Page 169 of Between Never and Forever
“Who are you talking about?”
His lips break into a wide grin, showing off stained teeth. When he speaks, it’s like he’s told a joke and I’m the punchline.
“My daughter, of course.”
I blink at him and tighten my fist around the doorknob. Brynn.
“You’re lying.”
He shrugs.
“Guess we’ll find out after the paternity test.”
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
The more I stare at him, the more I believe it. Sharon had said Terry had been selling at college parties. Julianna was drugged at a party. She said the guy was dangerous. She was adamant about wanting to move away from our hometown. It’s how I ended up here on the coast, too. When Jules called me and told me she was sick, she was already here. She refused to move back home with her parents. I thought it was just because her parents are terrible, but now...
“It won’t matter,” I say slowly, trying to mask my panic. “No judge in their right mind would give you custody of a child, blood or not.”
I mean it, too. I know it won’t work. It’s going to be hell for Brynn, but I’m almost certain they wouldn’t take her from me and give her to this fuckhead. Terry snorts and rolls his eyes. He doesn’t care about custody. He doesn’t care about Brynn. And then it dawns on me.
“The Larks put you up to this.”
He ignores me and pulls a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket. He puts one in his mouth and lights it up as my thoughts fall off my tongue.
“You don’t want Brynn. They do. What are they offering you?”
He blows a slow stream of smoke out of his nostrils and raises an eyebrow.
“The fucking life insurance money. That’s it, isn’t it?”
His grin breaks, and he winks at me.
“And all I have to do is take a test and stick around for a few court hearings.”
My blood is boiling. They’d stoop this low, scrape the bottom of the fucking scum bucket, just to try and get control of Brynn. They don’t care about what this could do to her. They don’t care about what this would have done to their own fucking daughter.
“It won’t work,” I seethe. “There is no way in hell I’m going to let them take her from me. You can fucking tell them that. Over my dead fucking body will I ever let William and Helen Lark take my kid from me.”
The sleaze bag grin is gone from Terry’s face, and he sneers.
“That can be arranged.”
I’m seconds from hitting him. If he so much as steps toward me, I’ll swing. Then a car comes up the road and we both look toward it. I expect to see a cop car swinging through for their hourly patrol, but instead it’s Sharon and Brynn coming back from shopping.
I know the moment Terry recognizes who’s driving the car, because his body goes as rigid as mine. I stare at the car, willing Sharon to drive off, but she pulls into the driveway instead.
“What the fuck,” Terry growls, then starts stalking toward the car. “Sharon? Sharon.”
I step in front of him and push his chest.
“Back up.” I growl, shoving him again as he tries to push past. “Back the fuck up, Terry.”
“Sharon!” he shouts. “You fucking bitch! That bitch put me in prison. You put me in fucking prison!”
I shove him again, plastering my body against his and he struggles to get past me. He reaches behind his body, and I grab his arm just as he pulls something from his waistband.
A fucking gun.
