by KIKI MALONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
ELIZABETH
AND THE BOMB DROPS
GETTING over my initial state of shock, I whip the door open. I don’t think the person or persons on the other side expected to see me.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I seethe.
“Excuse you, but my children are in there, what are you doing here?” the bitch in front of my ex answers.
“I’m not talking to you,” I look her straight in the eye as I reply. “I’m talking to him.” I continue as I point to the man standing behind her.
I can’t believe Andrew is standing here with this bitch at the door to my home. How he even found out where I live is a concern.
“I’m not here for you Lizzie,” he answers with a smug look on his face, “I’m here for my children.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Carter asks.
“I am here for my children,” Andrew states again.
Now, I’m more confused than ever. Andrew? Children? Those two things don’t even go together, it’s like an oxymoron.
“Yes,” the bitch says. I totally forgot she was even there. “Andrew is the real father of my children and now we’re here to take them home with us.”
This cunt must’ve lost her damn mind. Andrew chose not to have children. He told me he had a vasectomy to prevent being able to have children. The whole scenario in front of me causes me to burst out with laughter.
“Are you laughing at me?” Twatface McCoward asks.
“No,” I answer with as straight a face as I can. “This one is quite funny though. He can’t have children. Now he’s claiming he has fathered some. That’s quite hysterical if you ask me.”
“How do you even know my husband?” she asks.
“Husband?” I choke out. Oh my goodness. This can’t be happening. This is some kind of joke right? It has to be. Not only is Andrew claiming to have children, but now he’s married, too?
“Yes, Lizzie. Mags and I have been married for three years now. We had a somewhat casual relationship before and decided to make it permanent, but she never told me she had our girls until recently. Now, I’m ready to take them home and be the father they need. Mags made a mistake and now we’re ready to raise our children together.”
“This isn’t fucking happening.” I suddenly hear Carter growl from behind me. “You need to leave my property and never come back. You gave up your rights to my girls! You can’t come back into their lives three years later and try to stake a claim to them. You have no rights. I have legal papers, you bitch!”
Holy hell, I’ve never seen Carter this mad. Yeah, we’ve only known each other a short while, but he’s clearly losing his temper. The girls are in their room and don’t need to hear him speak this way.
“Carter,” I start as I turn around. “Calm down for a moment. The girls are in the playroom. You don’t want them to witness this.”
He looks at me for a moment then concedes.
“You two need to leave my house, right now, and not upset my wife or my children.”
“Your wife?” Andrew questions then starts laughing. “This is fucking precious. Did you finally find someone willing to deal with your bullshit? Who likes being with someone who has a man’s job? This is funny. I will not allow my children to be raised by two men!”
How dare he?
Carter speaks before I even have a chance.
“If you disrespect my wife, one more time, I swear to you, I just might forget that my children are inside and knock you the fuck out. You have exactly thirty seconds to get off my porch and get in your car. If you think you can take my children from me, just try it. I have everything I need to win this. Don’t fuck with me, my children, or my wife!”
Trying to calm Carter down is senseless now. I’m seething mad myself, but I have those girls to think about. One of us has to maintain a clear head, and it’s obviously not going to be Carter at the moment.
“Listen, everyone,” I calmly start. “It’s late and the girls need to be put to bed. Here and now is not the time for this. Let’s all try to talk about this calmly, somewhere else. I’ll call someone to come watch the girls, so we can all go and talk this through.” I’m trying desperately to be the one with a clear head on my shoulders, though I know it won’t take too much for me to snap. They’ve already tested my patience and I can’t let them see how much they are really tearing me down already. Fake it and don’t let them break you is on repeat in my head right now.
“Mikael is on his way,” Carter whispers in my ear. A jolt burns through me at his proximity, but I have to ignore it. Now is definitely not the time for my body to acknowledge his,
When did he even call him I wonder?
“I’ll tell you later,” he says to me as if he heard the question that was in my head. He’s developed this uncanny ability to read my thoughts lately and it’s weird.
“Please, if you’ll just go over to the pool house and wait for us there. As soon as Mikael gets here, we’ll head over. Please, at least let’s think of the girls’ wellbeing before you start anything else.” Carter is much calmer suddenly and he makes me very proud.
“Fine, whatever,” Maggie says and turns on her heel. “Let’s go Andy,” she yells back.
Andrew gives me another look and then turns and follows her over to the pool house – like a dog following a bitch in heat. A laugh escapes me at the mental analogy.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me?” I exclaim as I turn around to face Carter again. “How the fuck is my ex married to your ex?”
“I don’t know. Let’s wait for Mik to get here and then we’ll find out. His security immediately alerted him to Maggie showing up here. We have tons of cameras in place ever since she showed up at my company. They alert him to everything she does. As soon as he found out she was here, he sent a text and let me know he was on his way.”
“That explains a lot. Though, I wish you would’ve told me about the cameras beforehand.”
