Page 244 of Five Brothers
I rush in. “No.”
But they keep going as if I’m not there. “Say it again,” Garrettdemands, gesturing to everyone in the room. “Say it again, in front of them all.”
“Noargument,” Macon repeats.
What the fuck? Does he have any idea what I went through to protect him?
Macon shifts his gaze to Jerome Watson. “Stop looking at her.”
I glance, seeing Jerome turn away from me.
Garrett Ames holds out his hand, and Macon shakes it, the gesture by no means friendly. They both know Macon won’t break his word. Garrett is making sure everyone sees it.
In a moment, they’re gone, leaving only the Jaegers still on the boat.
I charge up to Macon. “What did you do?”
“Bought you back.” He tips my chin up. “You weren’t yours to sell.”
I shake my head. He took me off the table and put every person living in the Bay on it instead. How could he do that? Five years to make the land valuable is something, but it may not be enough. What if he can’t pull it off? I’m not worth that.
“Where are my brother and sister?” I ask.
He picks up a cigarette and lighter. “Making up their new beds and decorating their new room.”
His mother’s art room …
I back away, toward the doors. “I’m taking them home.”
“They are home.” He lights the cigarette. “I have power of attorney. Do you?”
“What?” I breathe out.
Power of attorney. He could’ve only gotten that from one of my parents.
He slides a document across the side table. I walk over, pick it up, and read it as he waits.
My mother is the grantor. She’s given him authorization to acton Mars’s and Paisleigh’s behalf in her absence. It doesn’t mean he has custody, but he has more than me. I haven’t gotten around to making this legal with my parents yet.
“I just paid a lot for you,” he whispers. “Come here.”
How much money did he pay her for this? On top of what I got her from my father, my mom has to be sitting pretty fucking well right now.
I hear Dallas in the background. “The whole Bay paid for her.” I drift to Macon. “How much?” I ask him. “How much did you pay her?”
The smoke curls toward the ceiling, his eyes locked on mine.
I pull the ties on my cover-up, letting it fall to the floor. I stand in my two-piece swimsuit that I wore on the beach earlier today. “Enough for all of you to get your uses out of me?”
His chest rises and falls in heavy breaths, and I reach behind my back, tugging the strings of my top. Pulling it away from my body, I stand in the middle of the room, topless. The guys are silent behind me.
“Enough for you to do whatever you want?”
“Enough for me to get you knocked up,” he whispers. “I want a kid, and I want it from you.”
I almost choke on a lungful of air. My stomach drops, and I barely notice him snuffing out his cigarette and lifting me into his arms. The room spins.
Is he serious?