The bastard looked like hell. His face was haggard, his eyes dull and lifeless, and he appeared to be just as miserable as Callie was. "I've already been dealt a fatal blow when Callie left me," Hammersmith said as he turned and walked away, leaving the door open. "Killing me now would just be merciful so have at it."
"You are the dumbest fucker I've ever met," Bastion growled as he shoved his companion inside ahead of himself before closing the door.
"No disputing that," his nemesis said with a bitter laugh as he went behind the bar to pour a drink.
Since Hammersmith was quite obviously intoxicated, Bastion cut to the heart of the matter by saying, "You've been duped."
"Here to rub it in?" He queried before looking at him. Bloodshot eyes widened in surprise as he recognized the second man. "Caruthers. Are you here to witness the deed so you can report my imminent demise back to my mother? I'm sure she'll be thrilled."
"Now, Ford..." the attorney began in a placating tone.
"He's here to provide you with the facts," Bastion decreed and turned his most menacing look on the snake with a law degree. "Every fucking one of them."
"Don't tell me you've managed to corrupt mother's lapdog," Ford said in something akin to humor before he sank into a sprawled position on the couch and drained the glass.
"Let's just say I persuaded him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth," he confirmed as he led the older man to a chair across from their host and shoved him into it none too gently. "He has quite a story to tell," Bastion imparted and placed a briefcase atop the coffee table. "That's the documentation to back it up."
"I'd love to hear a good story," Ford said facetiously and draped his arms over the back of the couch. "Do you know any fairy tales where they live happily ever after?"
"Tell him," Bastion growled and the attorney did just that.
"We lied to you. About everything," the older man began heavily and dabbed at the sweat on his brow with a handkerchief. "The accident wasn't your fault, Ford. A drunk driver swerved into your lane and hit you head-on. The state trooper confirmed that there was nothing you could have done to avoid the crash."
Ford had become unnaturally still and now he was leaning forward, hanging onto every word the other man uttered. "So all this time, you let me believe I was responsible for the death of an innocent woman?" He bit out furiously. "Fuck. Was I banned from entering Nevada or was that a lie too?"
"It was a lie. You were actually in California when the accident occurred. We told you it was Nevada because people knew you were scheduled to meet with Baines there. Your mother thought it was in everyone's best interest if you didn't go back and ask questions," he admitted heavily.
"Of course she did," he said snidely. "Her interests, not mine."
"We didn't lie about the severity of your injuries," Caruthers denied. "Once the doctors deemed that you were stable enough for transport, Madeline wanted you moved to a private hospital so the media wouldn't get wind of the accident. That was when we found out about the woman."
"The driver of the other car?"
"No. The woman who was with you when the accident occurred," he imparted.
Ford surged to his feet and demanded, "There was someone with me? Who the fuck was she?"
"Your wife."
The younger man paled to ash and sank heavily onto the couch when his legs collapsed. "My what?"
"We discovered that you had been married that day in Las Vegas and were driving to Los Angeles for your honeymoon when the accident occurred," the attorney explained.
"I was married," he repeated in shocked disbelief and looked a hell of a lot soberer than he had a few minutes before.
"During an examination for injuries they discovered that she was pregnant," he imparted heavily. "Your condition did not look promising so your mother insisted the woman be moved as well. She reasoned that if you didn't recover consciousness or died, your child would serve as your legal heir."
Bastion felt bile rise in his throat for the bitch's callousness, but it enraged her son. Ford surged to his feet again and began to pace as he spewed a litany of curses that would put a sailor's vocabulary to shame. Impaling the lawyer with a hate-filled glare, he accused, "Mother forced her to surrender custody, didn't she?"
"No. Your mother was convinced that the marriage was a mistake so to circumvent the need for a divorce and custody battle she had the woman kept in a coma-like state until the child was born," he admitted. "Since she had received an abdominal injury during the accident that scar was reopened to perform a cesarean. She never knew that she was pregnant."
