19. Justine

That whole thing got me thinking. It seemed as if I'd been in some kind of fog for the past month without realizing it. When I got home that evening in my chauffeur-driven car, I looked in the pantry, the fridge, and even the garage, where I noticed cases of the juice my kids liked stacked against the wall along with boxes of snacks. Someone had bought out the whole of Costco; it looked like.

"When did all of this happen?"

Christine, the teenage babysitter is the one who showed me where everything was. "I thought you knew."

"Christine, when is the last time I paid you?"

"Last week, you even gave me a raise, don't you remember?"

She pulled out her phone and showed me where I'd been sending money to her account. It was almost twice what I'd been paying her before. Christine lives with her single mother, along with her five brothers and sisters. I'd found her number years ago on a wall in the local grocery store where she'd listed herself looking for babysitting gigs.

This girl had given up going away to college to attend the local community college so she could stay home and help her mom with her siblings after their father passed. She and I have had many talks in the two years since we met, and I knew she had dreams of becoming a pediatric nurse.

She's always been good to my kids and has a good head on her shoulders for one so young. "Christine, how would you like a job working at the daycare center at my job?" I hadn't talked much about it with anyone else, but the center was finally finished, and I was in the process of finding the doctor and nurse Marcus said he wanted on site.

There were already about thirty kids enrolled, and more to come once everyone heard about the options being offered. I mean, seriously, with daycare being what it is these days, someone offering you free daycare where you can actually check in on your kids throughout the day, who in their right mind is going to pass that up?

There was even an app where they would be able to watch their kids on screen at any given time throughout the day from their office. Marcus had thought of everything and had gone all out.

The daycare was massive. I'm not sure what was there before, but there were about three rooms: one with cribs for the babies to sleep in, one for toddlers and older kids, and then there was the playroom and a room for classes.

I called Marcus after she'd left for the evening. "Have you been paying my babysitter?"

"I have, yes. By the way, now that we're on the subject. The two au pairs will be working at the center as well, but I think when we travel with the kids in the future, you should bring her if she's the one you prefer since they know her better."

Damn! If the way to a man's heart is his stomach, the way to a mother's heart has got to be her children. He'd been doing so much with my kids in mind, and I hadn't even noticed. I wasn't even sure how to feel about it because it meant I had no more excuses.

He was doing everything right, and I can't help but wonder if this is all real. My parents are no help and neither are my siblings. All they do is sing his praises all day, and no matter what I say to them, they take his side.

If I say we're moving too fast, my mother claims that I already wasted ten years on a no-good piece of shit, but now that someone decent is actually wanting to be in my life and take care of me and the girls, I'm dragging my feet.

There's no point in asking Justice shit because he's like a broken record when it comes to Marcus. As far as that slut is concerned, Marcus can do no wrong.

"Are you still there?"

"I think I'm in love with you." Oh shit. I hung up on him and ran to the bedroom to hide under the covers. What the hell did I just do?

* * *

MARCUS

* * *

I smiledand looked at the phone after she hung up on me. Well, now, I can't let that declaration go unnoticed. I thought of sending her flowers, but that would be too obvious. Besides, I don't want to give her ex any ammunition to use against her in the divorce, and another man sending her flowers might be too obvious.

In the end, I went with a diamond tennis bracelet, which I had delivered the next morning. It was a Saturday, so she didn't have to work, and I probably wasn't going to see her until Monday, which was eating me up inside.

But since we were coming down to the nitty gritty, it paid to be careful. Her husband had been served late the day before, so I made sure Monique, who was just back from Boston, was at the house in case he showed up.

I walked back into the room and sat on the chair in my study. Things were finally in motion now that my people had found everything her ex had been hiding. The way I see it, he'd been planning this divorce for a while with the intention of holding most of his assets back from her and his kids.

That made my blood boil, and I wanted to beat his ass in when I first found out, but that wasn't going to help her and her girls and only serve to whet my appetite for vengeance, so in the end, I decided that hitting him where it hurts and getting her and her kids what they deserve in the bargain was the way to go. It's not about my ego.

I don't care what she does with the money she gets from him, it's her due for the ten years she spent as his wife. But she'll never need it, and I want him to know that at some point. That even if he'd succeeded in keeping his money hidden, she didn't need it or him. That'll piss him off even more once he realizes that we're together.

I had Caleb draw up the terms of her divorce decree where he had to pay her alimony until Susan finished college. He'd also be on the hook for their school payments, though I've already found the best private school in the area, my old alma mater, or whatever you call Pre-K through elementary.

He couldn't afford any of the schools I was sending them to next year, but I'll be sure to put his pittance to good use for the kids. But I plan to take over their care as soon as their mother and I get married. I just want him to hurt financially for the next fifteen years.

* * *

KAREN

* * *

"Hello, is anyone there?"How long have I been in this place? I'd lost track of days and time. Why was no one looking for me? How long have I been gone?

In the beginning, I was sure that my daughter and husband would get me out of this, and as soon as they did, I was going to find out who had hung up on me and have them fired, among other things.

No one treats me that way and gets away with it. At first, I was sure there was some kind of mistake, a misunderstanding. I've been using that corporate card for years without mishap, so why now?

My mind kept going back to the person on the phone mentioning Marcus IV and wondering if there was some confusion, but the worry in the pit of my stomach was telling me that the bastard was back and responsible for all this.

But it can't be. He hadn't been around in years and besides, he doesn't have anything to do with the company. The mere thought that he might be back and causing trouble was enough to make me sick unto death.

He hates me and has never made any attempts to hide it, but he'd been gone for so long that I'd let my guard down. My daughter was the only grandchild in the family for years and was doing very well at the company. I was hoping she would take over one day since there was no one left after my husband.

His grandparents never mentioned him, not once in the past fifteen years, and I was under the impression that they had written him off after the way he had just up and left all those years ago after his mother had taken her life.

Things had been a bit strained between my in-laws and me in the beginning, but they had started coming around after a couple of years, and I was even invited to the house for special occasions.

That's when I got the idea to push my daughter out in front so they would see her achievements. She did well in school because I told her that if she did, she'd stand a better chance of them liking her. I knew that one of the things they admired most about their grandson was the fact that he was so brilliant, so I paid out the ass to keep her on a par with him.

I thought I'd been in this place for a day at most, but then these bastards had the nerve to send me to work picking up trash off the side of the road. That was the last straw for me, and I kicked up a fuss and refused to get back on that filthy bus they used to cart prisoners around in.

And for that, I was banished to solitary confinement. That wouldn't have been so bad since I couldn't wait to get away from the riffraff in this place, but at night, alone in the dark, I kept hearing a female crying.

I didn't recognize the sound at first, and when I did, I thought there was someone else in one of the cells near mine, but I soon realized that the sound was piping into the room through a speaker that I hadn't noticed because it was high up on the wall tucked away in a corner.

The woman would, in turn, cry and wail, and the sound scared me for some reason. It was so eerie, like someone was suffering tremendous pain. But who was she, and why was I forced to listen to her carry on like that?

Now, I'd been here so long the days were running into each other. I stank because the last shower I had was the day they took me to pick up trash, and who knew how long ago that was.

My hair hadn't been combed either, and I knew I must look a mess. I wish I had a mirror to see myself, but then again, I don't. But I can't be looking like this when my husband comes to bail me out. "Hello, is anyone there?"