Page 30 of Then and Now (The Edge of Retaliation 3)
“I think he’ll come after us all. He wants me the most, no doubt, but we all put him where he is. Men like that don’t like to leave anyone behind. He’s not going to just take one of us and let the rest of us walk. That’s not how this works.”
Just as I thought.
I consider Callie’s idea again. Can I do it? Pack up everything I know and just leave, just walk away without looking back? Can I walk away from Patrick, from my family, from Tatum and these people I’ve come to know so well?
It seems almost impossible, and yet the idea of starting again is scarily thrilling.
“I should get going,” I say, my voice tired. I’m exhausted after going back to work today. The same thing, over and over.
Maybe leaving is a good idea.
Tatum stands. “Walk you out.”
I say goodbye to Tanner and he tells me to let Callie know that he’s trying to call her. I know he’s trying to call her. I made up some excuse that she just needs a few days, and he understood that. Little does he know she’s planning her escape, so to speak. I know it’ll bother him, hell, I’d go as far as saying it’ll hurt him, but I also understand why she’s doing it.
She has been through so damn much.
She deserves a break.
When we get outside, I turn to Tatum and look up at him. His hand comes up and cups my jaw, his thumb rubbing over my bottom lip. “You and I are goin’ away soon, just us, yeah?”
I exhale and give him a weak smile. “I wish I could, I really do, but until I sort everything out with Patrick, you and I spending time together will only fuel the fire.”
“Fuck Patrick, he’s a fuckin’ piece of shit. He should be chasin’ a girl like you around the countryside, not fuckin’ making threats. You don’t have to give him what he wants, just because you’ve done so for your entire adult life.”
His words shock me, and I step back. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Not tryin’ to hurt your feelings, Jo, but you gotta see that you constantly give in to that man. You tellin’ me that your whole world has been your choice? Everything you have now is what you wanted? He knows he can manipulate you, and he’s using that to his advantage.”
I’m pissed off, to say the least.
Maybe I’m overreacting, sure, but his words cut me to my core. Perhaps because they’re the truth, or perhaps it’s simply because he’s making me out to sound weak and pathetic, like I can’t defend myself. Which isn’t the case at all. Gosh, if only he knew the things I’ve done against Patrick’s wishes in our time together.
“You’re wrong,” I snap. “Patrick does not have control over me. I’m not the confrontational sort of woman, and he’s my husband so I hold a little respect for him, but I do not let him call all the shots.”
“That’s the case,” Tatum says, his voice low, “then tell him you’ll take what you’re fuckin’ entitled to, and not some bit of shit on a piece of paper that he’s only doin’ so you don’t get what he knows you can.”
“I’m not a gold digger,” I growl, crossing my arms. “I don’t want much.”
“Know that, Jo. You’re readin’ me the wrong way. I’m simply sayin’ you shouldn’t lay down and let that man ride you the way he has been. Tell him to go fuck himself.”
I shake my head, frustrated. “I’m tired, I’m going to go home.”
“Jo,” he says, when I turn and walk toward my car.
I turn back and glance at him. “You think you know me, Tatum, but you don’t. You really don’t. Goodnight.”
I walk off without another word.
Callie’s idea is looking more and more promising by the second.
“SERIOUSLY?” I GASP, staring down at the newspaper in front of me. A picture of Tatum and I standing in his front lawn, his hand cupping my jaw and his expression that of love and affection.
This had to be taken when Tatum and I were together last, which was almost two nights ago. Someone must have been there and taken this picture, and the only way they’d know I was there is if Patrick gave them the information they needed.
A huge caption outlines the picture “Billionaire finds wife having an affair.”
“You’ve got to be shitting me!” I yell in frustration, reading the rest of the article in horror.
He can’t honestly be this desperate, right? So desperate he wants me taken down so heavily? To keep all his things? To avoid having me get anything at all?
Frustration deep in my chest has me throwing the newspaper across the room, just as Callie walks in. She glances at the paper on the ground, then exhales. “You saw it then?”