"You're telling me that you stole my son from his mother without her consent?" Ford bit out and looked as outraged as he sounded. When the attorney merely nodded confirmation his eyes narrowed dangerously to accuse, "Then you covered it up with a lie about an anonymous woman demanding money to hand Scott over to me."
"We did," he confessed in a somber tone and wiped his brow. "Your wife was told that you had filed for an annulment. She wasn't aware that she was also giving up her parental rights when she signed the documents because she didn't know she'd had a baby. She only received a copy of the annulment."
"My God," the younger man breathed and looked as if he had been shell-shocked. Bastion understood the sentiment since he'd felt the same damn way. "It sounds like something out of a fucking soap opera."
"Except this is real," Bastion inserted. "Which means there is a woman who had been unlawfully imprisoned for nearly a year, had her child stolen, and her marriage annulled because of your mother's need to control your fucking life. The question is, what the hell are you going to do about it?"
Ford rubbed the back of his neck, his face a study of concentration. "She'll have to be told," he decided.
"Now, Ford," the lawyer interjected with that damn placating tone again. "Your mother could face serious charges if any of these allegations come to light."
"Shut the fuck up, Caruthers," Bastion bit out. "You'd do well to consider your part in this melodrama. I guarantee she won't go down alone."
"I don't give a damn what happens to either one of you," Ford bit out coldly. "You ruined a woman's life and mine in the process, not to mention you allowed my son to think his own mother didn't want him. I'll deal with this the way I see fit, but first I need to find his mother."
"Then what?" Bastion demanded harshly. "Are you going to give her back her son? Can you return the time that she lost with him? Take away the pain she suffered thinking that you cast her aside like she was trash? Tell me, Hammersmith, what the fuck can you offer this woman to make up for everything she's lost?"
"I'm not giving up my son," he staunchly denied. "She can have anything except Scott."
"And if he's all she wants?" He pressed.
"Then we'll work out visitation or something," he decided. "But I will never give up custody of my son."
"What if she presses charges? Can you prove that you knew nothing about this arrangement? That all of this wasn't done at your instigation?" Bastion demanded, still playing the devil's advocate.
"What the fuck are you saying?" Ford demanded hotly. "You know damn well I didn't know. That's why you brought Caruthers to..." He stopped and studied Bastion with a confused expression before demanding, "Why did you bring him? What the hell does any of this have to do with you, Baines?"
"Because I was her legal guardian," he explained. "Before her mother died, I swore that I would protect her, and I did until you came along. Losing you broke her, Hammersmith. She fought like hell to make a new life for herself, but I'm not sure she's strong enough to come back from this."
Despite his intoxicated state, dawning horror shown in the younger man's eyes as he asked hoarsely, "What are you saying?"
"Callisto Rose Hayes recreated herself as Callie Rose," he confessed. "How does it feel to know you've destroyed the woman you claim to love twice?"
"Fuck!"
Callie
It had been five days. F
ive days of pure hell as Callie vacillated between grief, anger, and depression. She couldn't eat, barely slept, and Bastion wouldn't let her drown her sorrows with alcohol. He'd turned into a cross between a mother hen and prison warden, and his constant hovering was making her crazy.
The only reason she didn't chew him out was because she knew it was for her own good. The man was determined to take care of her whether she liked it or not. Apparently, not much had changed in the last decade because they'd been down this same road once before. It hadn't gotten any easier in the intervening years.
Although this time, she wasn't completely in the dark.
Bastion and Malachi had gotten the answers that she needed, now she just had to figure out where to go from here. She knew what she wanted and they had sworn to make it happen. Whatever it took. That vow coming from two such dangerous men should have scared the hell out of her.
It didn't.
Callie had discovered that she had a ruthless streak. Perhaps it was from years of association with men like Bastion and Malachi. Or maybe she had inherited it from the father she'd never known. Where ever it had come from, she wasn't going to complain about it. Right then it was the only thing keeping her sane.
