After Her Flower Petals: A Second Chance Romantic Comedy (The Svensson Brothers Book 7)

by Alina Jacobs

“You better make it official,” Garrett retorted, “because I’m not doing it.”

  “Nothing like a man,” Meg said into the microphone, raising an eyebrow. A number of the women in the audience laughed.

  We were playing this game? Fine. I didn’t go down without a fight.

  “Next question,” Edna said. “Meg can start. The question of development is a hot topic in our town. How do you as mayor plan on balancing the need for growth to accommodate the influx of new people with preserving the quality of life in Harrogate?”

  Meg took a sip of water.

  I used the opportunity to cut in. “Obviously, we want our town to be welcoming for everyone. One of the initiatives I’ve thought about for increasing the amount of housing stock is to change the zoning laws to allow people to build carriage houses on their property.”

  “That is a very good idea, Hunter,” Edna said in surprise.

  “Of course it is!” Meg shrieked. “Because it’s my idea! I told you that idea, and you just stole it!”

  “Now, Meg,” I drawled.

  “Deputy Mayor,” she cut in.

  “Deputy Mayor,” I said, drawing out the words. “We’re all on Team Harrogate.”

  “You’re not,” Meg spat. “You’re a liar and a thief. I never should have trusted you.”

  “You can’t prove anything,” I declared.

  “You have a pattern of bad behavior,” Meg continued. “Just like how you’re stealing land from the property next to yours. I saw you out there moving your fence line to take the old farmstead that’s adjacent to your property.”

  “That’s preposterous!” I thundered. “Why would I steal that land when I’m about to purchase it?” I desperately hoped my brothers would get the hint and do some digital trickery to make it look like the sale was in progress. Garrett glared at me but whispered something to Blade, who pulled out his laptop.

  Point for me.

  “In fact,” I continued, making it up on the fly, “I’m planning on building affordable condos out there that allow people to own small hobby farms. You can experience the rural way of life while having your job in town.”

  Several people nodded along to what I was saying. Tonight I’ll have my little brothers move the fence line back.

  Meg knew what was going on, and she fumed next to me.

  “But if we want to talk about people breaking the law,” I said, narrowing my eyes at her, because I couldn’t stop. I could never just stop trying to get the last word, win the chess game, dominate the competition, even if it cost me everything.

  “I believe you broke the law recently.”

  Her eyes widened.

  “I believe your parents’ house was repossessed by the bank, correct? There was a notice posted that all possessions in the house then belonged to the bank. However, you went inside to clean out some of your things.”

  “You were there too,” Meg shot back.

  “I did it because I love you, Meg,” I said, pressing a hand to my chest. “You know I’d do anything for you.”

  “You don’t love me, Hunter,” Meg snarled. “You only care about yourself.”

  “Look, Meg,” I begged after the debate was over. “I’m sorry, okay?” I grabbed her by the arm as I caught up to her when she headed down the hall to the back exit. “I thought this was going to be a friendly debate, but you went out there swinging.”

  “I had to because you were about to screw me over just like you always did,” she said, whirling around. “I knew it. I knew I couldn’t trust you. All this time, all this time you pretended like you loved me, made me think you had changed…”

  “Meg, you know I didn’t mean it. I got carried away.”

  “Fuck you!” she screamed at me. “You’re not sorry. You’re not sorry about any of it. You only wanted to use me for your own gain.”

  I took a breath.

  “Don’t,” she warned, voice trembling, “Don’t open your mouth to spew more lies. I know exactly what’s going on. You think I wasn’t going to find out? About why you were so cagey, about why you pretended like you wanted to move in with me and build a life with me? You… you… bastard.” She blinked back tears. “You were just buttering me up, trying to pull the wool over my eyes so I wouldn’t see through your plan. But I know everything now.”

