Chapter 13

13

Maisy

Isit on the bed in one of my new dresses, staring at the envelope of money and plane tickets to Belize. Jack told me I could return them to my mother, but I haven’t yet and there’s no more putting it off. If I didn’t feel so betrayed and hurt, I would have already called her or dropped the money by, but I’m dreading the moment I have to look in her eyes, knowing full well she meant to take off and leave me in the lurch. It’s going to make it all so real.

Flopping backwards on the bed, I pick up my phone, rubbing a thumb on the screen.

It’s kind of odd that she hasn’t called me, isn’t it?

She’s not even interested in pleading her case?

Maybe she’s too ashamed after being caught.

You’ll never know unless you talk to her.

Before I can dial, there’s a knock on the bedroom door. Thinking it’s Jack, my nipples harden and lust coils tightly beneath my belly button. But why would he knock on his own bedroom door? Come to think of it, Jack probably never knocks on any door. Just walks right through. Heart squeezing, I sit up. “Come in.”

Bonnie pokes her head in hesitantly. She stood at the door while Jack and I made love in the driveway, and my face colors in response to seeing her again, but nothing in her expression betrays any censure. So I relax.

“Miss Whitaker,” she says, setting down a brown paper bag just inside the door. “Mr. Lincoln asked me to pick this up for you at the drugstore.”

“Oh.” Already sensing what it might be, my cheeks flame again. “Thank you.”

She smiles warmly. “Of course.”

The door is closed with a quiet click.

Rolling off the bed, I stare at the bag for a moment before approaching. When I finally open it up, I find exactly what I was expecting. A pregnancy test. Nonetheless, my heart flutters up into my throat. I take a moment to examine my feelings. Am I hopeful that I’m carrying Jack’s baby? Or hopeful that I’m not?

I close my eyes and imagine Jack holding a newborn, swimming with a little boy or girl in the pool, how much the unconditional love of a child would transform him and…I can’t help it. I find myself hoping the test is positive. I want to share this life with him. Share a family.

Ten minutes later, I’m staring down at double pink lines, laughing breathlessly to myself.

Holy moly.

I’m pregnant with Jack’s baby. It must have happened Friday night, before my birth control started working. When he came inside me after promising he wouldn’t—that’s when it happened. If there was ever proof that Jack Lincoln gets his way in the end, this is definitely it. But I’m happy to let him this time, because I want to share in the amazing news with him. The way we got here was complicated, but we overcame the doubts and the result is…a life together. With a baby.

I can’t believe I get to tell him I love him and I’m pregnant in the same day.

And maybe because I’ll always love my mother, no matter what she does, I find myself needing to confide the news to her, too. Right away.

Leaving the test balanced on the edge of the wastebasket, I wash my hands and return to the bedroom, picking up my phone where I left it. With a deep breath for courage, I dial her number, giddy, musing how much has changed since the last time my mother and I exchanged words. I’ve fallen in love. I’ve become one half of a couple with a man I adore, who adores me back. I’ve behaved in truly naughty fashion…and enjoyed every second of it.

And now I’m going to have a child.

I’m definitely not the same girl I was walking into that party on Friday night, timid and scared of the unknown. I could have allowed Jack to swallow me whole with his demands, but I stuck to my guns and now we’ve reached common ground.

He gave me my freedom and I chose him.

It’s exciting. I’m happy. So happy. And I just want Jack to get home so we can make love again. Or maybe have another Nerf battle.

After everything that’s happened, I’m brave enough to face my mother, too, aren’t I?

Yes.

Bolstered, I listen to the phone ring for the third time. Fourth.

Just when I think she isn’t going to pick up, she does.

“Hi, Maisy,” she says quietly.

“Mom.” I swallow. “Hi.”

A beat passes. “Are you still…with Mr. Lincoln?”

“Yes.” I press a hand to my flat belly. “I’m definitely with him. I will be for a long time.”

If I sense a trace of skepticism on the other end of the line, I’m too high on excitement to address it. “Maisy, about the money. And the trip I planned…” Her voice sounds unnatural, but that’s probably because she’s emotional and usually she’s very stoic. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. That was wrong of me. It’s just…I’ve worked and worked all my life and I just wanted something for myself. Maybe someday you will understand. It doesn’t mean I don’t love you.”

“I know. And I forgive you for not telling me.” I think I would forgive just about anything in this moment because I’m so happy, soaring on the wings of a beautiful breeze. “Mom, I want you to be happy. I want you to go to Belize. The money is yours, okay? The tickets and everything. You can have it all back. Jack was just upset over you leaving me, but I know eventually he’ll be glad we returned the money, too.”

There’s a sharp intake of breath. “Do you mean it?”