One thing was certain. Because of the crimes committed against her, any contract that she had signed pertaining to the matter was null and void. Which meant she was free to discuss it with anyone she chose to without fear of repercussion. Naturally, the first person she wanted to call was her best friend.
Her phone had been turned off for days, and she ignored the multitude of voicemail notifications that popped up when she powered it on. Most of them were probably from Ford and she couldn't bear to hear his voice yet. Truthfully, she wasn't sure she'd ever be ready to. The pain of losing him again went too deep.
Quickly scrolling past him in her Favorites, she tapped Soraya's name and the phone had barely rung before the other woman answered. "Jesus Christ Callie, where are you? I've been worried half to death. Graham is threatening to sedate me. Are you alright? Say something," she demanded in a rush.
Despite her misery, Callie couldn't help smiling at the frantic dialogue. "I had to wait for you to take a breath before I could get a word in," she said in amusement.
"Huh," the other woman huffed. "I've been a basket case since you disappeared and you've got jokes. Seriously? What the absolute fuck?" Then she turned her mouth away from the phone to say apologetically, "I am so sorry, Sister Mary Magdalene. My next stop is the confessional."
Callie had to clap a hand over her mouth to stop the laughter from escaping.
"I am going to kill you," her best friend hissed in a low undertone. "You just made me curse in front of a nun."
"Are you at church?" She was barely able to choke out without laughing.
"No. Meme Lil and Chloe baked dozens of cookies last night so I was donating them to the soup kitchen," she explained. "Now tell me what in the hell is going on with you."
"Maybe I should call you later," she teased and was so glad that she had called. Only Soraya could lighten her mood this effortlessly. "After you visit the confessional."
"You know damn well I'm not going to confessional," the other woman practically growled. "Start talking, Callie, and you'd better have one hell of a good reason for disappearing. Ford has been blowing up my phone for days and he's driving me crazy."
Her mirth disappeared at the mention of his name. "Are you sitting down?"
"Oh, hell. Is it that bad?"
"Worse."
"Hang on a second. My driver is circling the block," she said and it sounded like she'd started running. "Wait. Here he comes." There was a pause then the slam of a door before the background noise faded. "Okay. I'm sitting. Spill it."
"Scott Hammersmith is my son," she confessed, and, oh God, it felt so good to say it out loud!
"Whaaaattt???"
"You heard me."
There was a prolonged pause before the other woman asked in a hurt tone, "Why didn't you tell me that before?"
"Because I didn't know," Callie admitted.
"Louis, step on it. I'm going to need alcohol ASAP," Soraya commanded before she said into the phone, "Cal, how the hell can you not know you had a child? I mean they gave me some really good drugs with Lorenzo, but there's no way in hell I could forget giving birth. Did you think you'd miscarried?"
"I didn't know I was pregnant."
"Jesus Christ. Not kidding about the need for alcohol, Louis. Drive this bitch like you stole it!" She barked at the driver before demanding, "How did you not know there was a human being growing inside of you? Wasn't the baby bump stretching the shit out of your size two designer jeans enough of a clue?"
"I was unconscious for the entire pregnancy and delivery."
"Like in a coma?" Soraya asked in confusion.
"Like the doctor intentionally kept me drugged so I wouldn't know I was pregnant," she clarified.
"Why would he do that?"
"So the Hammersmith's could steal my baby."
"Louis, find the closest liquor store right fucking now. This is an emergency!" Soraya practically screamed at her poor driver. "Jesus. My brain can't even process this. My head is going to explode."
"You're handling it pretty well," she opined. "I wound up in the fetal position on my living room floor, sobbing, and babbling like an idiot. Bastion lost his shit and brought me to Vegas while he deals with the situation."
"Bastion taking you to Vegas is the only part of this conversation that makes any sense at all," she practically whined. "God, I need a bottle of his private stock right now."
"Don't tell me you already drank the case he sent you."
"Hell no, but it's at home and I'm stuck in the damn car," she complained loudly. "Louis, what is taking this red light so long? Why aren't we moving?"