  Shit, had she figured out Crawford’s plan? Should I lie? That seemed to not have been working out. The truth it is, then. “Okay, Meg,” I said, holding up my hands. “You’re right. I’m not going to lie to you. But I had to! Don’t you see? I needed to rescue my sisters. The state isn’t going to sign over a bunch of girls to just me. It had to be both of us. You’re a licensed foster parent, and so am I. They can’t deny us guardianship.”

  “Wait, what?” Meg said in confusion. “What do your sisters have to do with this?”

  71

  Meghan

  His sisters? I reeled. That… that didn’t make any sense.

  Except that of course it did. That was what Hunter had wanted, what he had always wanted. He wanted me to raise his siblings for him while he lived a carefree life and received accolades for being such a loving, caring brother.

  I smiled bitterly. “You know, it’s ironic,” I said. “The reason I had dumped you the first time was because, as we saw at the debate, you want other people to do the work while you take the credit.”

  “No, I—”

  I huffed out a mocking laugh. “So you’re not going to tell me about the other devious plan of yours?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he insisted.

  “Liar!” I yelled. “Karen told me everything. She told me about how you were going to post all the dirty pictures I sent you online.”

  “No way,” he said, sounding convincingly shocked.

  “She had them, Hunter,” I said flatly. “She showed me. She said you instructed her to go to the next state over and send them from an internet café so no one could trace it back to you. And then once they were out and my reputation was ruined, you were going to be my only option.”

  Hunter looked like I had kicked him in the teeth.

  “That was your plan all along, to trap me, wasn’t it?” I said. “I thought maybe it was because you just hated to lose, but now I see that you wanted free labor. How predictable.”

  “That’s not…” He shook his head. “Please, Meg, you have to believe me. I’ll tell everyone the carriage houses were your idea. Plus, I’m already buying the farmstead land! I’ll buy your house back,” he begged as I turned to leave.

  “Meg, I love you,” Hunter said hoarsely. “I can’t lose you.”

  “Too. Bad. Because we’re done for good.”

  I was shaking as I headed back to my apartment. It was my last night there, my last night of a real bed and being alone and having the freedom of not having to deal with my sisters day in and day out. Not that they didn’t need me.

  Hazel: As soon as you move in, I’m taking a vacation. I cannot with teen-girl drama.

  Meg: Can I have one night of nursing my feelings?

  Hazel: Screw Hunter. He’s a jackass. He’s always been a jackass.

  Hazel: Don’t waste calories on him.

  Meg: Too late. Susie is here with a sampling of Harrogate’s finest fried food.

  Susie was worried as she came into the apartment with big bags of takeout.

  “I know you said you didn’t want the zucchini fries, but I figured you should have something that looks like a vegetable. Also Mickey’s owner gave me a cocktail to go, even though it’s illegal, and he told me to tell you that he is voting for you for mayor, and you should remember how nice it feels to get takeout cocktails when you start writing new laws.”

  “I’m never going to be mayor!” I wailed, picking up the large container of craft cocktail. I sniffed it and took a gulp.

  “That is to share,” Susie said. “You can’t drink all of that!”

  “Can and will.” I grabbed a handful of french fries out of the bag and
handed Kate a chocolate shake.

  “I hate Hunter.”

  Susie sighed and handed me the mozzarella sticks.

  “Maybe he felt backed into a corner,” she began.

  “Don’t!” I waved a mozzarella stick at her. “Don’t make excuses for him! He was planning on posting porn online of me! So that he could trap me!”

  “I thought he didn’t admit to that, just the general lying?”

  “Yeah, but I’m sure he planned it,” I said stubbornly.

  “Did he?” Kate said, wrinkling her nose. “Karen’s a bitch. Maybe she was lying.”

  “She had pictures.”

  “Hm,” Kate mused. “Maybe she stole his phone? Or hacked it? I can ask Grant’s cousin if that’s possible.”

  “He gave them to her,” I said bitterly. “Just to trap me.”

  Susie sighed. “I know you’re angry.”

  “Furious.”

