She might be a lying bitch, but he would not let her leave. He had a feeling it would be a long time before she would talk to him again if she left like this. If he wanted to find out anything about Jordis, he needed to get himself under control.
The elevator doors were all the way open, and this time Jordan relaxed his posture and moderated his voice.
“Is that true? You named her after me?”
Still pressed against the back of the elevator, Tessa searched his face and finally answered, “Yes.”
After four fucking years of not knowing about his daughter, that was all she had to say? Jordan could feel the anger pushing back up through his chest, but he pushed it down. He wanted answers and causing Tessa to be leery of him wouldn’t get them.
Once he was sure the anger wasn’t visible on his face, Jordan looked back up to see Tessa still eyeing him like a rabbit ready to jump away at the first noise. It pissed him off. He had always treated her like she was made of glass. He had been well and truly suckered. Tessa’s innocent and vulnerable act had taught him a lesson about trust that he would never forget.
Jordan made sure he stood between the doors to keep them open and gave her a contrite look, the best one he could manage under the circumstances. She was the one who had lied and blackmailed his family, and yet he was the one apologizing. It was bullshit, but he wanted to know about Jordis.
“I’m sorry for my outburst.” The words nearly choked him to death, but the result was worth it. He saw a slight softening from Tessa, so he pushed more words out. “Come back in, and let’s talk.”
Tessa reached back and gripped the railing. Jordan locked his jaw and gritted out, “Please.”
He stood as still as a statue and let her study him with a steady gaze that contradicted her retreating body. A few seconds passed, and she blew out a breath.
“If I come back in there, it will be to discuss Jordis, not the past.”
Jordan’s heart rate increased as his blood pounded through him. He closed his fists to remind himself that he couldn’t reach out and strangle her. The manipulative bitch held all the cards. He would play by her rules for now, but a time would come when he had the upper hand, and then all hell would rain down on her.
He jerked his head in agreement, not trusting himself to actually speak the words. Jordan stepped back, making sure one hand still held the door open. When she took a hesitant step forward, his body relaxed fractionally. She strode by him with her eyes focused straight ahead.
Jordan’s eyes roamed over her as he followed. She still had the perfect silhouette with a skinny waist, hips that flared, and a firm ass that had always fit perfectly in his hands. Her well-worn jeans had a hole right below the belt loops, and his body tightened at the thought of his thumb brushing over it, maybe even punching through it while he held her ass. The urge to see if she would still react to even the slightest touch from him was driving him insane.
When Tessa slowed, Jordan dragged his eyes away from her body to see what had caught her attention. She had paused by the broken vase and the other shit on the floor still there from when he had let his frustration loose. He stepped around her and led her to the great room. Relief when he heard the soles of her shoes following turned to annoyance at feeling relieved.
The questions about what had happened four years ago were like a fire burning along his nerves. He opened his mouth to demand answers, but Tessa sitting on the edge of the sofa like she was ready to bolt made him lock his jaw. Instead he clipped out, “Tell me about Jordis.”
Tessa bit her bottom lip, and his gaze narrowed on her mouth. When he realized what he was doing, Jordan jerked his attention back to her eyes. After drawing a deep breath, Tessa started cautiously.
“Her birthday is August 22.”
Jordan nodded, but his brain was already doing the math. He growled before he could stop himself, “What happened to the morning-after pill?”
Tessa bit her lip again, and damn if he wasn’t distracted, but he refused to be sidetracked. He needed to see her eyes and judge if she was telling him the truth.
“I took the pill.”
He raised his eyebrow and waited. That didn’t answer his question.
Tessa shrugged. “It turns out it’s not 100% effective.”
Jordan made a mental note to verify if that was true and then motioned with his hand for her to continue. Her lips tightened, and a spark entered her eyes, but she started talking again.
“She was a colicky baby, but—”
“What does that mean?” Jordan could tell Tessa was annoyed that he’d cut her off. Too bad he didn’t give a fuck.
“It means that she cried a lot and—”
“What does that mean, Tessa?” He was tired of her vague descriptions.
“What does what mean, Jordan?” She threw her hands up in the air and lost her cool. “If you would let me talk for thirty seconds without interrupting, you might get your questions answered.”
Tessa was not going to lecture him.
“I’ve missed three fucking years of her life, Tessa. I will ask as many goddamn questions as I like.”
His voice was deep and unemotional. Anyone who knew him knew that it was time to back down. It was like the calm before the storm. Not Tessa. She stood up and dared to say, “I already told you not to speak to me like I am an ant beneath your shoe. When you’re ready to talk to me with some respect, call me. Better yet, have your lawyer call me.”
To his astonishment, she got up from the chair and stalked out of the room without looking back. No one ever walked out on him, and this was the second fucking time in thirty minutes Tessa had done it.
He quickly caught up to her with his long strides and then passed her. He pushed in the code to lock the elevator. She wasn’t leaving until he said so. Jordan turned and saw a red face full of fury, but there was also wariness in her eyes.
“Did you lock the elevator so I can’t leave?” Tessa asked in astonishment and then took a step back.