I smile. “Yes. As soon as Jack comes home, we’ll drive over and drop it off. I can pick up some more of my things, too.”

There’s a muffled sound, as if she’s covered the receiver. “I can come there right now.”

“Oh.” My neck is beginning to prickle. “Um…I don’t know. I don’t want to call Jack and bother him at work, but…”

But he fired my mother.

I should probably talk to Jack before letting her back on the property, right?

Still, she’s my mother. If I’m going to live here, there’s a real possibility she’ll be coming here to visit. And it’s not like she’s dangerous or something, just because she was deceptive.

“I won’t stay long, Maisy. Please? Without your contribution from last week and no money coming in from Mr. Lincoln, I’m flat broke.”

It occurs to me that I’m the proud new owner of two million bucks.

“Oh, I have an idea. I can transfer you some funds—”

“Then I’d have to withdraw that big amount from the bank.” She makes a gagging sound. “I’d rather not. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes, okay?”

“Okay,” I say weakly, the phone dropping to my side when it goes dead.

I didn’t even get a chance to tell her I’m pregnant.

Because it didn’t feel right.

Something didn’t feel right.

Struggling against the urge to call Jack, possibly interrupting an important meeting, I pace the room for fifteen minutes, then pick up the envelope of money and airline ticket to Belize. I try to ignore the churning sensation in my stomach when I hear the familiar sound of her car pulling up out front. There doesn’t seem to be anyone downstairs in the house, not Bonnie or Charles. It’s so silent.

I clutch the envelope to my chest, shifting in front of the door a moment before I open it. Just a few inches. And there’s my mother smiling back at me.

All at once, I feel utterly ridiculous.

This is my mother, the woman who raised me. I’ve lived with her for eighteen years. We’ve had our ups and downs but there is no reason to feel so nervous. Maybe it’s the pregnancy already causing my stomach to act up?

I push the door open wider and step outside.

Her smile disappears.

There’s a second car. One I didn’t see before. A silver Rolls Royce parked farther down the driveway, the engine still running.

Something cold presses to the side of my head. “Don’t make a sound,” says a man’s familiar voice.

Oh God. My mother…she’s not alone. There’s a tall imposing figure that was standing just out of view. Without turning my head, I swing my eyes in that direction. And I find Winston Creed smiling at me, smug and collected. Well used to aiming guns.

“Why…what do you want?” I whisper, my entire body beginning to tremble. “Mom, why are you with him?”

To her credit—I guess?—my mother does seem kind of sheepish. But not sheepish enough, apparently, since she has no issue grabbing the money and plane ticket out of my hands, her mouth moving as she flips through the bills, counting it. “I’m sorry, Maisy. He offered me money if I could bring you to him. He’s been camped outside the apartment for days, but you never showed. So when you called, I had to take the opportunity.”

My mind struggles to play catch up. “I…I don’t understand,” I say, trying my best to remain calm. “What do you want with me, Mr. Creed?”

I hear rather than see him lick his lips. “The men are demanding a repeat performance. They’re willing to pay through the nose for a chance to be your leading man this time. Seven figures a pop.” My skin crawls and I know he’s checking me out, right there in front of my mother. My mother who just sold me out. “You made quite an impression, little lady.”

“What’s he talking about, Maisy?” my mother asks, fanning herself with the plane ticket.

Indignation clogs my vocal passages, making my words sound strangled. “You brought him here without even knowing what he wanted from me?”

“He offered a lot of money,” my mother explains, though she looks nervous now. “What does he mean…repeat performance?”

I close my eyes. “I accidentally ended up at one of his sex parties last Friday and…I had no choice to participate. It’s a long story. One I thought was going to end happy.” When I open my eyes, the image of my mother is blurred through an onslaught of tears. “I can’t believe you would do this to me. How can you be so greedy?”

My mother opens her mouth to respond, but Winston interrupts. “Get in the car, Miss Whitaker. The men are so worked up for a taste, they’re willing to break protocol and have a meeting in the middle of a weekday. Hasn’t happened in decades.” He trails the gun down the side of my face. “I plan to test the goods myself once I’ve made my money on it.”

Acid fires up my throat and I almost hurl on the steps.

“You can’t just kidnap me,” I gasp. “You can’t j-just—”

“I can do whatever the fuck I want. If you decide to talk, it’ll be the word of a social-climbing teenager versus the most powerful men in the state. Men who regularly donate to law enforcement and line the pockets of judges.” He gives me a little push off the steps. “Now get that high-priced piece of ass in my car.”

“Jack is going to find me.” I turn toward the house, frantically searching for a member of the staff. “Help!”

That is the last word out of my mouth before a rag soaked in something foul is clapped over my mouth and I vanish into unconsciousness.