follow his rules.

I wouldn’t bow to this asshole ever again.

“You’re incredible. You try to pay me off to get rid of, what did you call it, a ‘mistake?’ And now you think you can demand to see him? Get over yourself. You’ll never lay a single finger on my son.”

I turned to walk away from him, but his voice stopped me.

“Do you really think Jack McMillan is still going to want you when your picture is splayed all over the paper as a whore, someone willing to spread her legs for her employer? He’ll be ruined. And it will be your fault.”

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