KRISTEN“Seriously?!” I screamed as I felt my pink Steve Madden stiletto snap beneath me. I splurged on those only a few weeks ago. I stumbled up the gravel driveway on perfectly manicured feet and a now broken heel, huffing in utter frustration. This trip was destined to be a disaster the moment I got into my car and drove it away from San Francisco.“Go to Napa Valley to get your inheritance, they said. It’ll be fun, they said,” I muttered to myself, limping up the drive. “Yeah, well this isn’t my idea of fun!” I screamed to the seemingly empty estates surrounding me.First of all, I wasn’t even in Napa Valley. I was in the hills far above Napa Valley, with limited cell phone reception and no sign of human existence aside from the few insanely large homes I passed on the way here with more acres than I could count. Second of all, why would a man I didn't even know leave me a fortune?When I answered my cell phone on Monday morning, I had not expected the strange caller to be a lawye
“Jesus, Dudley. Could you be any more cryptic?”I pondered the note. What the hell was this man talking about? I was supposed to run his business…while living in this house…which I don’t actually own yet? This day has officially gotten stranger.“Have you had a chance to read it, Miss Washington?” Dudley’s lawyer emerged from the hallway which must house the bathroom.“Yes, um but I don’t entirely understand. So Dudley hasn’t given me the house yet? Or the inheritance? Not to sound greedy, but I thought that was the reason I came here.”“It is! It is! As the note states, you will receive it all. Just once you’ve completed Dudley’s requests. It’s all in escrow for now, so now one else can touch it, but I have binding orders to not pass over the deed until you provide proof to me that you’ve completed the business tasks.”“Okay, so where is this journal with my instructions?”“That I do not know, Miss Washington. He wasn’t a very trusting man. He was always on edge and it appears he did
KRISTENAs I limped on my broken heel to the backyard, I started to get pissed. You know what, fuck this! Nothing can ever be easy with men, can it? One man, trying to control my life with his money. Another one, mocking my ambition by telling me I need a vacation. And now, a third, on my property, without my permission, looking hot enough to distract me from the fact that he was an entitled creep who does whatever he wants.On the way to confront the intruder, I stepped in a low spot, and my already unsteady ankle almost gave out on me. I bet a man invented these shoes! I fumed as I marched over to the bearded hunk who had paused his branch trimming and was smirking at me.“Excuse me,” I said. He smiled, cleared his throat, and opened his mouth to talk before I cut him off.“Who are you?” I demanded.He looked at me, his ocean blue eyes catching and holding my gaze. For a moment, my anger softened and I felt an electric spark in the air between us. Then a small smirk spread across h
EDWARDSI slumped into my leather couch, cursing my new neighbor. Kristen. Who the hell did she think she was, just waltzing in with heels and a bad attitude? If she decided to keep Dudley’s property, there was no way I’d get access to that tree. I usually get what I want and those who get in my way regret it.Although, they are rarely as hot as this one. I couldn’t take my eyes off her curves in the form-fitting dress. Her flaming red hair could be seen a mile away and her bright pink outfit complimented it well. Freckles dotted her porcelain skin across her face and down to her shoulders. Her nail polish matched her dress perfectly in color. Women like that didn’t last long up here. Maybe I could convince her to sell me the property after she tired of pretending to rough it up here in the hills.I dialed the phone number of my lawyer and best friend, Charlie, to see if he could contact Dudley’s attorney ASAP. Hopefully, we could work out a deal.“Hey, Edwards! I was just about to c
KRISTENA knock at my door halted my search for Dudley’s journal. So far, I had torn apart the closet beneath his creaky wooden steps and scoured his book shelves. Other than some dusty travel mementos and torn maps, I hadn’t found much.I had driven back to San Francisco last night after deciding to stay here for a couple weeks. I packed heavily, needing as much comfort as my clothes and hair products could bring me in these hills. I also stopped for some groceries, considering the nearest grocery store was about 30 miles from Dudley’s. Finally, I stopped at the publishing house to pick up my laptop and the equipment necessary to work from home for the next two weeks. My boss was not the happiest with my request to work remotely, but with the help of my co-worker and best friend, Lisa, I convinced her.I opened the front door and was met by Edwards’s suspiciously large smile.“You again. What a surprise,” I greeted him.“Hi, Kristen. Can I come in?” My heart fluttered a bit at the i
Next, I went to Dudley’s all-too-small closet that currently housed a few of my dresses. My clothes were practically bursting from the dresser drawers already and I had been extremely disappointed to find that Dudley only had a sum total of 6 hangers. I picked out a yellow sundress with a white flower print and went back to the bathroom to complete the look.I walked to the only full length mirror in the house, in an upstairs bedroom, and smiled at my reflection. I looked good. Even though the rude mountain man, who I’d guessed hadn’t trimmed his beard in at least two months, probably wouldn’t even notice, I liked getting dressed up for myself. Plus, the man was probably too self-absorbed to notice me; the good looking ones usually are.I spent my remaining hour cleaning up some of the rooms I’d be spending most of my two weeks in. Dudley had a home office where I set up my remote work supplies and I did a sweep of the kitchen so that it would be fresh for me to bake in as I wished. I
