Page 126 of Marriage (Red, White &) Blues

“Why? You already knew about the baby, given you showed up at our house,” Blake started as Robert shot death glares at his wife—I didnotwant to be her after we left. But I wouldn’t haveminded being a fly on the wall to see her get her ass chewed out—“and there’s no need for damage control because there’s been no damage. My wife and I are expecting our first child. Period.”

After another twenty minutes, a visibly annoyed Brock showed up and he got one look at my belly and shouted, “What the fuck? What did you do, Blake?”

My husband simply laughed. Again. “If you really want the details…” he teased and I thought Brock’s head was about to explode. “But it’s not whatI didthat we’re here to discuss.”

Our unhappy family turned angry eyes on us.

“How ’bout we all have a seat,” Blake offered, smiling, and he grabbed a hold of my hand to scoot me closer to him on the sofa, giving the others places to sit.

“Let’s get on with this.” Robert looked at his watch. “Some of us have things to do.”

Blake nodded. “About that—My contract is up. I’m done with the company for good.”

“Not this again,” Brock complained. “I thought we already discussed this.”

“Mmm… New information has come to light.” He gave my knee a squeeze.

“Don’t tease, Blake,” I mock-admonished. “It’s not nice.”

“My wife is too kind. She thinks of you even when you’ve been horrible to her. Here’s the long of it.” His face sobered, like he was about to drop the news thatBrock and Robert were heading to prisonkind of sobered. “I made you a hell of a lot of money. I make me a hell of a lot of money, too—but I can do that anywhere. The way I see it, you need me so much more than I need you, yet you’ve treated my wife like trash—and then there’s Candice.”

“What about Candice?” Brock asked.

I smiled sweetly at Adair as Blake looked directlyat her. “Mother, would you like to fill them in about Candice, or should I?”

“Me? What would I know about Candice? She’s your brother’s press secretary.”

“Yes, about that… Brock,here.” Blake handed off the copies of the documents that Murielle brought us. We’d stopped off at a local Staples to make the copies before arriving—or ambushing, in this case—Robert. Anything could happen to those documents and we wanted them safe.

Brock studied the papers. “What am I looking at?” he asked, clearly annoyed with the both of us. His exasperated sigh told as much as his tone of voice.

“That’s money that Raymond Hill was paid to create a false paper trail when Gloria was set up. If you look at the dates it’s after he lost the candidacy to you.”

He narrowed his eyes. “It’s half a million dollars. Who would pay him that much to frame your wife?”

“Page three,” I said, unable to hold my excitement any longer. Blake chuckled, squeezing my knee again. Brock scowled at me, but he flipped to page three. “Halfway down,” I pointed out and his eyes wenthugewhen he read the name. “It appears that Mr. Hill kept very accurate records. I suppose in case this came back to bite him in the ass. Too bad others aren’t that meticulous, right, Adair?”

Her face turned almost purple. “You do not get to?—”

“Why do they keep turning this onto you, Adair?” Robert asked, cutting her off. “What’s on that paper?”

Brock handed him the page with “Candice Reed” typed in the payer’s box.

“What?” Robert raged. “I’ll end her!”

“Think about it, Dad… Why would Candice bother?”

“And where would she get that kind of money?” I helpfully put in.

Robert narrowed his eyes but didn’t answer.

Blake bent his arms in front of him, hands folded, tapping his two pointer fingers together. “Candice hired people to hurt my wife’s reputation, then you all angled to get her out of the state, and what happens? Candice makes a move on me. Why?”

“Adair, what did you do?” Robert clenched his teeth hard enough to need dental work after this meeting.

“She tried to ruin my marriage,” Blake replied.

“Look at her.” Adair threw her arm out toward me. “Red hair. And a Kowalski. Do you really want a red-haired Kowalski grandchild? She’s poor. She’s beneath our family.”

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