“I’m sorry. It just never came up, and I didn’t think she’d ever be stupid enough to do something like this.”
“I understand. Let’s go check on the girls to make sure they didn’t witness anything then wait for Mikael.”
“Thank you,” Carter says and hugs me. That’s the first time he’s touched me since we’ve been married, and my body alights at his touch. Now is not the time, but my body doesn’t want to acknowledge that.
We go into the playroom and the girls are sound asleep on their little sofas. Huh, I guess bedtime was going to be easier than I’d originally thought. I’m relieved they are sleeping, not only because of their late naps but that means they didn’t hear the commotion outside a few minutes ago. Relief obviously passes through Carter for the same reason.
He motions to the girls and picks up Sofia and Isabella. I walk over and pick up Felicia and we take them to their room. We quickly undress them and put them in their pajamas. Baths are going to have to wait for the morning and I’m okay with breaking their routine right now.
Once we finish with the girls, we go back to the front of the house. Mikael is walking in as soon as we hit the foyer. He never seems to knock, and I don’t know how I feel about that. This is something that Carter and I will have to discuss at a different time.
“Go, get that bitch out of here,” Mikael states. “You can explain everything afterwards.”
“Thanks,” both Carter and I reply at the same time. The three of us know there is no need for formalities right now. There’s a much bigger fish to fry.
Mikael continues to walk by us and heads to the girls’ room, I assume because he’s out of sight quickly. Although, when I think about it, he could’ve gone to Carter’s office in the house. That seems more likely since he’ll probably want to get on a computer to watch the grounds until Carter and I get back.
“Are you ready for this?” Carter asks. “We knew there was a chance she would show up again but never once did I think she’d have the b
alls to show up with her husband demanding the girls. This is something I didn’t see coming. I don’t like to be blindsided and that’s exactly what she’s done to me, yet again.”
“You and me both,” I concede. “The sooner we get this over with, the better. I just don’t understand how we have to deal with both these cuntsuckers at the same time.”
Carter lets out a little snort and grabs my hand. “Let’s go, my lovely bride.”
When we get to the pool house, Andrew is pacing around like a mad man while Maggie is sitting on the couch checking her fingernails as though she doesn’t have a care in the world. If I were to make a wager, I would think this is something Andrew wants, and Maggie is just trying to make him happy. He’s got an awfully fat wallet, and from what Carter has told me about her, this is probably her golden ticket to keep the lifestyle she loves so much.
“What the fuck are you doing with my children?” Andrew screams as soon as he sees me.
“I said watch how you fucking talk to my wife,” Carter says in a low, angry voice.
“I told her she wasn’t fit to raise kids, that’s why I left her manly ass in the first place and now I find out she’s playing mommy to three of my children anyway? This will not happen, I promise you that,” Andrew continues.
“This woman here is the only mother my children have ever had and you don’t get a say in that matter,” Carter warns.
“Can we all please calm down and try to speak rationally?” I interject. Yelling, accusing, and demanding are not the way to get things accomplished. I just want these people out of my home and off my property. Wow, I realize, I’m finally starting to accept this place as my own. I’m not seeing it as just Carter’s house anymore. It’s my home too.
“Carter,” Maggie sighs. “I told you they weren’t yours years ago. You decided you wanted to keep them anyway, that’s not my fault. But now, their real father wants them, and you can’t stop him. You don’t have an actual link to them and we can prove it. We want to be a family with our children. He never signed anything, so you can’t use the papers I signed against him.”
“He’s not their father, I am!”
“No, you’re not. You know this,” Maggie laments.
Now I’m confused. He’s not their father? How and when did this happen? And I’m still confused on how the fuck Andrew is claiming to have fathered these girls.
“You can’t have kids,” I state to Andrew.
“Ha, of course I can,” he answers.
“How?”
“I lied to you. Obviously. I never wanted you to have my children so I told you something that wasn’t true so you’d stop pushing me. I made sure to grind up birth control in your juice every morning to make sure you didn’t get pregnant. I always wanted a family, just not one with you. I wanted my children to have a mother who knew how to be a woman, not one who thinks she’s a man. My children need guidance not some butch bitch teaching them about cars and shit. They need someone prim and proper and who knows how to look good and be obedient to a man.”
All this time, I thought what had happened was my fault. Now, I’m learning that this man not only lied to me, but he drugged me too? Is this why what happened after he left transpired? I thought I was finally over what he had done to me then he lands this blow on me? Who is this man? How did I ever think I truly loved him? I clearly knew nothing about him or what love was.
“Mags and I were together the whole time you and I were together. This sap right here didn’t know either. We played it cool. Fucked when we could but didn’t have anything committed. When she got pregnant, she thought I didn’t want kids because I told her what had happened with you, so she decided to blame it on this one. She was afraid to tell me the truth when we got back together but finally fessed up. We’ve been working on fixing our relationship and now that we have, we want to raise our children together and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it.”
