Roman-2(Lane Brothers, Book 5)(23)
A throat clears tersely, and I lose my grin, dropping the icing bag to the counter beneath me.
“Mrs Jasper, my name is Stewart Ingles. I represent your father, Wesley Munro.”
Warning bells start ringing in my head at the mention of my father’s name. Especially since the guy on the phone sounds like a lawyer and not some chump.
“Um, represent?”
“Yes, Mrs Jasper.”
He goes on to explain how Wesley is shitting a brick about Lucian filing adoption papers to make Ben his—something I didn’t know about, by the way— and by the time he’s done I am so fuming mad I have to force myself to slowly release the phone and not smash it to a million pieces.
That piece of shit thinks he’s gonna come storming back in to take our boy? He’s got another freaking thing coming.
“Lucian.”
“What’s wrong?” he asks, immediately sensing my mood, even though we’re only on the phone.
“I got a call from a lawyer representing Wesley. He wants our kid, Luc.”
There’ll be time for tears later. For now I need to set my junkyard dog on Wesley’s ass before he gets any further in this madness.
I hear a slew of the most vile cursing, something that is so not Lucian. He never curses in my company because—God, I want to laugh every time I remember it. According to him and Ben, ‘a real man does not abuse his woman with vile language’.
“Don’t worry, love. I’ve got this. Okay. No, Brody, tell that son of a bitch I want the whole team in here NOW! I don’t give a bloody fuck what they have going. I need to get this sorted before that smarmy twat gets his filthy hooks into my son.”
Maybe he doesn’t realize I’m still on the phone or something because he’s yelling at poor Brody and flinging around a few obscenities I didn’t know existed.
“Tell Harry to go get my kid and take him home to Ashley. Then I want you to get Judge Masters on the phone.”
Well, phew, if he has a judge in his pocket I feel much better about things. I know how bad it sounds, but now that I have money—Lucian’s billions—behind me, I won’t hesitate to use it in any way possible to get my way.
“Luc?”
“Love, ah, sorry.”
“That’s okay. I’ll leave you to it and go wait at the door for Ben. See you later, babe.”
“Ash, wait,” he says quietly, making me hold my breath.
His tone is way too quiet and leashed for my liking, especially considering the ruckus he’s just made, so I wait, holding my breath.
“Please don’t stress about this. I’ll handle it.”
“I know. That’s why I love you,” I whisper before ending the call to run to the front door.
Chapter Fourteen
Luc
Being the kind of man that I am—yes, a controlling, paranoid bastard—I decide to go to the school and get my kid. When I get there to see him waiting on the steps with the principal securely holding his hand, I feel a thousand times better and release the breath I’ve been holding since my woman phoned me.
I know why this is happening, and the knowledge that my vendetta against Wesley Munro has caused this makes acid churn in my belly. I’d contacted his new wife, a very nice woman by the name of Priscilla, and told her the whole sordid truth about his abandonment and theft.
Of course she’d been horrified, and by the end of the call I’d given her a cool quarter million to get her and her son started elsewhere and on the road to a divorce.
Then I’d gone at the man like a shark scenting blood and ripped the rug out from under him. He no longer had a home or the fledgling landscaping business he’d sunk half of my woman’s money into.
I left him with only the clothes on his back and whatever money he had in his wallet.
Seemed only fair, since he’d royally screwed with what I consider mine.
Now he’s out for revenge, and he’s trying to use my family to get it. Well, fuck him! I take care of what’s mine, and when it comes to my family he’d better believe he’s going to suffer for this move.
“Hey, Luc, what’s up?”
“Nothing, lad. I just thought we could play hooky and give Ashley another swimming lesson today. Maybe we can even convince her to let us have ice cream before lunch.”
He babbles the whole way home, his little face excited at the prospect of cutting school and teasing his sister for the rest of the day.
I watch him bound from the car and through the door with an enthusiasm that only the young can possess and follow him in, calling for my wife as I drop my briefcase and make my way to the kitchen, ready to soothe her fears and do what a husband should.
Take care of business.