Page 141 of To Hate Adam Connor
“Am I not Aiden’s mom, Adam? Does that not make me your family forever? And you might prefer not to talk to them, but I still consider them my family.”
Of course she did. She fit right in with them.
I clenched my fists and faced the windows that looked out at a small guesthouse and the backyard.
“I thought so too. Neil thinks the only reason they haven’t mentioned who I’m with in the video is because his face was cut off. From the stills they’re leaking it doesn’t look like they have a better angle and we can use that. We can release a statement or have Neil interview us about it, or someone else if you want to. He thinks the best way to go about this is to say it was shot without our knowledge and we knew nothing about it.”
Somewhere in the middle she lost me. “Excuse me? What do you mean without our knowledge?”
“We have to say it’s a video of us. The date matches. The only reason everyone is so obsessed with it is because they think I was cheating on you and that I’m the reason our marriage ended. If we tell them that it’s you, everyone will lose interest. You coming here tonight…” She gestured outside with the cigarette between her fingers. “Them getting a picture as you pulled in, that will help. After all, if I had cheated on you, you wouldn’t have come.”
“But that’s not the reason I’m here, is it?”
She took a deep drag of her cigarette and blew it toward the ceiling. “No, it isn’t. And like I told you on the phone, I don’t want to make a statement about Aiden, but if you force my hand, to save myself, my career, I will do exactly that. After the divorce, this is all I got, Adam. If you hadn’t filed for custody maybe this would’ve just blown over, but everything came back to back. I can’t let a sex tape ruin everything.”
We stared at each other in the silence that followed her words.
I forced a smile on my lips and clapped at her performance. “And when you throw us under the bus, will you add that it was your idea from the beginning?”
She smiled, the tension melting away from her features and making her look soft and sweet. “Of course I will. You didn’t want him after all. I was the one who had to talk you into it. You can’t argue with that, can you?”
“What happened, Adeline? What happened to you?” I asked, already past the shock and disgust.
Putting out her cigarette, she walked up to me. “I love him. I love him, Adam. Please don’t make me hurt him. Nothing ended up being what I wished for, but I did my best. I did my best as your wife, and I don’t deserve this. All I’m asking for is your help. Nothing more. We can act like we’re thinking of getting back together. We’ll pretend as if this brought us back together, and when the waters settle down again and I start filming regularly, I’ll let you have sole custody—”
The door to her living room slammed open, jolting both of us.
“Dan, what’s go—”
“We need to leave. We need to leave right now.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Lucy
Lying next to Aiden as he slept, my own eyes started to close as I waited for Adam. I wasn’t exactly sure if we’d end up talking about us when he got back, and quite frankly I was probably the last thing on his mind, but still, talk or no talk, I knew I’d feel much better when he was back with us.
Aiden had fallen asleep ten minutes into the movie after we built our impromptu fort that was only really big enough for the two of us. He snuggled closer to me in his sleep, and I smiled down at him. He was the perfect kid.
“Can you keep a secret, Lucy?” he had asked me just moments before his eyes had lost the fight and he had fallen asleep.
“Of course. I love secrets. Tell me.”
He looked away from the TV and played with his pajama bottoms. “I cried today.”
“What happened?” I whispered back just as quietly as he had.
He lifted his eyes up to meet mine, his fingers still twisting and pulling at the fabric. “You can’t tell my dad, though. Okay?”
Nodding, I waited for him to continue. “My mom was on the phone today and she was crying, so I thought I could give her a hug and make it okay, like I did with you when you cried over Lion King, but when I tried to get her attention, she yelled at me and told me to get back to my room. My nanny rushed after me and said my mom was just sad and didn’t mean to yell at me, but I still cried a little because I don’t want her to be sad. I just wanted to give her a hug.”
The bitch!
“I’m sure she didn’t mean to yell at you, Aiden. I think she was having a bad day today, which is why your dad left so he could help her. She’ll be okay.”
“I know,” he murmured. “But it made me cry anyway. I always miss my dad when she yells at me because she never yells when daddy is there.” I tried to find something to say but came up empty.
Shit.
