“She is not her mother!” The woman, who had been trying to look demure and maternal couldn’t take it anymore and let her true colors leak through. I had to give Sterling credit because she didn’t flinch once at any of the noises. She sat next to me like a queen, shoulders back and head held high, staring at their theatrics like she too was bored.
“The woman you wish was her mother is dead. Dead by suicide even though you seem to want to forget that. You would think that if you truly cared about this little girl that you would be happy there was someone to love her the way your daughter clearly never would.” Billy wasn’t trying to be cruel but she was stating facts that the Zahrans had obviously omitted to their lawyer by the way his eyes widened at her words. He glancedtoward his clients and their lack of reaction was proof that Billy’s words were true.
“You don’t know that. She could’ve fixed Marley. Made her focus and become a good woman. He should have married her instead of allowing her to live with shame.” Mr. Zahran was staring at me like I was supposed to be their child’s savior and I had sympathy for him over the loss of his child but I wasn’t a magical negro to fix her mental illness.
I could tell Sterling was getting pissed because I could feel her leg jumping beneath the table. She’d stayed quiet all this time but I knew she was going to go off soon.
Their lawyer spoke up probably because he saw that bullying me into doing anything I didn’t want to do wasn’t going to work. Especially not with the caliber of people I had on my side. Why he thought this was going to be something easy was beyond me.
“There has to be a way to come to some type of agreement between the two parties.”
“There is no agreement. This is my client’s daughter. Your clients have shown that they are not a safe place for her. You disrespect him and his partner. And the fact that your wife has dual citizenship with a country that doesn’t enforce US extradition means that any contact with his child means that you could take her and flee. We aren’t about to take that chance.”
My brows shot up because I hadn’t looked into anything about the egg donor’s past. I barely spoke her name so finding out more about her wasn’t high on my list. But hearing that they had dual citizenship somewhere else only angered me even more. With the type of people they were, they would’ve absolutely tried to steal my daughter without an ounce of regret.
“You will do what we want because we have found the tape.”
Mrs. Zahran’s voice was cold as ice and filled with determination.
Sterling’s leg jumped harder as I tried to determine what she was referring to.
“What tape?” Marcus was speaking casually because he had been filled in on everything before we got here.
Mr. Zahran’s face turned to me again the disgust clear. “Of our granddaughter’s conception. We saw the disgusting things our Marley did with you and I refuse not to have this dishonor corrected!” He slammed his hand on the table causing Parker to chuckle. I could almost hear him questioning who this man thought he was to be slamming his fists on other people’s furniture but he stayed quiet.
“And now you’re resorting to blackmail? You realize that is a criminal offense, right?” Marcus’ eyes went to their lawyer who looked visibly nervous. Apparently, he and his clients didn’t discuss a game plan before they walked in.
“Release it.” All eyes turned to me but Billy was the first to recover from her shock.
“Well, hold on—”
“It’s okay, Billy. I promise. Their daughter raped me so she could get pregnant with my daughter and drag my name through the media for what? A check? Did she think I was going to be with her once the baby was here? I would’ve spent every dime in my account to get my daughter away from her because it’s clear she wasn’t wrapped too tight.”
“What kind of monster are you that you would have separated a mother from her daughter?”
“You want to talk about separation? What about the morality that was clearly separated from your daughter? Her separation from reality. She was running this man’s name through the mud in order to force him to acquiesce to what she wanted but you want to talk about morality. Oh darling, please keep talking so that I have enough ammunition to ensure you’re never around this child. It is clear that you don’t have the necessary faculties totake care of a child. I’m going to chalk it up to you being mired in grief instead of the obvious greed that is pouring off the two of you. You all thought that Aldrich was going to be an easy target not realizing that he didn’t just deal with anyone. Your daughter, angry at his rejection, decided to take a sport out of getting him. I’ve seen a lot of determined groupies in my day but I got to say, the one you raised takes the cake.” Marcus shook his head as he took over talking cash shit about their kid.
