Page 47 of Forbidden Dreams
“Yes,” I say, putting the envelope I had in my hand on the table. “I have something you might need.” She puts her pen down on the pad as she takes out the papers from the envelope. “I started gathering this five years ago.” I hand her the pictures of Winston with all the different women. “I hired a private investigator from New York so he wouldn’t know the Cartwrights,” I tell her as I hand her the report that he has made over the last five years. “He would come down once a month and just follow him around. There is also a number of women who have shown up at my door who were pregnant or allegedly pregnant with his child. I never saw them again.” I hand her the names and addresses of the women I have. “I don’t know if they will talk or not. This,” I say, handing her a USB key, “is video of him showing up at home drunk and us fighting. It was a weekly thing, and most of the time he was drunk. I have the footage of him stumbling up the steps and then walking into the house. Some of the fights are not seen but you can hear the screaming or at least the screaming from him.” The hand Brady had on my leg is gone.
“Excuse me.” He pushes away from the table, standing up.
My hand flies to his. “Brady,” I say softly, “please.”
He takes one look into my eyes that have filled with tears as I told her my story. “He’s not going to go away quietly.” Ryleigh ignores the fact that Brady and I are having a stare down. “And if I know them like I think I do”—my fingers link with his as I turn back to look at her—“they are going to drag you to court for everything, and I mean for everything.” She looks back at Brady, then back at me. “Are you ready for this?”
“As ready as I think I will ever be,” I admit to her. “The other lawyer didn’t have that.” I point at the envelope. “I didn’t think he would do anything with it, and then I felt like he was working more for my in-laws than he was for me.”
“These people will be looking for all your secrets,” she tells me something I already know. “They are going to probably make up a bunch of shit and parade it down Main Street.” She looks back at Brady. “I’m not judging you, but I have to know.”
“It just started,” Brady almost snaps, “when she moved in. When he put his hands on her in the middle of the night with his son watching. So they can parade whatever they want down Main Street. But if they think coming after me is going to make me go away, they are wrong. They aren’t the only ones who can parade shit down Main Street.” He squeezes my hand, and I can’t help but look at our hands linked together as the tears roll down my cheeks. “I’m ready to make them pay for everything.” I make the mistake of looking up at him, and he brushes the tears away from my face. “No more tears, yeah?” He bends to kiss my lips.
“Well, then.” She tries to hide the smile. “I believe I have everything I need.” She looks at Brady. “If you can call the cavalry, it’s time to go and have a chat with the sheriff.” He nods before he walks out of the room.
I wait for him to be out of the room before I turn to her. “His family has suffered enough because of my in-laws,” I start to say and swallow the lump in my throat before saying the rest of my sentence. “I refuse to have them in the crosshairs again. If I have to, I’ll stay somewhere else.” The pain in my chest is so strong I put my hand to my chest and rub it to release the throbbing.
She reaches over and puts her hand on mine and squeezes. “Harmony, if you think that man”—she motions with her chin toward the door he just walked out of—“is going to let you go, you weren’t in the room right now.” She shakes her head. “That man isn’t letting you out of his sight, not now, and I don’t think for a long time.”
He comes back into the room. “They will be here in five minutes,” he reports, and I get up from my chair.
“I’m going to go wash my face,” I tell Ryleigh. “Maybe put on some war paint.” I make a joke as I turn to walk out of the room, replaying Ryleigh’s words in my head, letting them sink in. But I know that eventually I’m going to have to let him go. There will come a time and a place when it’ll be too much for him. When that time comes, I’m going to have to walk away from him, and it’ll break my heart in a way it’s never been broken before.
CHAPTER 27
Brady
“You sure you are okay with all of this?” Ryleigh asks me when Harmony is out of the room and I look over at her.
“She’s living in my house,” I remind her. “I wouldn’t have her and her son living with me if I wasn’t okay.” I make sure I emphasize the words. “She wouldn’t be here.”
She nods at me. “That woman is already packed and ready to run,” she relays, but it’s something I feel down to my bones.
“She’s not going anywhere,” I declare.
“I knew a guy like you once.” She smirks at me. “Never took no for an answer.”
“Yeah?” I do a chin up. “Where is he now?”
“Taking care of our two girls.” She turns to head to the table, her smile plastered on. “When we get to the station”—she goes back to business as she puts her things away—“they are going to take us in a room.” I watch her as I listen for Harmony’s footsteps. “You won’t be allowed in the room.” I start to get tense. “But if I need you to make an official statement, I’ll call you.”
“I’m not letting her go in there all alone,” I snap, and Ryleigh side-eyes me.
“She’s not going in there alone.” She grabs her bag. “I’ll be with her every step of the way.” Her voice goes low. “I don’t know your backstory, but I can sense the hatred you feel for them radiating off you. She’s already freaking out; she’s not going to be on her game if she thinks she has to take care of you also.”
“I’ll be outside, then,” I give in to her, “but the minute, and I mean the minute?—”
“Trust me,” Ryleigh cuts in when the knock comes at the front door, “those men out there”—she points at the door, then to herself—“you think those men would let me go anywhere they thought I wasn’t safe?” She shakes her head. “Max and Matthew are my husband’s uncles. The two of them played for the NHL. My husband also plays for the NHL. My father is Tyler Beckett.” The name rings a bell, and I don’t have much time to think about it because she tells me. “He’s the biggest name on screen. Does his own stunts. Now let’s throw in Casey for fun, just to mix it up. I’m pretty sure Matthew and Casey could take over the fucking world without sweating. You think the Cartwrights scare me?” She laughs. “I’m begging them to fuck with me at this point. I’m begging them to fuck with her because fucking with her is fucking with me and them”—she points at the door—“and now you.”
I nod at her as the alarm beeps, and the door is pulled open by Harmony. “Hi,” she says, and Ryleigh walks to the door and stops beside me.
“She won’t do it,” she says, “but if he shows up here, you call the cops first, then me. You do not hesitate to call them. You hear his car on the street, you pick up that phone. After our meeting today with the sheriff, he’ll know we aren’t backing down. He’s going to relay that message to them, and they aren’t going to be happy. Winston isn’t going to be happy, and the only person he will take it out on is Harmony, so be ready.” She doesn’t give me a chance to say anything before she walks out of the room.
I get in the truck with Harmony beside me as I follow them to the sheriff’s office. She gives me one more look before she walks with Ryleigh into the station.
“We have eyes and ears in there,” Casey states from beside me, and I just look over at him. “Sheriff isn’t running that tight of a ship, and a lot of his new deputies think it’s time for him to retire.”
I don’t say anything as Casey walks over to the car and leans on it next to Matthew, sunglasses on his face and his arms crossed over his chest. Max is in the same position next to him, and all eyes are on the door that Ryleigh and Harmony entered.