“No.”
“I’m sure you’ve been collecting some sort of blackmail on him. Otherwise, what was Belle doing there?” I asked.
“I want him in jail.”
“So do I, but sometimes you have to make sacrifices. Family is important.”
“Fine,” Garrett said. “But I’m not bailing anyone out of prison. You can sit there and rot.”
“Greg?”
He started laughing. “You’re such a fucking hypocrite, Hunter.”
“What is wrong with you?”
“You’re going to be the one that will ruin their crackpot plan, though I hesitate to use that word.” Greg sneered.
“No I’m not!”
“The whole plan,” Greg said, tone mocking, “hinges on you and Meg getting back together. You’re a licensed foster parent, and so is she because of her sisters. The judges will give the two of you our sisters because you’re more or less a happy, two-parent home. So you have to lie to her and make her fall back in love with you long enough to grab the rights to our sisters away from Leif.”
The panic started to set in. Greg could see it on my face. “I’ll drop out of the election,” I said. “Tell her that I want to be with her and don’t want it to come between us.”
“She’ll think something’s up,” Greg said. “She’s not stupid.”
“This is my only shot at winning her back,” I said softly.
“Family’s important,” Garrett mocked.
“Can’t someone else do it?” I begged.
“We’re leaving tonight,” Crawford said, nodding to Remy. “It’s not enough time to license anyone else as a foster parent.”
This was exactly the reason Meg had thrown me out the last time. She had thought I was using her to take care of my siblings. Now that was exactly what I was doing.
“I don’t think having him drop out of the election will help. Push comes to shove,” Greg said, “we’ll need Hunter’s dropping out of the mayoral race as a bargaining chip to make her play ball.”
Garrett was incredulous. “You all have lost your fucking minds.”
Crawford opened his mouth, but Garrett cut him off. “I already told you I’ll have the blackmail lined up, but for the record, this is not going to end well.”
“It might,” I said, still reeling from the fact that I had to choose between my happiness with Meg and my sisters. But it had to be my sisters. I couldn’t have it any other way.
Remy clapped a hand on my shoulder then left to go pack. Wordlessly, I turned to leave.
“Where are you going?” Greg asked.
I sighed. “I have a date.”
57
Meghan
Iwas stupidly giddy to be going on a date with Hunter.
The dress looked great on me. “It’s not even too over-the-top for Harrogate,” I gushed to Kate. “I don’t think Walter would have been this sensitive to the fact that Harrogate is a small town and somewhat conservative… sometimes at least.”
The dress was tea length and ivory-colored, with a big bold pattern of peonies on it and capped sleeves. I had been on dates since Hunter broke my heart five years ago but none in which I had felt this good.