“Our daughter was not a groupie. She was a good girl until he decided that he was going to toy with her.”
“I’ve never said a word to your daughter. Yet I have to live with the fact that my first child was born because of a disgusting act that your daughter forced on me. So don’t talk to me about her being a good girl. Good girls don’t stalk people. They don’t drug them and they don’t assault them. So please get out of my face with trying to reframe how she’s seen in the media.”
“You need to recognize that Mr. Dinero is doing you a favor by not discussing any of this in the media. He’s raised his daughter quietly but if you continue this pursuit we will absolutely do what is necessary not only to clear his name but to prevent you both from being anywhere near her or him. Delusion might be heredity but just in case it’s a nurtured trait, I will use all of my considerable power to ensure that none of you lay eyes on her again unless it’s through a TV screen or a magazine spread. And the harassment of his girlfriend needs to stop.” Billy was back making demands but it was falling on deaf ears.
“Well, I think that the media would like to see what actually happened between the two of you.”
“I relish the thought of you thinking you’re going to embarrass this young man who is doing what he can to raise his daughter. That will open up a multitude of avenues that I am more than happy to explore and they all leave you guys the sameway: broke, embarrassed and shunned. Choose your actions carefully.” Parker was calm as he observed from his end of the table but I was sure he meant every word.
“He’s got some other woman parading around our grandbaby like our daughter didn’t even matter.”
“As a woman who almost died herself when I was losing my first child, I sympathize deeply with you. I am only here by God’s grace. But as saved as I am and happy to be a living testimony, I will drag you all to the gates of hell and deliver you to the devil himself if you try to do anything to my client or his family. Your daughter was a rapist. She’s also guilty of attempted murder of a fetus and if she hadn’t died herself Aldrich and our entire firm would’ve lobbied whoever we needed to in order to have her charged. Don’t forget this is Texas and they take every birth of a baby seriously. Now, they might not give a shit once it’s out of the womb, but the way your daughter could’ve caused harm to her child and to others she would’ve deserved to go to jail.”
“We have substantial bills that he needs to pay. The hospital, the insurance for her car. They won’t pay us since the accident was ruled her fault.” Her father said all of this with a straight face and I wanted to rock his shit. This man was trying to hold me responsible for his daughter who was a stranger to me.
“I have already had my insurance cover almost a quarter million dollars in hospital bills. I’m not asking y’all for any of that back but you think I’m going to pay the hospital charges for the woman that raped me? That tried to kill my daughter to gain sympathy because I didn’t want to be with her? She slandered me for months and I didn’t say a word. She died and I still didn’t say all that could’ve been said. My good nature only goes so far and right now y’all are pushing me far beyond the bounds of it.”
Bryan sat forward with his arms folded and I knew this was going to be good because he was normally the fun one. But the look on his face let me know he meant business.
“I’d think carefully about what you want to do. I’m not a father, nor am I a woman like my partner here. Truthfully, I’m the asshole in the room. The shark. Between myself and Marcus, his business lawyer and Money’s PR team I would have testimony from every man your daughter ever slept with, stalked, or harassed. Her name would be synonymous with being a crazy slut because although I don’t feed into that narrative, the public does. They’re always looking for a way to make a woman out to be the bad person. Here, it happens to be the truth. The same way you’re harassing this man, imagine a legion of fans and chauvinists unleashed on you. Gone would be the false narrative you’ve been painting about the grieving grandparents who just want to see their granddaughter. You’d be the people who raised an attempted baby killer. The parents of a woman who raped a famous football player and then falsely accused him of abandonment. Hell, they might blame her for theDesperadosnot going to the championship last year because that’s when she started all this nonsense. So hear me clearly: tread very fucking carefully with your next steps. We don’t play about our family and I will do everything necessary to eviscerate you if you even think of sullying his name any more than you already have.”