No matter how unreasonable she was being, Jordan didn’t like seeing any female back away from him, even her. He deliberately relaxed his posture and tried to reason with her in a coaxing tone.
“We’re never going to get anywhere if you keep running away from me.”
Tessa watched him like a hawk and said fiercely, “I will not be treated like a punching bag.”
Jordan resisted the urge to bark back at her. He was known for his level head, but it was deserting him now. The best option for now was to speak as little as possible. He nodded sharply.
“Agreed.”
Tessa tossed her head back and returned to the great room. Jordan clenched his jaw and lectured himself about maintaining his cool before following her. As soon as he walked into the room, she began speaking in a monotone voice while looking out the wall of windows overlooking the city.
“At about three months, she stopped crying all the time, but she still didn’t sleep through the night. She got her first tooth at six months, and her ear infections started then too.”
Tessa stopped, lost in memories. Jordan prodded, “Did she get a lot of ear infections?”
Her shoulders snapped together like she had forgotten he was here. Slowly, she turned.
“Yes. She would just get rid of one, and another would pop up. Her doctor said if she got any more, she would need tubes.”
Jordan’s gut tightened and frustration welled up knowing that he had missed being there for his daughter. Then he remembered what a skilled con woman Tessa was. She wasn’t going to play his emotions again. Until he knew for sure that Jordis was his, he couldn’t get attached.
Jordan made it a point to keep his mouth shut and listen without interruptions. Gradually Tessa lost her stilted tone, and it became clear that she adored Jordis. She got a faraway, dreamy expression on her face, and she would light up with specific memories.
“Jordis is stubborn and adventurous. I love her to death. I’m not sure how I would have gotten through thes
e last three years without her.”
It was on the tip of his tongue to question what she had been through, but then he realized he didn’t care. Tessa had told him about Jessica’s arthritis, and he didn’t want to know any of the details. All he needed was to meet Jordis.
“The first thing I’m going to do is take her to the doctor for a DNA test.”
“No!” Tessa’s fists curled up, and she visibly tensed. “No. I’ll get a hair from her for testing. You will not take her anywhere without me, and you will not approach her without my consent.”
Jordan didn’t take kindly to being told what he could and could not do. “I will accept that this time, only because I don’t know if she’s mine. If she is mine, you don’t get to dictate what I can and can’t do with my daughter.”
Tessa glared at him and tried to walk by, but he latched onto her arm. He was fucking tired of her trying to run away.
“Don’t walk away from me, Tessa.”
Tessa didn’t seem at all concerned with his warning. She scowled down at the hand grasping her upper arm.
“Let go of me, Jordan.”
He did, but only after a few seconds, so she understood it was because he wanted to and not because she had told him to.
“Understand this, Jordan. I’ll get you the hair because it’s in my daughter’s best interest to know her father. If I decide that’s not the case, I will do whatever it takes to make sure you never see her.”
__________________
Chapter 8
__________________
A few weeks had passed since Tessa had dropped off a baggie with Jordis’s hair for Jordan. She’d fought with herself about whether to delay giving it to him for as long as possible or to just get it over with. In the end, she had done it two days after their contentious meeting.
Now she stood in front of Jordan’s penthouse building, a shaking mess. He had the DNA results and had summoned her. There was no doubt about what the report would say, but she was petrified of what would happen after Jordan had the proof that Jordis was his daughter.
He had never thrown his wealth in her face. In college, it was like he didn’t understand how wealthy he was compared to most people in the world. That was no longer the case. Now he was willing to leverage his fame and money against her, leaving her terrified that he would remove Jordis from her life.
She was also fearful of Christina Davis’s reaction when she discovered Tessa had taken her money and not gotten an abortion. Her parting words as she’d left Tessa alone and shell-shocked lived inside her.
“After you leave this room, my family and I will never see you again, Tessa. If you attempt to see Jordan or talk with him, I will sue you for slander and ruin you and your family.”
Even then Tessa had known that she was going to keep Jordis. She had taken the money because she knew it was the only help she would get from Jordan in raising their child.
She clung to her purse strap and took a deep breath. When she met with Jordan, she needed all of her wits. Her family’s future depended on her ability to stay calm and think clearly.
Jordan greeted her stiffly at the elevator and led her back to his office. Her body went on red alert at the sight of a man already there. When she walked in, he walked toward her with his hand outstretched.
“Ms. Parker, I’m Antonio Atkins, Mr. Davis’s attorney.”
The prickles on the back of her neck spread into her extremities, and she grabbed a chair to keep herself upright. She managed to reach out and shake his hand.
After a quick glance at Jordan’s impassive features, Tessa kept all of her attention on the attorney, the person who could tear her entire reason for living away from her. She slowly rounded the chair she leaned on and sat down.
“Ms. Parker, I’ll get straight to it.”
Tessa couldn’t talk. While her hands gripped the chair's arms, she gave a slight nod. Hopefully she looked composed and not as petrified and panicky as she was on the inside.
“The DNA results have come back as a conclusive match. Jordis Parker is my client’s daughter.”
