by Lynn, Sandi
“What is it?” I tilted my head and looked up at him.
“I want to adopt Stella. I want her to have my name and I want her to be mine.”
“Oh, Caden. I don’t know what to say.”
“It should be easy since Daniel has never acknowledged her or was ever a part of her life. He abandoned both you and her.”
“Yes, definitely. I want you to adopt her and I know she’d love that too. Oh my gosh, she’s going to be so excited.”
“We have to be married first before we can proceed. So I’m thinking we can move the date of the wedding up six months from now. I don’t want to wait, Brielle. I already got in touch with the wedding planner and she’s racing for us. That’s if you agree.”
“Of course I agree. I can’t wait to marry you.” I smiled. “I’d marry you tomorrow in the courthouse.”
“As much as I’d love that, I want you to have the grandest wedding of all time. After all, this will be your one and only wedding.”
One Month Later
“Eat your breakfast, sunshine, or you’re going to be late for school. Caden, stop distracting her.”
“Brielle, please. We’re having an intelligent conversation over here,” he spoke.
I rolled my eyes as I opened the refrigerator and put the milk away. Caden walked over to me and placed his hands firmly on my hips.
“I have to go. I love you. Have a good day.”
“I love you too.” I wrapped my arms around his neck as we passionately kissed.
“Ew. Not in front of the tiny human,” Stella spoke.
“Then close your eyes,” Caden said as he walked over and kissed the top of her head. “Have a good day at school, kiddo. I love you.”
“I love you too, Caden.”
I grabbed Stella’s backpack from the table and we headed down to the lobby. As we exited the building, I froze when I heard a voice from behind.
“Hello, Brielle.”
I slowly turned around and saw Daniel standing there.
“Stella, get in the car.”
“Who is that, Mommy?”
“Ben, get Stella in the car and take her to school. Make sure you walk her in.”
“Of course, Brielle.”
“What do you want, Daniel?”
He looked up at the building and slowly nodded his head.
“Looks like you’ve moved up in the world, Brielle. Is that her? Is that my daughter?”
I stood there, my heart rapidly beating with my hand clutching the strap of my purse.
“I’ll ask you again, what are you doing here?”
“I saw in an article where Juilliard accepted their youngest student ever: Stella Winters. I came to meet my daughter.”
“It’s too late for that.”
He glanced down at my finger and saw the three-carat diamond sitting upon it.
“You’re married?”
“Engaged.”
“It’s not too late. I’m her father and I have every right to see her.”
“You lost your rights the night you walked out the door and never came back,” I spoke through gritted teeth.
“She’s my kid.”
“She is not your kid.” I pointed my finger at him. “Maybe your sperm helped create her, but you are no more her father than any stranger walking down this street. She is happy and well-adjusted and she’s thriving. You are not going to stumble into her life six years later and turn it upside down. She doesn’t want to meet you anyway.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because I told her from day one how you abandoned her. She has a father. A man who loves her and wants to spend time with her, takes care of her, and gives her everything she needs. In fact, he’s adopting her as soon as we get married.”
“I don’t think so, Brielle. She’s my kid and I’m not giving up my rights. I came here because I’ve done a lot of thinking and I want to be a part of her life.”
“Why? Because you saw an article and now you think you’re going to be a part of the limelight? I have news for you, Daniel, I won’t allow you to be in her life, so I suggest you get the fuck back into the hole you crawled out from and leave us alone!”
“This ain’t over, Brielle. You can’t keep me from seeing her. And if you try, you’ll be sorry.” He pointed at me as he walked away.
I was shaking as I hailed a cab and climbed in, taking it to Caden’s office. When I arrived, I immediately took the elevator up, and his secretary, Louise, told me that he was in a meeting in the conference room.
“Tell him it’s urgent, Louise. I need to see him now.”
She picked up the phone and dialed the conference room.
“It’s Louise. Can you please tell Mr. Chamberlain that Brielle is here and it’s urgent?”
Within a couple of moments, he was in his office.
“Are you okay? What’s going on?” He lightly grabbed my arm.
I stood in front of him as the tears fell down my face.
“Brielle, what happened?”
I swallowed hard.
“Daniel is back and he wants to meet Stella. He said he wants to be a part of her life.” I cried as I placed my hands on his chest.
“What? When did you see him?”
“It was right after you left for the office. Stella and I walked out of the building and were walking to the car when he stopped me. I put Stella in the car immediately and made Ben drive her to school. He told me he saw the article about her getting into Juilliard and now he wants to be in her life. I don’t trust him, Caden, and I don’t want him anywhere near her.”
He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into him, holding my head against his chest.
“It’s going to be okay, darling. I have the best lawyer in New York. I’ll call him right now.”
He broke our embrace, pulled out his phone, and dialed his lawyer. After speaking to him for several minutes, he ended the call.
“We have a meeting with him tomorrow morning at ten o’clock.”
“Okay. Thank you.” I wrapped my arms around his waist.
