Page 76 of Owned

I held her gaze. “I don’t want to give the child to you.”

“That’s unfortunate, dear, because if you don’t. I’ll be forced to use the information I have on Mr. Tennyson Fox and your dear husband, and I’ll?—”

“I have a compromise,” I interrupted recklessly. “If you leave the baby for Atlas and I to bring up, I’ll grant you access as a grandparent whenever you like.”

Charlotte’s lips twitched. “That’s not what we agreed on.”

“No, you wanted to bring the kid up yourself, I know. But….” I took a breath then continued on determinedly. “Being brought up by you basically destroyed my mother. So much so that she never spoke about you. I didn’t even know you existed until you contacted me about being a surrogate.” Charlotte opened her mouth, but I didn’t let her speak. “So quite frankly, if you care anything at all for this baby you need to think long and hard about whether being brought up by you is what’s best for it.” My hand dropped to my stomach automatically, as if to protect it from that cold green gaze. “Because if this child grows up like Mom did, it’s not only me who’ll regret it, you will too.”

The perfect lines of my grandmother’s face hardened, her eyes chips of icy emerald. “My parental skills have got nothing to do with you. How dare you?—”

“I had to be the mom for my mother because of you,” I said, heedless now of any damage I might cause because it wasn’t as if I could make this situation any worse than it already was. “I cared for her, made sure she took her meds, made sure all the kitchen knives were in places she didn’t know about. I made sure she showered and ate, and got exercise when she could manage it. I had to make the money and pay the bills, and buy the groceries, and do the laundry. I was her caregiver from the time I was ten years old, with no help from anyone.”

“Caitlyn made her bed,” Charlotte said coldly. “No one forced her to leave.”

“And no one forced you to cut not only her off, but your grandchild too.”

Finally Charlotte’s stare flickered. “I wanted to meet you, but Caitlyn refused.”

“So you just backed off and said ‘fine’?” I threw the words at her like stones, not fighting the hot burst of anger that had erupted suddenly inside me. “You didn’t bother to fight, because you didn’t care, did you?”

“That’s not quite?—”

“And what will you do if this child you want so badly makes that same choice? Will you cut them off too? Will you tell them that they made their beds too?”

Charlotte’s mouth hardened, her green stare like knives.

I stared back. “Nothing is going to bring Juliana back,” I said into the oppressive silence. “She’s gone.”

Two spots of color appeared on Charlotte’s high cheekbones, the flicker of anger in her eyes. Good. I’d made her mad.

Perhaps if I’d been thinking straight, I’d have stopped then, but I’d spent the past couple of weeks challenging Atlas at every turn, and so I wasn’t afraid of her. “I know losing her must have been unbearable, but you still have a daughter, Charlotte. And you have me. And you have Isabel. And when this baby is born you will have them too.” I took another gamble and added, “You won’t be alone.”

She stared at me for a long moment, then turned her head abruptly and looked out the window. “I’m not alone, dear. How silly of you to think that.” She kept gazing out the window and a silence fell. “I suppose he put you up to this?”

“No. I told you, he doesn’t know I’m meeting with you.”

“I don’t imagine he’ll be very pleased when he finds out.”

“He won’t. But that’s my problem to deal with.”

Charlotte turned her head then, her gaze meeting mine. “He’s a murderer, you know. Mr. Fox. He murdered his mentor and Mr. Blackwood helped him cover it up. That’s what I have on them. Proof of the murder.”

Shock trickled through me, a spill of ice water. “What?”

“Mr. Fox did have reason, I suppose. His mentor had developed a rather unhealthy interest in Isabel, Mr. Fox’s daughter.” Charlotte paused a moment. “My granddaughter.”

“Oh,” I said blankly. “Why are you telling me that?”

“So you know what you’re getting yourself into with a man like Atlas Blackwood.”

“That’s not?—”

“If he’s anything like his father, and it seems as if he is, you’ll need to protect yourself.” She let out a breath then leaned forward. “You should come with me, Rowan. I can protect you from him. You can stay at my home on Martha’s Vineyard. I have very good security.”

I blinked, not understanding. “You’re seriously saying he’ll hurt me?”

“He covered up for the murder, and he destroyed his father’s business, and if you don’t want me bringing this child up, then you certainly shouldn’t want him bringing it up either.”

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