Total pages in book: 54
Estimated words: 50527 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 253(@200wpm)___ 202(@250wpm)___ 168(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 50527 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 253(@200wpm)___ 202(@250wpm)___ 168(@300wpm)
"We can do anything you want, precious girl, but no one will dance until we do."
"Really?"
"Yes." He leads me onto the dance floor, and the song changes. Hollis pulls me close. I know everyone is watching, and it doesn’t bother me one bit. I don’t feel the sense of being awkward or out of place. I know this is right where I belong.
Chapter Twenty-Two
HOLLIS
For a few brief moments, I forget about everything else but Candy. I’ve heard people discuss the glow of a woman when she’s pregnant. I have never borne witness to it, but it’s all over Candy.
She lights up the room and everything around her. The more distance she puts between herself and the clutches of Maxwell, the more that glow shines. He tried to smother it and take it for his own, but he wasn't worthy. I'm not either, if I'm honest with myself, but I'll spend my life trying to be.
I want to give Candy and these babies the life they deserve, and to do that, I first have to take out the trash. It shouldn't be too difficult. Men like Maxwell aren't hard to bait and provoke. They are fueled by their narcissism. He does well to try and mask it, but if pushed far enough, he’ll snap.
That's my plan. I'm going to send him into a narcissistic rage. One that is of his own making. All the actions he has taken have led him to this point. I'm merely going to pull that trigger and do it in front of a room full of people. These are people whose opinions he cares about. Even if he doesn’t, they are people that matter. He’s already on thin ice after his insider trading shenanigans. His outburst will ruin him socially and financially. He’ll become the recluse that he was trying to make Candy.
I know all it’s going to take is Maxwell seeing both Candy and me happy, and her thriving in a way he tried to diminish. Then, once I expose his lies, he will feel utter humiliation. The walls are already closing in on him, and he doesn't know it. That’s the problem with people like Maxwell; they’re too cocky to even see that their demise is near.
"You know I’ll always keep you safe and protect you."
"I do," Candy says without hesitation.
"That's my precious girl." I lean down and kiss her. Her hands slip up my chest to wrap around my neck. Candy's baby bump presses into me.
"Gwendolyn!" I lift my mouth away from hers when I hear Maxwell call out her name. Candy's eyes widen. I pull her to stand next to me. The dance floor has started to fill with people, and he is pushing through them.
Candy's hold on my arm tightens, and she wraps herself around it, stepping partly behind me. I know it's not to shield herself but it’s her protective instincts for our babies.
"Maxwell." I greet him when he finally comes to a stop in front of me.
"I want a word with Gwendolyn." His eyes are on her.
"Hey." I snap my fingers in front of his face. "Eyes on me and off my fiancée." The snap was right next to him. Maxwell's jaw clenches. "Don't make more of a fool of yourself."
"I'm the fool? You're the one dumb enough to think you can take her from me. I own her. We have a contract. Those babies along with her are mine," he says, trying to keep his voice down, but he's not doing a very good job of it.
He flicks a glance around us to see who is watching. I provoke him again. This time I speak low too, not wanting anyone to hear it either.
"Yours? She didn't feel like she belonged to you when she was in my bed." I take a step closer, glaring down at him. "My babies are inside of her." I'm sure he knows by now we know the babies are both Candy's and mine. Why else would she have run to me?
"That's not what our contract says, nor Dr. Matthews. You have no standing in this." Maxwell's eyes flick back to Candy. "Don't do this. You have no idea who he is. There is a reason he left the city."
"I left the city because I was tired of playing with vultures. It was pointless." That is the truth. It was dirty and messy and a game I was wealthy enough to walk away from.
"You left the city because of me. You tried to come for me, and I came right back at you, only I was better at it." He smirks, but it doesn't meet his wild eyes. He is vibrating with anger.
“Stop this,” Candy hisses at him. “You should just leave. Walk away from all this before you—”
“Before I what?!” he snaps, louder this time. “I made you. You’d be nothing without me.”