EDWARDS“So, Miss Washington, who gets to go first?” I asked Kristen as she took her seat back at the table.I served her a piece of steak that I had cooked to perfection and some potatoes that I grew in my greenhouse a few miles away. I also poured us glasses of red wine. I was aching to go first, to ask Kristen if I could buy her property or at the very least harvest those apple seeds, but I needed to present myself as a perfect gentleman tonight. I needed to get on her good side if I wanted any access to that tree whatsoever.I watched Kristen adjust her dress, still eyeing the sunset. I had missed almost the entire thing, choosing to watch Kristen instead. My eyes were fixated as her mouth opened and closed, unable to find words to express the sight before her. I had felt the same way when I saw my first sunset up here. It was one of the reasons I stayed.This sunset felt a little different than ones prior though. Kristen’s red hair reflected the sun’s orange hue beautifully. Her
“Um, something like that. There’s a few things I need to take care of first. Things to settle up for Dudley and what not.” Her face turned bright red again. She blushed often, a characteristic she probably inherited with her red hair and freckles. I didn’t altogether mind it, finding the red hues quite captivating.“Do you have a buyer in mind?” I grew bolder.“No,” she responded, sipping her wine. “Why? Are you interested?”“Actually, yes.” I watched as her eyes widened and her mouth fell open just slightly, her lip gloss shimmering under the moonlight.“Really? And why is that?”“Well, as you’ve probably noticed, Dudley’s property is right in the middle of my acreage. I’d love to use the land for more harvests. I have so many seeds ready to be planted with no space to plant them.” I hesitated to bring up the apple tree in her backyard, not wanting her to realize its potential out of fear she might change her mind about selling.“I see. That was something I meant to ask you about act
EDWARDSI walked out into the hallway, ensuring Kristen I’d be right back.“Hi Charlie.”“How are you doing, bud?”“Fine, considering. What’s up?”“I’ve got great news for you. Custody is yours, obviously. Amber will be in jail for a long time after this. They’re thinking at least fifteen years. And she won’t be allowed near the kids once she’s out.”“She deserves more than that.”“Ain’t that the truth. But listen, this also means, you won’t have to write another child support check in your life.”I grinned cheek to cheek. My kids were mine, fully mine. Finally. But then my grin fell, remembering the bomb that had just been dropped on me. The last thing Charlie had said wasn’t necessarily true. I didn’t know what the future held with Kristen and my child that she was carrying. I knew what I wanted, though. I wanted a family, one that was complete and whole.I thanked Charlie and hung up. I rushed back into Kristen’s room, knowing what I needed to do.“So?” she asked.“It’s official.
EDWARDSI fought with police officers for what seemed like hours, as patrons continued to stream out of the bar. I stopped to examine each one. None were my daughter.“She’s still in there! What are you guys waiting for?”I just kept screaming and they just kept ignoring me. I tried to run in myself a few times, but each time I was caught by an officer and dragged back behind the wall of squad cars they had formed in front of Rita’s.“We have to do this strategically, so no one gets hurt,” the commander told me after my third attempt to get in.After some discussion, they decided to call the bar, in hopes that Amber would answer and that they could talk her off the ledge. I jumped nervously back and forth on my feet as he tried to reason with her. He hung up.“She wants money.”“What else is new? How much?”“A million.”“What?!”“You won’t be giving her a penny. Now that we know she won’t reason with us, we’ll come up with a plan to force entry and remove your daughter as safely as p
KRISTENI pulled up to Rita’s just fifteen minutes after Edwards and I had spoken still reeling from my conversation with Wally. I had to find a way to stop Carter from purchasing the house, but I had larger priorities right now. I took the handicap spot out front. I figured if I didn’t find anything, I’d be gone before anyone knew it. And if I did find Candace, then I had bigger things to worry about than illegal parking.I ran inside, leaving my purse and phone in the car. I burst through the front door and scanned the bar area. It was filled with burly men in flannel and jean jackets. Almost every single one had facial hair. The bartender was an older woman, with a heavy spray tan and wrinkled skin.No sign of Amber or Candace yet, I walked in further. As I walked forward, my flip flops squaked on the sticky, tiled floor. There was squished popcorn and spilled beer coating most of it. In the middle of the room was an aged pool table and nailed to the wall were a couple slightly ti
