Page 83 of Love, Hate, Love

“Good thinking,” he said.

We were on the same page at least on this.

Chapter37

Leah

I wasover by the bar, watching Cassie dancing and laughing with her husband. Everyone was having a good time, and even with the couple of blips, it was almost like things were normal. If nothing else, she’d had a good wedding and I’d gotten to watch her laugh and cry, walk down the aisle, see her and her husband exchange vows and look at each other like they were the entire world with the mountains sprawling in the background. This had turned into one hell of a good venue.

“We need to have that talk, unless you want to do it here,” Edwin said, having crept up behind me.

He’d never leave me alone until he said whatever it was he had to say. I threw back the last of my drink and turned to face him.

“Fine. Let’s go,” I said, even though I was reaching my limit of what I would take from this man. Ruining Cassie’s wedding with a scene would be a step too far.

I waved him toward the banquet tent exit.

He took the lead, expecting me to just follow. I stared at his back, wishing I’d grabbed a steak knife off one of the tables. Would I really stab him? It was getting close enough that it wasn’t an easynoanymore.

Edwin kept walking. He probably wanted to get me out of gunshot-hearing range and do away with me. Say it was an “accident.” He was such a good con artist, he’d probably get away with it, too.

Maybe that was why I could never shake this inner tremble I had whenever he was near. No one else ever looked at him sideways, but I knew what he was capable of. He somehow walked away smelling like his expensive cologne and looking as sleek as his thousand-dollar suits, no matter what grime and muck he’d been shoveling.

“This is far enough,” I said as soon as we hit the ranch porch.

He looked around and then nodded, as if he were only stopping because he’d approved.

“How are things going?” he asked, even now sounding so polished and sophisticated, no sign of the slimebag he was.

“Fine. What do you want?” I said, giving him nothing because that was what he deserved. Technically he deserved less, but that wasn’t possible. How many times had I hoped I was wrong about this man only to find out he was even worse than I thought?

“You and Kade look pretty chummy,” he said.

Of course that would bother him. “And?”

“I just want to remind you how bad it would be to put crazy ideas into his head. We wouldn’t want pillow talk to ruin anyone’s life.”

Was he afraid of Kade? Was he afraid of catching a beating? He didn’t need to be. Kade might be putting on a good act for my ex, but I still didn’t think he’d be willing to risk the ire of the law to punch Edwin in the face. We all knew my stepfather was the type to press charges, too, even if he deserved the beating more than anyone I’d ever met.

Funny how he said “anyone’s life” when it always meant mine. I’d finally thought I’d been free of this man, had spent years building distance between us, and he’d still screwed up my life.

“Don’t talk to me about what might happen and what I should be doing. I’ve done enough. You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me. You set me up, you asshole, and I don’t want to hear anything else.”

That would’ve wiped the arrogance off a weaker man’s face, but that wasn’t who Edwin was. Sometimes I wondered if the key to getting away with all he’d done was to act as if he was in the right. This man would never have a guilty conscience. He didn’t come equipped with the ability to feel bad for anything.

“Set you up? You and your stories. You’re awfully brazen for somebody convicted of a felony.”

I couldn’t prove my innocence the first time. I wasn’t delusional enough to think a second attempt would make a difference.

“You might pretend in front of everybody else, but I’m not going to stomach it,” I said.

“Pretend? That’s not what the courts thought. It’s not what they’d think if they found more tucked away in a warehouse in your name.” He smiled.

Once I’d taken the fall for his crime, of course he’d made sure to pile more on so I could never dig myself out unless he let me. He owned me, and there wasn’t any way around it. I might be better off on this ranch for the rest of my life if it kept him at bay.

But I just couldn’t roll over that easy, at least not in this setting. If he knew he had me, it was over. If I stopped pushing back, he really would own me.

“Don’t press me or I will talk, wherever the chips fall.”

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