Before she starts firing questions at me, I explain. “I’ll tell him later. I wanted to tell you, and to let Christian know that I’m not scared of him or his threats. He has as much to lose as me, more maybe.”
Another voice speaks rather than Liv.
“Look at what we have here; the ugly sisters or sisters Grimm.” Christian laughs, immediately moving across the room and taking Liv’s vacant seat. “So, you’re not scared of me and my threats…great, let’s invite Dec to join us.”
I wasn’t expecting that. His phone is out and whether he’s bluffing or not, I can’t allow him to tell Dec instead of me. I snatch his phone and lock it.
“As I thought. So, let me explain how this is going down.”
I stare at this odious little man and wonder how I had ever found him likeable never mind attractive. I wish I had never met him and more than that, if I had to, I wish I had never let him touch me.
“I hear Declan is expanding his little empire, so, you are going to tell him that he should let me do the redesigns on his new place.”
I watch as Liv rolls her eyes.
He cuts her a look. “It’s not like you need the cash now you’re carrying a Harding, assuming it has Harding blood in its veins.”
“Fuck off, Christian. She is not going to send Dec your way for work. Even if she could, Dec wouldn’t do it. He is his own man and makes his own choices.”
“You stupid fucking bitch!” he spits at Liv; real venom being aimed at her. He reaches for her and grabs her arm, pulling her closer.
Liv releases a scream of shock rather than fear I think, her free arm automatically going to her unborn child in some attempt to protect them both.
I feel as though I am watching some kind of movie as events unfold before me. Christian still has a hold of Liv’s arm and is still pulling her by it. I watch in horror as she seems to stumble and falls to the hard kitchen floor.
“You fucking idiot,” I scream as I go to where Liv is moving into a sitting position, preparing to stand. “Even if I had been prepared to do your bidding with Dec before, which I wasn’t, I certainly wouldn’t be doing it now you’ve thrown my pregnant sister to the floor.”
“Fine, then let’s call Declan and tell him how you aborted my baby. Flushed it away without a second thought. I’m sure he’ll be only too happy to have you stick around after that bombshell! Oh, and if yoursister,” he sneers the word sister knowing Liv and I are not actually related. “If she wants to keep her relationship, she’ll have to choose Dec as the wronged party and kick you to the curb. Mase wouldn’t accept any less than that.”
Tears begin to prick at my eyes, the first escaping when I lock eyes with Liv and can see that she believes the last bit about Mase.
“We all know Dec isn’t fussy about who he fucks, well,” Christian gestures to me. “But as I hear congratulations are in order, he may be a little pickier in a fiancée or a wife, don’t you think? So, you play ball with me, and he won’t ever need to hear that you’re a dirty slut who picks up married men, coerces them into giving you money in exchange for your silence, only to deliberately get pregnant to trap me and when I called time and told you to do your worst, you aborted an innocent baby.”
I actually want to punch him. Christian looks so smug. I almost forget about Liv until I hear her release a little groan as she adjusts her position still sitting on the floor. She looks pale and shaken.
Instead of helping Liv up, I stand, stretching to my full height to face Christian. He is a bully, always has been, with me and Liv from all I have heard. I briefly think of his wife and assume if he isn’t this arsehole with her, which I find hard to believe, it’s because her dad is loaded and was beneficial to his career.
“I didn’t abort an innocent baby.”
Christian smirks and again I want to punch him but settle for wiping the arrogant smirk from his face with my words instead.
“I could never have aborted my own child. I gave her up for adoption.”
And then the world comes crashing down with a single word.
“Cupcake.”
Chapter 29
Declan
The sound of voices drift from the kitchen, Anita, and another I recognise, but it’s not Liv’s. Christian. Mase’s meeting call got cancelled so he decided to come and retrieve Liv for lunch and a relaxing afternoon. I didn’t delve into how he planned on relaxing her but can feel him walking behind me.
We come to a standstill near the kitchen and everything blurs. Time stands still and flashes by at the same time. Christian is doing all the talking about someone coercing married men and getting pregnant…Anita. I know they were involved, but this can’t be right. She couldn’t have got pregnant. She would have told me, wouldn’t she? An abortion? I wouldn’t have judged her for that. Not in the circumstances, so why didn’t she tell me? I told her everything about me and Amber and the child we should have had.
My whirring mind and attempts to understand and reason the thoughts in my head stop dead when I hear Anita’s words. Words from her own mouth.
“I could never have aborted my own child. I gave her up for adoption.”
