Page 105 of Xander

Henry.

Henry?!

“Jordan,” he said, smiling in a way that I’d never seen him smile before. It was sharklike and terrifying. A smile that was out for blood. “Oh, good. You’re here. That makes this all so much easier.”

“Makes what easier?” This did not seem like a man who had been begging for forgiveness from the only family he had left.

Unconsciously, I stepped toward the house and felt a flicker of fear when Henry followed. “There’s a delivery man out here,” I blurted.

Henry laughed unpleasantly. “My son’s underqualified staff were easy to fool,” he bragged. “And, so, apparently, are you. Let’s go inside and talk.”

Oh God. There had never been a flower delivery. Henry had duped the staff to get past the gates of Ilion with promises of gifts while biding his time inside the belly of his rented Mustang.

I took another step back from him. “I don’t want to go anywhere with you, Henry.”

“Would you prefer to have this discussion at the mental hospital?” he asked in a tone of venomed civility. “My phone’s in the car. I could get it.”

I knew two things, then: one, whatever Henry planned, he didn’t want anyone on the street to see, and two, he had no idea that Xander was already here with the rest of Henry’s family, who also happened to sit on his board.

Playing at reluctance, I let him lead me inside. As soon as the door closed, he shoved me up against the wall by the throat.

“You little whore,” he spat. “You were stupid. You left a paper trail.”

“Careful,” I choked out. “These buildings have security cameras. Wouldn’t be so great for your image if you got filmed strangling your ex-wife.”

His hand convulsed involuntarily at “ex-wife,” although I saw him shoot a wary look around. Then his grip tightened, and my periphery grayed out. My mind spun with terror. I had to save myself and the baby inside me.

“You should have thought about that before fucking my son all over the country. It won’t be hard to declare you unfit, Jordan. Moving to a new country on a whim, abusing your parental role, unstable behavior. As your guardian, it’s my duty to protect your business interests. By removing you from them. Permanently. If anyone asks, I’ll say you attacked me first, you crazy little bi⁠—”

I raised my knee, crushing his testicles.

My rage was transformative, and it stemmed from my need to protect the new life taking root inside of me. Now I had something to protect, to fall back on when I felt incapable of fighting for myself alone.

I was done being a pushover.

I was over these abusive men dictating my future.

He let out a harsh wheeze, his brows already lowering in anger like a bull about to charge. But he released me, clutching himself instinctively as if that could ease the pain.

Quickly, I turned and grabbed one of the paintings and hit him over the head with it so hard that the glass cracked. Henry howled as the shards rained down from the frame, catching in his hair and, I imagined, falling down his back. “You bitch,” he growled. “I’ll fucking kill you.”

The conversation in the living room had stopped, but Henry, in his rage, hadn’t noticed anything but me.

He didn’t yet realize that he was performing for an audience.

So, when I stumbled to a halt in the room, it took Henry a moment to realize that we were no longer alone. It took him a moment longer to realize that he knew these men and that they were eyeing him with the sort of disgust one might reserve for a backed-up septic tank.

Xander grabbed his father by the collar of his golf shirt, and I stepped forward with a gasp, but Joe was faster.

“Don’t. It’s not worth it.” His voice was hard as steel, his face turned toward his brother. “What do you think you’re doing?”

I had never seen Henry speechless. It was delicious, seeing the look on his face, realizing that he’d been tricked by me, the woman who wasn’t in her “right” mind. His eyes, when they met mine, were filled with hatred. I saw the gears in his mind whirring. How could he play this to his benefit?

“She cheated on me.”

Xander’s fist tightened, pulling the cotton taut around my “husband’s” throat. “She was too good for you. You never deserved her.”

With a growl, Henry shoved Xander away, apparently too arrogant or blind to care that the only reason he was released was because the other man willed it. “She’s unwell. You’re fucking a delusional mental patient.”