“Like hell, I can’t,” Carter yells. “These are my children. I was there when they were born. I have taken care of them all their lives. If you even dare try to take them away from me, I will fucking sink you, I promise you that. Now, you need to leave my fucking house and get off my fucking property or I will have you arrested for trespassing.”
“I’ve filed for custody of my children,” Andrew states, like he’s already won. “Here’s the paperwork with the court date. I will get my girls, and all you’ll have is this piece of tra—”
Andrew doesn’t get to finish his sentence before Carter’s fist meets his face.
I gasp in surprise but chose not to interfere. Andrew deserves Carter’s wrath, and so much more.
“You will pay for that,” Andrew says as he grabs his jaw.
“No, you will pay for threatening me and disrespecting my wife. I gave you enough chances. Now, get the fuck off my property or I will personally drag you off.” The energy coming off of Carter is getting scary and hot.
“Please leave our home,” I try to be the calm once again. “We appreciate knowing about your claims and will be sure to be in court on the day we are summoned. There’s no need to continue this conversation.”
“Let’s go, Andy,” Maggie chimes in. “We’ll have our girls soon enough, no need to be around this trash any longer.”
She is looking me in the eye as she says that last part. But I decide to be the stronger person and not let things escalate any further. I walk over to the door and hold it open and wait for them to leave.
Once they are gone, I walk back over to my husband and hug him. He hugs me back and takes a deep breath. I know he is trying to calm down before we need to head back inside.
Mikael is there waiting for answers and we need to come up with a game plan. Now that Andrew is also involved in all this, I know I am going to try my hardest not to let them win. Over my dead body will they ever get their hands on our children.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CARTER
WITH SHAKING HANDS
HOLDING Elizabeth in my arms feels so right. I don’t know why I waited so long just to hold her, but this is where she belongs, in my arms. I don’t want to let go, but I know we need to head back to the house where Mikael is likely pacing my office waiting for answers.
“Let’s head inside,” I say as I reluctantly let her go.
We walk hand in hand back to the house and I’m hoping that this is a sign of what’s to come for the two of us. That we’ll finally be able to move on as a couple and no longer live as roommates.
I know this shouldn’t be my top concern right now, but I don’t believe that anything that Elizabeth and I do together will turn out badly. That includes fighting for our girls if it comes down to that.
There’s a hard truth I’m going to have to face in the next few moments. Something I should have done years ago, but decided I never wanted to know.
Mikael is waiting for us as soon as we walk in the front door. I’m surprised he’s right there and not waiting where I thought he would be.
“You know I have the pool house bugged, right,” he asks.
Shit, this is worse than I thought it would be. I never told Mikael I didn’t look at the DNA results. He always assumed I had, and we never discussed it.
“Why did you bug the pool house?” I ask, trying to divert the real reason he made that statement.
“You told me you wanted max security. The only place in this house that is not monitored is your bedroom and the bathrooms. Other than that, every place is under surveillance. Now, let’s get back to the real reason I’m here and let’s not get off subject. Why didn’t you set that bitch straight with the DNA test you did on the girls?”
He stands in front of me with his arms crossed over his chest waiting on an answer. He’s my best friend, my brother, he deserves the truth. I couldn’t have done everything I’ve done for and with those girls had it not been for him.
“I never read the results. I didn’t feel I needed to. Those girls are mine. She signed away her rights
... They are mine. I didn’t want to feel anything but them belonging exactly where they are. I felt that if for some odd reason the results weren’t in my favor, I may not have given them my all,” I try to explain.
“That’s bullshit and you know it. You’re a great father and you would’ve treated them exactly like you have all these years. They are your girls, I know it, you know it and that bitch knows it. I don’t know what she’s trying to pull, but we’ve gotta get this straightened out, as soon as possible.” He’s right. We do need to find out and then get this cleared up once and for all.
“Mik,” I start, “I need to do this alone. I can’t have you here when I look at those papers.”
My best friend looks at me like I’ve just slapped him. I know he loves my girls as much as I love them, but this is something I can’t do with him here. I can’t watch his heart break when mine may be breaking at the same time. I wouldn’t be able to handle both our worlds being torn apart.
Mikael looks at me again but doesn’t say a word. I know he’s hurt but I can’t deal with his emotions right now too. I see his acceptance as his shoulders slump and he turns and walks out the door.
I’ll fix this with him, I just need to do this by myself.
“You’re not doing this alone,” Elizabeth says as she wraps her arms around me.
I know she’s my wife and will be there for me, but she can’t understand why I need to do this alone.
“I need to do it alone,” I tell her. “You don’t understand. If I don’t see what I want to see, I don’t know how I’ll handle it. I don’t want anyone to see that from me. I need to know those girls are mine, and if there’s something that can potentially rip them from the only home they’ve ever known… I just… I don’t think I could handle it.” I’m trying not to break down as I explain this to her, but I know she’s not going to accept my answer.