Through the phone, Callie heard the driver say patiently, "We've been parked outside your building for the last few minutes, Mrs. Morgan."
"Fuck!" Soraya snarled before her door opened and the city noise became apparent. "Callie Rose, don't you dare say another word until I'm inside my apartment with a bottle in my hand," she warned as her heels clicked across the concrete. After a few minutes of listening to her best friend curse and mutter under her breath, she heard, "Okay, go."
"It might be less confusing if I start at the beginning," she offered.
Being her loveable smart-ass self, Soraya snarked, "Ya think?"
"Ford and I didn't just date all those years ago. We were married," Callie confessed.
"Jesus Christ! I'm going to need two bottles," was muttered. "Why the hell haven't you mentioned that little detail before now?"
"If you'll just listen it will all become clear," she explained patiently. "The accident that left him in a coma happened on our wedding day, and I was in the car with him." A slurping sound caught her attention and she asked, "Are you drinking wine through a straw?"
"Damn right I am," the other woman confirmed. "Chloe's giant swirly straws almost reach the bottom of the bottle."
The mental image of Soraya clutching a bottle and sucking vintage wine out of a swirly straw was beyond hilarious. "Lush," she teased.
"Don't judge. You're the one who drove me to it."
"Uh-uh. Louis drove you," she corrected just to get a rise out of her friend.
"Cut the BS and spill it, Rose," Soraya growled.
Callie laughed and resumed her tale. "Anyway, I lost consciousness during the accident and woke up in the hospital. The doctor assured me that my injuries were minor, but they were going to take me into surgery and remove a piece of metal that had impaled my abdomen."
"Wait. Is that the scar that Tig tattooed over?"
"That's it," she confirmed. "They told me about Ford's injuries and then sedated me when I had an anxiety attack. I woke up nine months later in a private hospital with a doctor and a lawyer standing over my bed."
"What the hell?"
"I was told that the Hammersmith family had me mo
ved so I'd get the best possible care. The doctor claimed I'd had complications during surgery that required being treated by a specialist. He also said I developed an infection that resulted in recurring bouts of pneumonia so they had kept me sedated all that time to ease my discomfort."
"Was any of that true?"
"Every word was a lie," she admitted bitterly. "The ER performed a pregnancy test and it came back positive. Since Ford was in a coma with a traumatic brain injury, his mother decided that my baby would serve as his heir if he didn't recover. She had me moved and kept unconscious the entire time. They even used the scar from the accident to hide the cesarean incision and woke me up after it had healed."
"Oh. My. God!"
"I kept asking for Ford, but they wouldn't tell me if he was alive or dead. I panicked and started screaming his name until they sedated me," she went on. "The lawyer finally told me that he didn't want to see me. He claimed Ford had realized that marrying me had been a mistake and he wanted an annulment."
"Shut the hell up!"
"Waking up to all of that ripped my heart out," she admitted painfully and wiped a tear away. "I was in a state of shock, and crying so hard that I could barely sign my name on all of the documents he put in front of me. I wasn't even able to read what I was signing."
"It's no wonder you hated Ford."
"The lawyer gave me a copy of the divorce papers and the non-disclosure agreement that prohibited me from ever mentioning our marriage or the accident. What I didn't get was a copy of the document relinquishing full custodial rights because I didn't even know I'd had a baby," she confessed miserably.
"A nurse brought in my suitcase and got me dressed in clothes that hung off of me. All of my things were there except for a charm necklace my mother had given me, my engagement and wedding rings," Callie went on. "Then they put me in a limo and I rode for hours before the driver dropped me off at Illicit."
"Bastion completely lost his shit when I showed up looking like a drug addict. I'd lost so much weight and I was so weak that I didn't have the strength to walk by myself," she confessed. "I didn't even know the name of the hospital I'd been in or where it was located. He wanted to hunt Ford down and kill him."
Heartless Bastard (Rich Ruthless Bastards, #1) Page 15