“I don’t want you to worry about this. Everything is going to work out in our favor.” He kissed the top of my head.
35
Brielle
After I left Caden’s office, I went to the shooting range to blow off some steam. Shooting always made me feel better. He said he didn’t want me to worry, but I couldn’t help it. There was something different about Daniel. I could see it in his eyes. I loaded my gun and began shooting at the target. Six rounds done and I quickly reloaded my gun and began again. I brought the target closer and studied the bullet holes. All perfect shots.
When I was done, I picked Stella up from school and headed home, keeping my gun safely tucked in my purse. Now it would be with me everywhere I went. I wasn’t going to lie. I was scared. Scared for Stella.
Two weeks had passed since I saw Daniel and I prayed that he’d given up and left town. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.
I dropped Stella off at my mom’s apartment for the day while I went shopping with Sasha. Caden had called and wanted to go out to dinner, so I told him that I’d meet him at the restaurant instead of going home since I was already close to there. We planned to meet at six thirty, and I arrived at six thirty-five. I was surprised when I didn’t see him because he was never late. As soon as the hostess seated me at our reserved table, I pulled out my phone and called him. After a few rings, it went to voicemail.
“Hey, honey. I’m at the restaurant. You must be stuck in traffic. Call me as soon as you get this.”
I waited another ten minutes and there was still no word from him, so I sent him a text message.
“Where are you? I’m starting to get worried.”
It was now seven o’clock and he wasn’t here, nor did he respond to any of my messages. A bad feeling crept up inside me. Something wasn’t right, so I called his driver.
“Hey, it’s Brielle. Is Caden with you?”
“No. I dropped him off at ho
me and he said he was going to take a cab to the restaurant because I had a family emergency. He isn’t there?”
“No and I can’t get ahold of him.”
“He’s probably stuck in traffic and on the phone with a client.”
“Maybe. I’m going to try again.”
I dialed his number and it rang and rang until voicemail picked it up. My heart started racing, and I knew if I called Ben to come pick me up, it would take too long. I left the restaurant and hailed a cab. A sickness fell into the pit of my stomach as the driver pulled up to the curb of the building.
“Carson, have you seen Mr. Chamberlain this evening?” I asked the doorman.
“Yes. He walked into the building around five forty-five. Is everything okay?”
“We were supposed to meet for dinner, and I can’t seem to get ahold of him.”
“Well, I know the repairman is up there.”
“What repairman?” I nervously asked.
“For the alarm system. He said that there was an issue with your system and he needed to fix it. I called Mr. Chamberlain to let him know and he said to send him up.”
“What did he look like?”
“Gee. Umm. He was about six feet tall. Short dark hair. He was wearing a uniform and a hat. He had a scar above his eye. That I noticed right away.”
“Shit. I need you to do me a favor and call the police.”
“Why?”
“Because the man you described isn’t a repairman and I think Mr. Chamberlain might be in danger.”
I took the elevator up to the floor below the penthouse and used the stairs the rest of the way up. Approaching the front door, I pulled my gun and my key from my purse. I was shaking with fear as I carefully slid the key into the lock and slowly unlocked the door. Carefully pushing it open, I could hear Daniel’s voice. It was coming from the living room. Taking off my shoes, I set them down with my purse, grabbed my phone and took the back way from the kitchen. Holding my phone, I pushed the voice memo button and started recording. I looked around the corner and saw Caden sitting on the couch, his head bleeding, hands tied together, and staring at Daniel, who was standing a few feet away and pointing a gun at him. My rapidly beating heart pounded out of my chest as I raised my gun and walked into the living room. Caden’s eyes widened and Daniel turned around.
“What’s going on here, Daniel?” I asked as I slowly walked towards him.
“Well, well. Look who’s home and thinks she’s being a hero. It’s good to see you, Brielle. I was disappointed when I got here and found out you weren’t. Now be a good girl and put the gun down.”
“No way. What are you doing here?”
“Having a little chat with your boyfriend. The man who stole my daughter from me, and the man who’s going to pay me a great deal of money to skip town.”
“Is that why you came back? For money?”
“Damn right. I used Stella as an excuse because you always had a soft spot for me. I figured if I could convince you to let me meet her, I’d show you how much I regretted walking out on her and then I’d have an in with you and you’d have no choice but to help a troubled man out. But you had to play hardcore and refuse to let me meet her. So, technically, this is all your fault, Bri.”
“What kind of trouble are you in?”
“Long story short. I got involved with some bad people after I walked out on you. The Cartel, to be exact. Maybe I shouldn’t have stolen all those drugs from them. I owe them a lot of money or they’re going to kill me.”
“They’re not the only ones,” I arched my brow at him.
“You’re still as cute as ever. I want one million dollars transferred to an offshore account immediately. Once it’s done, I’m out of the country. I’ll disappear, and I promise you that you’ll never see me again. I know your boyfriend is worth billions, so a measly million is nothing to him. Right?” He cocked his head at Caden.