Tessa took shallow breaths and willed her body to calm down, so she could think. When she didn’t respond, he glanced at Jordan. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him nod. The danger siren started swirling in her head.
“My client would like her last name changed to Davis and full custody. You would have visitation every other weekend.”
Her greatest fear had come true. There was only one answer, and she needed to spit it out and get out of there. On shaky legs, she stood up. Dragging a breath into her clogged throat, she mustered up every bit of sanity she had left. She needed to be confident and decisive.
“No.”
Spots blurred her vision as she walked out of the office. The desire to escape and regroup was strong.
“If you take one more step, I will drag you to court. I don’t think you want the document you signed to be presented in front of a judge. I was prepared to give you some money for raising Jordis for the last three years, but I will use your greediness against you if you don’t stop.”
The cold, dead tone Jordan used made shivers run down her back. Tessa halted and ran his words through her head.
She turned to address Jordan. “What are you talking about?” Tessa was baffled. She had signed nothing.
Jordan prowled toward her and caged her against the closed door. Tessa froze and watched him with wide eyes. He looked down his nose at her and with a ticking jaw ground out,
“The paper you signed in front of my mom verifying the only money you would ever get from the Davis family was what you walked out of the room with.”
Tessa’s head detonated, and she was no longer connected to her body. She willed herself to hold Jordan’s cold, searching gaze as she shakily told him, “I didn’t sign anything, Jordan.”
He stiffly pushed himself away from the wall.
“Get out of my home. From now on, you can talk to my lawyer.”
Tessa felt Jordis slipping through her fingers, and she tried to stop the tsunami of emotions fighting for dominance in her shaky body. She willed her tears away, knowing it would have the opposite effect on Jordan, but she had to try one last time to reach him.
“Jordan, please,” she paused when her voice cracked. “Please don’t put Jordis in the middle of your hate for me. I’m the only parent she has ever known, and if you’re doing this for the right reasons, you will remember that.”
With her heart in her throat, she silently pleaded with Jordan while he ground his teeth and stared at her with flinty eyes. When she got no response and only tense silence hovered between them, Tessa turned and walked to the elevator.
__________________
Chapter 9
__________________
On the bus ride home and throughout dinner, she mourned the loss of the Jordan she had known. While she’d never expected to see him again, Tessa still remembered the upstanding man he was and wanted to share that person with Jordis. Those memories had helped get her through the last four years.
The Jordan she knew would have never stood by emotionless and watched his lawyer rip her heart out. It was hard to reconcile that the man who had been relentless in his pursuit of her was the same man who refused to even consider that she was telling him the truth. How could the man she’d lost her heart to be the same one who had hatred pouring from him every time he looked at her?
When Jordis laid her small, soft hand on her arm, Tessa looked up from where she had been pushing food around her dinner plate.
“Mommy, what wrong?” Tessa’s heart clenched at the worry in her hesitant voice.
She smiled reassuringly at Jordis and ran her hand over her long, thick hair.
“I’m sorry, Jordis. Mommy didn’t have a good day, but now that we’re together, I’m starting to feel better.”
“Play?” Jordis asked hopefully.
“I would love to play with you. What do you want to play?”
“B
asketball!”
Tessa conjured up a smile. “Okay. Basketball it is, as soon as I do the dishes and we’ve brought some food to Nana.”
The pain her mom suffered fluctuated from day to day, but it was never gone. Today she had gotten up to walk, which sometimes helped. She had spent the day alternating between walking around the apartment and resting in bed.
Tessa brought a sandwich into her mom’s room, where she found Jordis snuggled up by her side as they watched TV. The comfort that she unknowingly gave her mom filled her heart. It wasn’t very often that Jordis wanted to snuggle. When she did, it was usually with her mom. She seemed to sense when her grandmother needed extra comfort.
As soon as Jordis spotted Tessa, she slid out of the bed and jumped up exclaiming, “Basketball!”
Tessa laughed while shaking her head. “After Nana eats, Miss Jordis.”
Jordis’s face scrunched up, and Tessa knew a tantrum was boiling up. She bent down to her daughter’s eye level. “First Nana eats, then basketball at the park.”
Jordis eyed the sandwich, and in the blink of an eye her infectious grin was back. “I practice.”
She scurried out of the room. Tessa blew out a breath, knowing she had avoided the tantrum. The basketball hoop that hung over the closet door in the family room was the best money Tessa had ever spent. Jordis never grew tired of playing with it.
Her mom laughed as Tessa sat on the bed. “I don’t know what I’d do without my granddaughter. She’s smart beyond her years.”
Tessa rolled her eyes. “You mean manipulative. I wasn’t like that, was I?”
Her mom leaned her head back against the wall and with a small smile shared, “No, but Lindy was. Luckily for Sophia and me, you had a soft heart. You could sweet-talk Lindy into doing the right thing or coax her out of a tantrum.” With a gesture toward the door, she continued, “You still have that touch.”
“I don’t always have the touch,” Tessa said wryly.
Her mom’s eyes turned serious. “Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?”
Jordan's Justice: A New Adult Sport Romance (Tessa and Jordan Book 2) Page 4