  “I know. But listen, I’m usually on night shift patrol, and I am always the one at the train station to process Hunter’s little brothers when his dad would ship them to Harrogate—alone, I might add, cross-country. One kid was sent as a hitchhiking passenger. Fortunately, he was picked up by a nice truck driver and not one of the kid-killing kind.”

  I winced.

  “If the Dad treats the little brothers like that, I can only imagine what the Svensson sisters had to endure.”

  I looked down at the greasy bag of food.

  “You know what the worst thing was?” Susie continued. “When I picked up that kid, he was crying and a mess. I told him he was safe, that I would take him to his brothers. But he wasn’t scared for himself. He kept crying about how one of his older sisters was sent away to bad people and asked me if I could help rescue her because I was a police officer.”

  I felt sick.

  “I’m not saying what Hunter did was right. But I am saying I understand,” Susie said. “And I’m with Kate. I trust Karen even less than Hunter, and I bet she acquired those photos another way. You’re a grown woman, Meg. Sure, your life is a shit show, but you have some agency. I would say that I can’t imagine what’s happening to Hunter’s sisters, but I can. And I’m sure it’s not good.”

  “He could have just asked me,” I said, stabbing a fry in ketchup, but I felt too sick to eat it. Kate looked like she was about to cry. I felt a little sniffle myself. I wiped angrily at my nose.

  “I know,” Susie said. “But maybe you can help him out with rescuing his sisters from the cult? After they’re safe, you can regroup.” She shrugged. “I feel like you and I complain about our jobs in the public service, but ultimately we signed on to help people. The right thing to do is help Hunter. Even if he doesn’t deserve it.”

  I couldn’t sleep that night. The greasy food didn’t help. What if I had made a mistake? I stared at my phone, scrolling through my messages with Hunter.

  It wasn’t just the photos Karen had. She had all my correspondence with him as well, going back, well, going back to when he and I had first met.

  Gosh, I had been so in love with him back then! And really up until two days ago.

  I still don’t trust him.

  Karen wasn’t some sort of super hacker girl—she had gone to law school. There was no way that Karen would have the photos unless he had handed them to her. That was what it came down to. I did feel sorry for his sisters, but that wasn’t a free pass for him to blackmail me.

  I flipped through the document Leif had given me.

  Hunter had another thing coming if he thought he was going to post those pictures online or blackmail me into doing anything. I was done trusting him.

  I just needed to figure out the best way to have him be the one shocked and surprised.

  I had spent the morning and into the afternoon cleaning—scouring the bathroom and kitchen, vacuuming the rug, washing the windows, doing laundry, and making the apartment nice. The physical labor helped calm me down. Cleaning always helped me settle my mind. There was something about taking chaos and returning it to a pristine and orderly state that I found appealing.

  When the girl I had been renting from returned that evening, I handed over the keys.

  “I’m glad I made it back for the election!” she said cheerfully as she looked around the apartment. “Also, you left it way nicer than it was when I handed it over to you! And wow, you even bought flowers! You definitely have my vote.” She shook her head. “I watched the debate. Typical man, trying to take credit for women’s ideas. Don’t let the boys get you down!”

  I blinked as I walked out into the late afternoon sunshine, my purse slung over my shoulder. “Guess I am officially homeless.”

  I had my plan all worked out, though. In exchange for not posting the information about his secret marriage all over the internet, I wasn’t just going to demand that Hunter not post those photos online, I was also telling him that if he won the election, he needed to abdicate and give me the spot. Was it underhanded? Yes. But he had crossed a line.

  Then I might (actually, no, I definitely would) give in to the massive guilt I felt and help him save his little sisters.

  Meg: Let talk.

  Meg: Meet me in two hours.

  Hunter: I’m so sorry. I will explain everything.

  Meg: This is a negotiation, so leave your excuses at home.

  A black SUV limo pulled up to the curb as I was trying to psych myself up to drive over to Hazel’s. The chauffeur stepped out and opened a door for me.