Caden didn’t say a word. He just stared at him as Daniel continued to point his gun. I needed to think of how to get out of this situation and there was only one way.
“Put the gun down and Caden will wire the money,” I spoke.
“You’re crazy, bitch. I ain’t putting this gun down. But I do suggest you lower yours. You got some balls handling a gun, but I don’t think you have balls to shoot me. The way I remember it, you were always such a fragile little thing. But if you do, your pretty little boyfriend will get a bullet popped in his head.”
“You didn’t know me like you thought you did, asshole,” I spoke as I slowly circled around him.
“Oh, I knew you, Brielle.”
“No, you didn’t.” I arched my brow. “You had no idea who I was when you met me.”
“What are you talking about?”
“It doesn’t matter now. How do you expect him to wire the money when you have his hands tied?”
“Simple. You’re going to do it for him.” He smiled.
“And how do you suppose I do that when I’m pointing a gun at you?”
“You’re going to be a good girl and put it down. In a matter of minutes, this could all go away. Trust me.”
I let out a laugh. “You think I’m going to trust you? I trusted you to be there for me when I told you I was pregnant with your child, and you couldn’t do that. What makes you think I’d trust you now?”
“Well, if you want your boyfriend dead, I can arrange that.”
“You son of a bitch,” I spoke.
“Just to show you how serious I am, I’ll wound him for now,” he said as he cocked his gun.
Without even the slightest hesitation, I cocked my gun, aimed it at his leg, and pulled the trigger. He screamed as he dropped to the ground, and the gun hit the floor and went off.
“You bitch!” He grabbed his leg.
He went to reach for his gun, and I ran and kicked it out of the way. Suddenly, the elevator doors opened, and several police officers came running in with their guns. I set mine down on the table and ran over to Caden.
“Are you okay?” I took my hand and wiped the blood that was dripping from his head and fiercely untied his hands.
“I’m fine, Brielle. My god, he could have killed you.”
We wrapped our arms around each other and held on tight.
“Ma’am, what happened here?” the officer asked.
“That man came into my home with a gun, threatened my family, and demanded we wire a million dollars to his offshore account. I have it all recorded on my phone. It’s over there on the table.”
The paramedics came in with a stretcher and I walked over to Daniel and knelt down beside him.
“You shot me!” he screamed. “Get away from me!”
“You’re lucky I didn’t kill you. I could have shot you right in the heart and I wouldn’t have missed. But the more I thought about it, death would have been too easy for you. You’re going to wish I would have killed you, because what you’re going to get in prison will be a hell of a lot worse and I’m going to be there with a smile on my face enjoying every minute of it.”
“Get this crazy bitch away from me!” he shouted.
“Ma’am, I need you to step over here,” the officer spoke as he held my phone in his hand.
He listened to the entire recording as I stood next to him and another paramedic tended to Caden’s head wound.
“This is all the evidence we need. We’re also going to need to take your gun. You do have a CCW license, right?” His brow raised.
“Yes. I certainly do.”
“Good. This is a case of self-defense. One of our detectives will be in touch. All we ask is that you don’t leave town until he does.”
“We won’t, officer.” I spoke.
“Sir, you’re going to need stitches. We can take you to the Emergency Room.”
“It’s fine. I’ll take a cab,” Caden said.
36
Brielle
Caden sat on the edge of the table and I held on to his hands.
“I was pra
ying that you wouldn’t come home,” he spoke. “The minute the elevator doors opened, he hit me over the head. I had no idea it was him.”
“How could I not come home? You didn’t show up to dinner and I kept trying to call you. I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.”
“Stop it. Don’t say that. None of this is your fault. He’s a deranged lunatic, but I’m happy you chose not to kill him.” He brought his hand up to my cheek.
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want you living with someone’s death on your hands for the rest of your life.”
The doctor walked in, and while he stitched up Caden’s head, I tightly held his hand.
Once the elevator doors opened, we stepped into the foyer and then into the living room, where a puddle of blood stained the large area rug that sat on the floor. We both stood there, hand in hand, and stared at it.
“I never liked that rug anyway,” he spoke.
“It was okay, but I totally would have picked something different.”
“Shall we go shopping tomorrow for a new one?” he asked.
“Yeah. I think we should.”
We slowly walked up the stairs together, changed out of our clothes, and climbed in bed, holding on to each other as if our lives depended on it.
“How are we going to explain to Stella the hole in the wall where the bullet from Daniel’s gun hit it?” I asked.
“We’re not. We’re going to pack a bag tomorrow morning and stay at the Plaza Hotel for a couple of days while it’s being fixed. I’ll get a crew out here first thing. We’ll make a special day of it. Just the three of us.”
“I like that idea.” I smiled as I kissed his lips.
“Listen,” he spoke as he stroked my cheek. “It’s okay to break down. I know you’re feeling the effects of what happened tonight, and I don’t want you to hold it in.”
I stared into his eyes and swallowed hard as the tears started to fall. He tightened his arm around me as I laid my head on his chest and sobbed.
Five Months Later
