“Because Nathaniel Myers was my assignment.”
My spine stiffens at her answer.
“An assignment that ended up lasting much longer than it should have. That’s why I had the hit put out on him. I was done and needed it to end.”
Swallowing, I shift in my seat. “Still not sure what this has to do with me.”
“Men come and go, Blakely. But your child? That’s where they get you. These Lords prefer arranged marriages because they refuse to fall in love with their wives because that’ll show weakness.” She snorts. “Men can get pussy anywhere. Woman can get dick anywhere. It’s the kids that makes us savages. You have already proven that with how you handled Valerie at the confessional. You took her threat of taking your child personally.”
I admit that I panicked after what I did set in. But if I had a chance to redo it, would I? Absolutely. In a heartbeat. “Is that what you plan on doing? Force me to do what you want or take my child?”
“Of course not.” She snorts as if that’s absurd. “I just want you to understand that I did what I had to do … for you.”
I slam my hands on the desk. “Quit lying to me!” Getting to my feet I lean over it. “You haven’t been around for twenty years! None of what you did was for me.”
She leans back in her seat crossing one leg over the other, not fazed by my outburst. “Ryat.”
My husbands’ name on her painted red lips makes my heart beat faster. “What about him?”
“That was me.” She tilts her head to the side.
“No.” I refuse to believe that. “Dad …”
“Valerie signed you up for a chosen in order to pay off her debt to Matt for killing me. But how do you think you ended up with Ryat?”
I fall into my seat. “Dad made him choose …”
“I made that decision.”
No. It can’t be. My father told me that he knew Ryat was the better choice. He was saving me from Matt. But my father has lied to me more than once. This woman who says she’s my biological mother has no reason to lie to me, right? “Why?” I’ll bite.
“I saw how he was that night. He got in, got the job done and he never told a soul about what Matt did. Or tried to do. That’s a great Lord.”
I roll my eyes. “I’m so tired of the fucking Lords.”
“And Janett?” She laughs. “Did you really think that woman was going to hire you? You had no experience. No ID, money. Nothing. Not to mention you were underage.” She holds her hands out wide. “I made sure that she took you in.”
“No,” I whisper. My father was mad when I got back. “No one knew where I was.” If she was aware where I was, then my father would have known. He would have never let me stay away as long as they did.
“Oh, I did. Of course, I kept that to myself.” She gives me a smile. “I wanted to see just how far Ryat would go to find you. He didn’t disappoint. That’s when I knew I had made the right choice.”
I sit frozen, listening to her. How much this bitch orchestrated everything. It played out like a game to her. “And the fact that dad and Mr. Archer wanted Ryat to confess to what Matt had planned on doing to you?” I question. It doesn’t make sense. When I was in the hospital, dad wanted Ryat to confess. If they knew LeAnne was alive, then they already knew the truth about what Matt did that night.
She throws her head back laughing like I’m too stupid to catch onto something that should be easy to comprehend. “He was being tested. See, the Lords are always making the Lords prove themselves. And well, the fact that he wasn’t a snitch saved his life.”
“So, his father was testing him, knowing that if he failed, they’d kill him?” That’s what they do to a Lord who goes against their oath.
She waves a manicured hand in the air as if it’s no big deal. Live or die didn’t matter to her what happened to my husband. “He had no choice.”
That’s the same thing that Ryat told me when I asked him about the divorce papers. The Lords had ordered it and that was that.
LeAnne reaches out and grabs a cigarette, lighting it up. lifting it to her lips, she goes to take a drag, but I yank it out of her hand, putting it out on the surface of the desk. “I’m fucking pregnant.” I remind her
“Oh, yes.” She smiles. “With my grandsons.”
I slowly sit back and the look on my face makes her laugh.
“I know everything.” She says matter-of-factly.