Game over.
Once you know what a woman tastes like.Once you know how she fits against you, how she breathes when she’s asleep with her cheek on your chest—well, there’s just no putting that genie back in the bottle.
No going back to pretending she’s just someone you know.
Kelly McCrae is under my skin now.
And that means her boy is too.
I didn’t expect that part.
Didn’t plan on it.
But the moment Evan threw those punches and then broke down in his mother’s arms, something locked into place inside me.
I felt protective as hell.It’s the same instinct I feel for my son, Maddox, even though he’s a grown ass man.The same one I’ve had my whole life when someone smaller is about to get steamrolled by someone bigger.
Mike Stevens thinks he’s going to leave them, then come back to bleed them dry.
Threaten court.
Threaten money.
Threaten taking that kid away from his mother.
Threaten forcing her to move to some fucking state hours away.
That man has no idea what kind of wall he just ran into.
Because I build things for a living.Big things.Strong things.And when I decide something is mine to protect, I don’t half-ass it.
Kelly.
Evan.
That’s my line in the sand now.And God help that stupid motherfucker if he tries crossing it.
I’ve spent this entire week preparing.I haven’t wasted a second.I hired a firm—real bastards, the good kind—called Sigma International Group.
Top-tier investigators who don’t flinch at tearing through hidden accounts, backdoor wire transfers, off-the-books investments—and whatever other dirty little habits a middle-aged idiot picks up when he runs off with a woman half his age and starts bleeding money he doesn’t actually have.
They’re doing a deep dive on Mike Stevens, his new wife, and even his parents.If there’s dirt, I’ll get it.
I’ve also looped in my legal team.
Not the junior associates.
The sharks.
The kind of attorneys who don’t just respond to threats—they dismantle them.
They’re handling everything.Custody.Financial fraud.Asset recovery.All of it.
Because let’s be real—Mike Stevens threatening to sue for alimony after stealing from his own wife is the kind of delusional arrogance that gets men buried.
The bastard drained joint accounts.Wiped out his own son’s college fund.Took out a second mortgage in Kelly’s name without her knowledge—which, last I checked, is called fraud.And he drove off with her minivan.
Like he was entitled to a parting gift.