  Walter Holbrook poked his head out.

  “Meg!” he said. “Come join me. I have champagne.”

  “Champagne does sound good,” I admitted, allowing him to help me into the car. I settled in next to him.

  Walter slung an arm around my shoulders, drawing me toward him.

  At least you have other prospects besides Hunter.

  “You have had a terrible time of it, haven’t you?” he said kindly. I let him snuggle me against his chest. It was nice just to have an honest man around.

  “Please don’t think it was your fault,” he murmured. “I’ve worked with Hunter and his brothers. All the Svenssons are cutthroat, but Hunter is one of the worst. The fact that he was trying to blackmail you is a new low, even for him.”

  “I just can’t believe it,” I said, closing my eyes. “I can’t even sue him because then everything is out in the open.”

  “If he publishes your text messages,” Walter said, “my lawyers tell me that we can nab him with copyright laws, as you were the author of the photos.”

  I froze. Then I sat up to look at him. “How did you know Karen had the text messages too? I didn’t tell Kate that. I only told her about the pictures.”

  Walter smiled ruefully. “I always forget you’re probably the smartest woman I’ve ever met,” Walter said. “Nothing slips past you.”

  “What the hell, Walter? You better tell me what’s going on.”

  “Please understand,” Walter said smoothly, “I was trying to help you. Politics can be messy. Karen was willing to provide information on Hunter. I had no idea those photos would be on his phone. She only said that she had managed to make a copy of his data but that it was encrypted. She asked if we could help to secure your future as mayor of Harrogate.”

  I couldn’t believe it. “What the fuck? Has everyone lost their minds?”

  “Of course, I did not look at them once Karen told me what they were,” Walter said calmly.

  “You hacked Hunter’s phone.”

  “Not personally,” he said. “I had my son do it. He’s good with computers.”

  “That is illegal,” I said, freaking out. “And now Karen has all my photos.”

  “Yes,” Walter said, “that is unfortunate.”

  “Unfortunate?” I turned to stare at him, incredulous. “That’s my life, my reputation! She can use those to blackmail me. You handed her naked photos of me! If you hadn’t stuck your nose in my business, trying to manipulate my life, none of this would have happened. This is al
l your fault, not Hunter’s!”

  “I am having my lawyers look into it,” he assured me. “You don’t have to worry about a thing.”

  “I will not,” I said in a low voice, “be jerked around and gaslit and told that I shouldn’t worry my little head about matters that absolutely do concern me. I will not stand for it. Let me out of this car.” I rapped on the divider between us and the driver. The limo pulled over to a curb, and I threw open the door, stepping out.

  “You know,” I said shaking my head, “the worst of this is that Hunter was right about you. And now I’m going to have to tell him he was right and apologize.”

  “Meg!” Walter begged. “I’m so sorry.”

  “You’ll hear from my lawyer, and Hunter’s, too, no doubt,” I informed him, slipping on my sunglasses and marching to my car.

  72

  Hunter

  I met several of my brothers at the campaign office the next day. After being chewed out by Greg, Garrett, and Archer, who was unhappy that Hazel was unhappy because her sister was unhappy, we had settled on a plan.

  If I could at least show Meg that Karen was purely at fault for the photos, then ideally, I could bring Meg back on board to save my sisters.

  She still seemed open; she had texted me offering to negotiate. That had to be a good sign. I figured our relationship was toast, but if I could save my sisters, then it would be—not worth it—but it would be a win.

  Karen was bubbly and happy late that afternoon when she returned to the campaign office. “You did excellent at the debate,” she crowed when she saw me. “I doubt anyone is going to believe Meg had the idea about the carriage houses. You sounded very authoritative.”

  “Karen,” I said.

  “Yes?”

  “You’re fired.”

  “What?” she sputtered.

  I regarded her. “You stole data off of my phone.”

  “I didn’t!”