Page 5 of Sinner's Ransom: Taken
Abigail, his mistress. Montgomery’s real mother, too, not that she or his dad would admit it. As far as Abigail was concerned, Montgomery was the son of Richard’s ex-wife, Denise, even if Abigail had given birth to him. Denise had left Richard when Montgomery was five, though, and he couldn’t even remember her smell, let alone what she looked like. If there hadn’t been pictures in the house, he’d have walked past her in the street and wouldn’t have known. While Denise claimed him as hers, she never cared about him either. He was a means to an end of the agreement she had with Richard. Give him a child—an heir—and she could leave.
“Doesn’t she want to see her son?” Montgomery teased, enjoying the response it elicited from his father.
Richard raised his chin. “You’re not her son.”
“No, you wouldn’t want to admit that you had a son with your mistress, would you, Dad?”
Richard shoved forward until his face hovered close to Montgomery’s.
Montgomery didn’t back down, though. He’d faced off with him more times than he could count.
“Watch your tongue. Remember whose roof you’re living under. I might give you money and pay off people to get you out of trouble, boy, but don’t think for one second I won’t throw you out on your ass for showing disrespect toward Abigail.”
“And admitting I’m her son is disrespect toward her, right?” Something twinged inside him, an ache he didn’t want to acknowledge.
“It’s enough of an embarrassment to me, I wouldn’t want to put her through that too.” He stepped away and raised his hands to pat down his gray slicked-back hair, like arguing with Montgomery had put it out of place. Richard had always been a perfectionist.
Montgomery swallowed around the acid in his throat and pushed away the urge to reach for another drink. He wouldn’t give his dad the satisfaction of having that to complain about as well. He’d grab another whisky when he left. “Is that all?”
“No. Your presence is required at the courthouse next week for yourtrial.” Richard gritted his teeth, looking unhappy about the situation.
“Trial for what?”
“The DUI from a few months back. I couldn’t pay off one of the cops.” His eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “Maybe you should have talked to that detective you’re boinking, to work that out for you, but right now, you need to attend until I can pay off the jury or the judge.”
“But why couldn’t you pay off the cop?” Montgomery propelled himself to his feet, anger simmering in his veins and making his blood hot. He hadn’t gone to court once in his life, and he wasn’t going to start now. His dad always made sure everyone got their asking price to avoid this sort of shit.
“He’s a Goody Two-shoes. Takes his job very seriously.” Richard fixed his suit again, smoothing his hands along it. “He nearly threwmein jail for offering him the money. I had to pay off his partner to stop that from happening.”
“Surely you can do something,” Montgomery snapped.
“No. Now you will get your ass to court, or I will kick you out of this house with nothing but the clothes on your back.”
“Dad—”
Richard spun on his heel, storming out of the pool house toward their large mansion. Montgomery could do nothing but watch him go because he knew when he’d lost the fight.
“Fuck!” He fell back on the stool and let his face drop into his hands. All he could hope for now was that the jury could be persuaded with a bit of cash to let him go, because he’d rather chop off his hand than call Kaden for help.