EDWARDSI hung up with Kristen, hopeful that we might be onto something. I called the cops right away and updated them. I told them that Kristen would be to Rita’s very soon, and that they needed to meet her there ASAP. I was fairly certain Kristen had been right that Amber wasn’t dangerous enough to hurt her, but I didn’t want to take any chances. They assured me they’d have officers on the scene as quickly as they could.I gave Samson a rub on the head.“We’re gonna find her, bud.”He whimpered beside me. I didn’t want to consider the fact that we could be way off. Amber and Candace could be well past Rita’s by now, and potentially even out of the state. I had tried the phone tracking app several times, but Candace’s phone was still off. Amber must have taken it from her.No matter how hard I tried to rationalize it from Amber’s perspective, I just couldn’t understand why she’d do this, unless she really had just gone off the deep end. Nothing she gained from this aligned with any
KRISTENI got back to the motel around noon. I applied for a secretarial position very close to here last evening and got a call back almost immediately. They seemed desperate, and so was I. I scheduled an interview for the next day and here I was. I thought the interview went quite well, actually.The job didn’t pay anything special, but it would do. After a few weeks there, I’d have enough to start making rent payments. I’d be out of this motel in no time, or at least well before the baby came. I wasn’t immensely excited about typing memos and completing invoices all day, but work was work. I didn’t have the luxury of being picky right now. I also called my landlord and got out of my lease in San Francisco. I told them to scrap anything I had left, which earned a few curse words.I hung up and sat back on the motel’s floral print couch that I thought was probably from the seventies at the earliest. There were several stains that could have been from any decade quite honestly. I tho
EDWARDSI woke up the next morning, forced to remember for a split second everything that had happened the day prior. I laid in bed and crossed my arms over my face as I thought of Kristen and her betrayal. I saw what Dudley had written, how Kristen was supposed to get her inheritance. Her newfound interest in apples made all too much sense now.I knew she was probably desperate after losing her job, but that didn't make it right. What hurt me the most was that after all we had shared with one another and all that trust I assumed we had built, she still didn’t trust me enough to let me help her. I had wanted to provide for her and I would have gladly helped her get back on her feet. She was just too stubborn to let me.I pushed my sheets back and got out of bed, more determined than ever to get full custody of my kids back. After getting ready with Samson hovering by my side—he knew something was wrong with me—I called Candace.I tried several times, but her phone kept going straight
“It’s none of your business.”Before I could reach over and grab it, Edwards picked it up, sifting through the worn yellow pages.“Did Dudley write this?”My face had gone pale white. I gulped and nodded. It was the second half of the journal, the one that detailed most of Dudley’s plan to steal TruFruit’s patent.“To you?” He asked, continuing to scour it.I nodded again, having no words for him at this moment. How dare he? This argument is about him and his lies.“So, we were right then? He was fired.”I didn’t respond to this inquiry. He didn’t even look up to see if I had answered. After a few moments, he found the note that had fallen out of the journal when I first found it. I stuffed it back in between the pages, so I wouldn't lose it. I watched his face morph into despair.“He wanted you to rip me off?”I stood still.“Were you going to do it?”I was frozen in place.“How could you?”I wasn’t going to bother telling him that I hadn’t planned to go through with any of it. The f
EDWARDSI walked into the other room and talked to Charlie in a hushed tone, hoping to make Sabrina squirm a bit. As I did so, I heard footsteps on the stairs. I looked over to see Candace running down them with a duffel bag.“One second Charlie.” I put the phone to my side and approached my daughter who was angling toward the front door.“Where do you think you’re going?” I asked her.“My friend’s house.”“Who gave you permission to do that? We have some things to talk about, Candace.”“Not interested.” She reached for the knob.“Hey!” I yelled to her, in a firm tone I rarely used. She turned on her heels, one arm on her hip and the other clutching her overnight bag.“You know, maybe you should save the parenting for all of the kids you haven’t told me about yet.”“Candace!”She opened the door and I ran out after her, Charlie still waiting on the line.“Sweetheart, wait! Let me at least explain!”“No! I’m sick of being constantly disappointed by you and mom!”Candace ran towards a b
I responded to Kristen’s text, telling her I’d be over in a couple hours. I wasn’t expecting a package, so it was either a mistake or a ruse to get me into bed. My heart sped up at the thought.A couple hours later, I was on Kristen’s doorstep ringing the doorbell, ready for whatever surprise she had waiting. But when the door opened, I found myself completely caught off guard. A small boy stood below me, looking up with piercing blue eyes. I looked up and a small blonde came out from the kitchen.“Sabrina,” I gasped. “What the hell are you doing here?”“They lost the keys to the house. It’s been lovely meeting your fiancée and son, Mr. McLean,” Kristen said to me from the living room, her tone ice cold.“We have a lot to talk about, darling. And I’ve been waiting for you all day.” Sabrina grabbed her purse and the backpack from the hangers by the front door and met me outside. “Thanks for your hospitality, Miss?”“Washington. Kristen Washington. And you’re welcome,” Kristen responded