Chapter 3

By the time I finished at the hospital and got back to the office, it was already 3:00pm.

The moment I walked in, the front desk called. "Mr. Coulter, Ms. Rigby is here with her mother and about seven or eight relatives. They're causing a scene in the lobby, demanding you explain yourself.

"They're saying if you don't, they'll put up signs about how your family forced the marriage and then abandoned her. A lot of employees have stopped to watch."

I spun a pen between my fingers. "Have security take them to the small conference room on the top floor. I don't want them disrupting the lobby."

When I pushed the door open, Lorraine was already slamming the table and screaming, voice bouncing off every wall in the room.

The second she saw me, she lunged, finger pointed right at my face. Security held her back, but that did not stop her.

"Gage Coulter, you heartless piece of garbage! You ruined six years of my daughter's life! You either go sign those papers with her right now, or you pay us five million. Otherwise we're not leaving!"

Tamsin was standing off to the side. When she saw me, her eyes went red. She clenched her jaw and rested a hand on her stomach.

"Gage, I'll skip the games. I'm carrying Chase's baby. Since you're the one calling off the wedding, you either give me five million so Chase and I can leave with the child, or I take everything about how your family bought me six years ago and hand it to every outlet I can find. I'll destroy you."

The relatives Lorraine had brought chimed in one by one, saying that a man should be generous, that Tamsin had given me six years and deserved something for her trouble.

I did not respond to any of it. Instead, I pulled a stack of papers from a folder and dropped them on the table.

On top was an ultrasound report, eight weeks along. Underneath were hotel records for Tamsin and Chase going back six years, over 300 pages in total.

There were also the statements from a credit card I had given her. She had transferred over 1.2 million to Chase across that time.

Even the apartment Chase was living in now had its downpayment charged to my card.

The color vanished from Tamsin's face. She reached for the papers, but security held her in place.

"Fine. Yes. I've been with Chase this whole time, but so what?"

She gave up pretending. She lifted her chin and stared straight at me, hatred bare in her eyes.

"Six years ago, if your family hadn't thrown 20 million at my parents, I would've married Chase. You destroyed my relationship and my life. So I spent your money. That's what you owed me. I took what I was owed. What's wrong with that?"

Her voice was steady, almost righteous. She genuinely believed every bit of it was my fault. She had hated me for six full years.

I looked at her and felt the corner of my mouth tighten, but I was not angry.

I reached into the bottom of the folder and slid a voice recorder and a stack of surveillance screenshots and bank transfer printouts across the table.

"You keep saying my family forced you into this. Listen to this."

I pressed play, and Douglas Rigby's tearful voice filled the quiet conference room. It was a recording from the security cameras in Dad's office, six years ago, the day Douglas got on his knees.

"Mr. Coulter, please, I'm begging you, have some mercy on us! We owe 20 million to loan sharks. If we don't pay, they'll break my legs and sell my son overseas!

"Our Tamsin just graduated this year, and she's a pretty girl. She's had a crush on Gage for a long time. If you let him marry her, we won't need to pay back a cent.

"We'll talk her into it, make sure she's happy about it. We'll never cause your family any trouble, I swear!"

The surveillance screenshots were even worse. Douglas and Lorraine were on their knees in front of Dad's office door.

Every trace of color left Tamsin's face. She turned to her parents. "Mom, Dad... is this true?"