I stumble, falling back onto the couch with wide eyes. It’s not like I don’t deserve it, but I’m still surprised.
Beau grabs her arms when she tries to lunge again. “Calm down.”
She struggles against his hold, glaring at me. “You couldn’t just let me have this one thing. I’d finally won, and you just had to take it too! I fucking hate you!”
My mouth parts, tears pricking the back of my eyes.
Beau frog marches her to the other side of the room. “What do you mean ‘you won?’” he says.
Her head snaps to him, and I watch as her anger drains to a fear that has me frowning.
“What?” she says.
Beau lets go of her to cross his arms. “You said ‘you won.’ What does that fucking mean?”
Kendall’s eyes shift while she thinks of an answer, before she huffs out a breath. “I just meant that I got married before her. That she got knocked up, and is a single mom, while I was going to be the married wife with a house.”
My heart squeezes, realizing how low she thought of me, and by association, my child.
Beau nods slowly. “Did you know who I was?”
My shoulders stiffen, blinking away the tears as I watch her. I don’t know why Beau is making this assumption, but I still hold hope that she’s not that cruel. That she wouldn’t purposely withhold Beau’s child from him, and deny Theo having his father in his life.
“Please tell me you didn’t know who the father of my child was this whole time!” I cry out when she stays silent.
Kendall glares at me. “Why? So you could have baby trapped him into being with you instead? He was interested inme,not you.”
I let out a hollow laugh, shaking my head. “If Beau wanted to be with you, even after learning about Theo, I would be overjoyed. Life isn’t a competition, Kendall. It never has been for me.”
She rolls her eyes. “Of course not, because it’s all just been handed to you.”
“What was handed to me?” I yell. I don’t mean to raise my voice, but I’m truly struggling to see her side. “Are we talking about Dad? Because I tried to stop that, and you lied. You did! So don’t continue to blame me.”
She sneers. “Of course I lied! You don’t get it, you never get it! If I ever admit what Dad said to me, then I’d have to admit that he was right, and that he did treat me unfairly. And I’d have to admit to myself how much of a fucking failure I am. So excuse me that for once in my life I finally got to win, and you were a second choice.”
I shake my head. “You know how many times I apologized to Mom because I thought you didn’t invite us to the wedding or any kind of ceremony because of our strained relationship. I guess I was apologizing for the wrong thing. The reason you didn’t invite us is because you were trying to keep my child from his father!”
“Oh, please, it was never about Theo,” she snaps.
“It should have been,” Beau growls out, his jaw clenching in anger. “Forget about you and your sister’s relationship. You deprived an innocent child of his father; you deprived me of my child. That’s cruel, unhinged, and unforgivable.”
Kendall goes to say something else, but Beau waves his hand.
“I cheated. I did, and I can’t take that back. I don’t want to, but any guilt I’ve felt is appeased. You went after me because you knew of Kayla and my connection, and instead of possibly seeing if we could have worked out naturally, you manipulated us all. What did you think was going to happen when we got here? That we wouldn’t address who Theo is? That we'd just go back home and I’d pretend I don’t have a child living states away from me?”
“You married me,” she whispers.
He nods. “I did. I was lonely, and you were lovely. But it was all a lie, wasn’t it?”
She shakes her head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Beau smiles at her, and it’s not a nice smile. “I’ve been thinking about it more since coming here and seeing Kayla. I’m not sure if you thought I wouldn’t connect the dots or you thought since we went to a courthouse and signed a piece of paper that my feelings would just be gone. But you want to know what I keep thinking about?”
Her eyes skirt around the room as if looking for an escape. My stomach turns, sickening dread washing over me because something tells me I’m not going to like what Beau has to say.
“I keep thinking about how there was no reason for you to be at that conference that day. Your work has nothing to do with us, and it’s not like it’s a casual bar you’d hang out at since it’sforty minutes away from your place. So I have to wonder what you were doing there? And how you seemed intent on me that night?”
Kendall shakes her head. “You cheated on me!”
