Page 110 of The Bitterroot Inn (Jamison Valley 5)
What the actual fuck was happening?
Hunter was Eleanor’s stepson? Was that what he’d been trying to tell me? Because if it was true, that meant he had known Everett.
All this time.
And he’d tried to tell me, but I’d shut him out.
I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. All I could do was sit and stare at the man in the back of the room who had just shocked me to the core.
“Dr. Faraday, please come forward.”
My eyes tracked Hunter as he obeyed the judge’s command. I couldn’t look away. In my periphery, Beau was fuming, Mom had been stunned into silence, and Dad’s wounded eyes were locked on me. But I just kept my gaze locked on Hunter.
The man I loved. The man who had been lying to me for months. The man who had tried to confess just this morning.
“Please, take a seat.” The judge nodded to the chair at his side. “I think I’d like to hear what you have to say.”
“That makes two of us,” Dad muttered.
“Deep breath,” Stuart whispered. “This is a good thing.”
My eyes snapped to my attorney. Stuart knew. When Hunter couldn’t tell me, he’d told Stuart instead.
I closed my eyes as a mix of emotions made me dizzy. I was hurt. I was angry. I was a fool. Never in a million years would I have expected this to be Hunter’s big secret. Never. Now I really wished I’d let him explain.
When I opened my eyes, they went straight to Hunter. He sat, solemn, in the front of the room, his pleading eyes begging for a chance to explain.
No. I didn’t want his explanation. He might have been trying to give me one recently, but he’d had months before this custody drama to come clean. Yet he’d stayed quiet. Anger beat out the other emotions and blood roared in my ears. I gave Hunter the tiniest headshake and ripped my gaze away, not daring to look at him, otherwise I’d scream.
I sat frozen in my wooden chair and listened, my eyes glued to the stenographer’s flying fingers as my own gripped the armrests of my chair with as much force as I could muster.
“Okay,” the judge said. “Whenever you’re ready.”
“Thank you.” Hunter nodded. “As I said, Eleanor Carlson is my stepmother. And full disclosure, I am in a relationship with Maisy Holt. We’ve been dating for around three months, not long after I moved to Prescott.”
And in all that time, he hadn’t bothered to mention he knew exactly who Coby’s father was.
My teeth gritted hard as Hunter’s gaze raked over my face but I refused to tear my gaze from the stenographer. I was barely holding on to my emotions, and if I looked at Hunter, I’d lose it. Coby couldn’t afford to have me lose it.
I swallowed a dry laugh. How ironic. I’d been thinking lately how wonderful it would be if Hunter might become Coby’s father one day. I didn’t need to worry about that though, because he was technically Coby’s uncle.
My heart kept sinking as other questions swamped my mind. Had our relationship been a ruse? Was this all part of Eleanor’s evil plan to take my son? Had Hunter been playing me all this time?
The pain was getting the best of me and my chin quivered. Doing the only thing I could think of to stop the angry tears from welling, I pinched my leg. Hard. Now was not the time to think about Hunter’s betrayal. I could process that after I knew the fate of my child.
As the sting in my leg burned, Hunter’s voice faltered, and I couldn’t help but look up at him. His mouth was turned down in a sad frown.
He’d seen that pinch.
“Dr. Faraday, are you speaking on Ms. Carlson’s behalf today or on behalf of Ms. Holt?” Judge Tubor asked.
“Actually, I’d like to speak on Coby’s behalf today.”
One sentence and all of my anger vanished in one hot tear rolling down my cheek.
Hunter loved Coby. The entire wooden room echoed with that love in his voice.
Which only made his lies hurt that much more. The fleeting thought that this could all be a ruse flittered right out of my mind. Hunter might have betrayed me, but he was staying true to Coby.
