She just wanted him around?


    The nerve of her.


    I looked at her pitiful face, my voice turning colder. “Tanya, you’ve got it wrong. It’s not Jace’s body


    you want–it’s his status, and all the money thates with it.”


    Tanya pressed her lips together. “I won’t deny that, but…”


    She paused, then delivered her next line like a punch straight to the gut. “But over these months,


    Jace has treated me just as well as Desmond ever did. I’ve really fallen in love with him. I want to


    spend my life with him.”


    So, this was her way of telling me Jace cared about her, that she couldn’t live without him.


    Even now, she saw me aspetition.


    Yet here she was, begging me for help.


    Even while pleading, she couldn’t resist twisting the knife. She really thought I was that easy to


    y.


    I gave her a faint smile. “Jace was so good to you, but he still ran off.”


    Her face froze. I continued, “Are you sure he wants to spend his life with you?”


    “As long as hees back, I’ll make it work,” Tanya whispered, desperation creeping into her tone.


    I nodded slightly. “Well, good luck with that. Go bring him back yourself. I’m not helping you.”


    Tanya had been kneeling for a while now, and it was starting to show. She wobbled, gripping the car


    door tighter. Her voice shook. “Why? Is it because you still love him?”


    It’s sad when a woman mes another woman for a man’sck of love.


    I was done with this back–and–forth. I scoffed. “Sure, think whatever you want.”


    Tanya looked stunned, like she had more to say but couldn’t get the words out.


    “Kneeling this long isn’t good for the baby. You should get up. I need to leave,” I said, ncing at


    the clock on my dashboard. She had already wasted ten minutes of my time.


    “If you don’t call Jace, I’ll stay right here, kneeling,” she shot back, doubling down on her shameless


    tactics.


    They say even the strongest guy is no match for a clingy woman, and in that moment, I understood


    why Jace ran. Maybe it wasn’t just because of his fallout with Matthew–maybe he was sick of Tanya


    constantly hounding him.


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    “Then stay there.” I revved the engine twice, making my point.


    Tanya flinched, her body trembling, but her hands stayed clenched around the car door.


    She was betting I wouldn’t dare run her over..


    Her stubbornness lit a spark of anger in me. “If you don’t move, that’s your problem. You really think


    if I


    identally ran you over today, the Johnston family would send me to jail?”


    Her eyes widened in shock.


    “If you were really gone, the Johnstons would probably throw a party. Got it?” I added with a sweet,


    but dangerous smile.


    Tanya’s face paled, and her body swayed as she copsed to the ground.


    In the end, she didn’t have the guts to challenge me. She knew better than anyone that between the


    two of us, the Johnston family would always have my back.


    Watching her like this, I grabbed my phone off the passenger seat. “Didn’t you want Jace toe


    back? I’ll call him right now. You can hear for yourself.”


    I wasn’t doing this out of pity. I was about to crush her hopespletely.


    “Rea,” Jace answered within three seconds. His voice came through on speaker.


    “Jace, Tanya showed up at your home today. She’s standing in the middle of the street, blocking my


    car. She wants us to send you back,” I said, not sugarcoating a thing.


    “Where is she now?” Jace’s voice was calm, eerily so, without a trace of emotion.


    But I knew him. After ten years together, I could tell–this was him at his angriest.


    Hearing his voice, