Page 9 of Desperate Temptations

Ethan rears back. “What do you mean she begged you to stop it?”

“I mean, she told me she thought she was pregnant and that her father had a job lined up for you. And she begged me to cancel the trip.”

His mouth is open when I look at him and he swallows.

“She said she was pregnant?”

I nod. “I don’t know if it was true or not, I didn’t really ask her to prove it.”

“She never said anything to me.”

Fury darkens his expression and I sit up straighter.

“We don’t know if she lied, she could have miscarried.”

Ethan scoffs. “Don’t defend the bitch. At this point, I don’t care either way. She’s manipulated me my entire life and I’m sick of it.”

“I didn’t tell you that to make you angry, Ethan. Just something that was on my mind,” I say with a sigh, knowing I should have kept it to myself.

He shakes his head. “No, I want to know it all. I feel like everyone just kept me out of the loop and walked on eggshells around her.”

I grimace. “No offense, but she was kind of scary… and a bitch.”

Ethan’s lips quirk. “Yeah, but I kind of liked that about her.”

I snort and roll my eyes. “Yeah I know. Come on, let's try to get some sleep. We got a long few days ahead of us.”

FIVE

TRENT

We find him easy enough, considering he works at the same company as Lyndsey. Ethan didn’t take it well when we tracked him to the same office she helped open a few years ago. He’s been sitting at the bistro, silently drinking his coffee for over an hour now.

“There’s no way her parents don’t know,” Ethan says, the anger causing his voice to rise.

I set my sandwich on the plate, chewing slowly as I keep my gaze on my food. I agree with him. It seems unlikely that her parents would be unaware of their own grandchild, but confirming his suspicion seemed like lighting a match to start the fire. So I try to redirect his focus because Lyndsey’s parents can be dealt with later.

“What about the guy? When was he hired? There’s no way he didn’t know about you.”

Ethan’s jaw grinds back and forth. “If he knows about me, and everyone just allowed me to live my life like a fucking fool…”

“And they’re not your family anymore, so fuck them if they did.”

He nods, finishing up his food and standing. “Let’s get this over with. They should be leaving soon.”

I shove down the last few bites of my food and follow him out of the cafe. We’re only a few blocks from the building where Lyndsey’s family company is. I hold up my phone, showing Ethan the photo of the guy again. Unlike Lyndsey, he doesn’t have a private account because the man has nothing to hide. The only good thing is that he had the decency to keep his kid off social media. I’m not sure if it was to hide her from Ethan or just the general notion to prevent the clutches of the dark web from grabbing the pictures.

“What’s the plan?”

Ethan shrugs. “I just want to talk. He might try to run.”

“So what? You want me to try to block him in?” I ask, taking in the parking lot filled with cars. I’m not familiar enough with the laws or procedures in London to know how long or even if police would be called for a minor scuffle.

“I’m hoping we don’t need all that. I just want a simple conversation,” Ethan says with a sigh. He seems exhausted already, as if the mere thought of confronting his wife’s affair partner is draining him.

“And if he doesn’t want to talk, then we’ll talk to a lawyer about it, okay?”

He nods and we settle closer to the building. It’s not long before people start to wander out, hitting that time that everyone seems to get off work.

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