“Because we developed minds of our own, not for lack of trying,” I mutter.
“Think of the legacy, Dex. You could have your own empire.”
“I’ll build my own empire from the ground up, the legal way,” I counter. Fuck it. “I don’twantan empire. I want the simple life I shared with Ainsley and my son. It’s not worth losing everything I care about because I’m trying to make you proud ofme. Nothing I ever do will accomplish that, and that’s why I’m out.”
“Proudof you?” he sneers. “I can’t begin to tell you howdisappointedI am.”
The jab might’ve hurt before Ainsley ran into me on the Strip, but his words do nothing to touch the pain I feel in having her walk out of my life. “Look, I fucked things up by keeping your secrets, and now my only goal in life is getting back the woman I love and putting my own family back together. I don’t care about money or underground gambling. I don’t even care about rings and championships, or MVP awards or trophies. Just her, and building a life with her and my son. So what’s it gonna be?”
He steps behind his desk, and he picks up the house phone and presses a button. He puts the call on speaker.
“Paul, it’s Tom Bradley. I need you to revise the Vegas lounge to write my son out of it.”
“Hi Paul,” I say, addressing my father’s lawyer cheerfully from across the room.
“Are you sure about this?” Paul asks with a sigh.
My father glances at me, and when he sees the look on my face, he says, “Yes. Get it to me by—”
“In the next ten minutes,” I interrupt. “I want out, and I want out now.”
“Consider it done,” Paul says.
The call ends, and I slide onto the chair across from my father’s desk, for once feeling like the power in our relationship has shifted.
CHAPTER 51: Dex Bradley
Dex Bradley Standing on My Porch
I thought about asking Ivy to watch Jack for a while, but I realize I want him here for this.
My sister tells me she’ll give me a ride since I took a rideshare here, and clearly she’s all for patching this thing up. I’m surprised, to be honest. I thought she’d be fully against the two of us being together, which is why we didn’t tell her.
But I guess Ainsley admitted the truth, and here we are.
With my sister behind the wheel.
Me in the passenger seat. Jack strapped in the back.
Ivy pulls into the driveway of a small house. From the looks of it on the outside, I’d guess it’s under two thousand square feet for five kids and two adults.
It has to be cramped in there. I think of Madden’s place, where I’m planning to stay tonight, and he’s got more space for himself than this family of seven has.
I suddenly want to do something.
But first, I have an apology to make and some forgiveness to beg for.
“Stay here,” I say to my sister.
I knock on the front door with Jack’s carrier in my hands, and the door opens a beat later.
“Dex Bradley?” a man who I assume is Ainsley’s dad says.
I stick out a hand. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Riggs. Is Ainsley here?”
“Yeah, she’s right in…jeez.” He shakes his head and rubs his hand along his jaw the same way my dad did earlier, but my dad did it in frustration. This guy seems to be doing it in awe. “Dex Bradley standing on my porch. I couldn’t believe it when she said she married you. Wait, don’t you have a game?”
He doesn’t wait for me to answer, and he also doesn’t turn in toward the house as he yells, “Ains!”
