Chapter 7
Patrick forgot all about the pain and looked at me, completely shocked. “What did you just say?”
I replied calmly, “Didn’t your assistant already find out?
“I gave your family’s only son in generations to a kind couple in Africa.”
Patrick clenched his jaw. “Why would you do that?”
I met his eyes and gave a cold smile. “Why do you think?
“You openly cheated, let your lover have a child, and then dumped the baby on me. While you two lived happily, I was left to do all the work and take care of your kid like a servant.
“Patrick, do you really think I’m that worthless?
“I put up with everything because your mother once saved my life.
“But what about you? Did you ever treat me with care or respect?
“Well, now I’m telling you–everything you did to me and my child, I’ll slowly make you pay for it.”
Then I turned my attention to Sadie.
Her eyelids fluttered slightly, and I scoffed.
With a kick to her stomach, I said, “Drop the act. I know you’re awake.”
I crouched down, grabbed her chin gently, and asked, “Do you want to keep living?”
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288 (Vouchers
Chapter 7
Sadie’s eyes snapped open, and she quickly nodded.
I slapped her across the face. “Then take that fake belly out.”
Sadie reached into her shirt and pulled out a bundle of cotton, revealing it was all fake.
Patrick looked like he was about to faint. “You lied to me?”
Sadie did not respond. Instead, she just kept pleading and begging.
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“Tara, please forgive me. I didn’t mean for this to happen. He’s the one who kept pushing for it. I didn’t try to steal him from you.”
*
A
Patrick shouted angrily, “Sadie! You were the one who came on to me first!
“You’re the one who said you’d have a child for me and Tara.”
As he got more worked up, he suddenly stood up and kicked Sadie in frustration.
“This is all your fault! If you hadn’t gotten involved, none of this would’ve happened. You ruined everything.”
I leaned back on the couch while relaxing in Brody’s arms, calmly watching the chaos unfold in front of us.
He peeled grapes for me like he had done it a hundred times.
Then, with a half–joking tone but serious eyes, he muttered, “Tara, if you ever do something like this again, I’ll make sure to punish you.”
His voice lowered, full of worry. “Do you know how scared I was when you disappeared?
“If anything had happened to you, I wouldn’t have let anyone involved
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Chapter 7
walk away from it.”
I let out a soft sigh. Brody’s protective side was really showing more lately.
I gently brushed his hair back and kissed the corner of his mouth.
288 Vouchers
“I promise, no more running off. I’ll take you with me wherever I go from now on.”
Brody nodded, finally looking a little more at ease. Then, he asked
calmly, “So, what do you want to do about them? You’re not planning to let them off easy, are you?
“If you’d let me handle them before, you wouldn’t have ended up in this mess.”
My expression turned cold. “Send them to Africa. Let them stay together as one big happy family.”
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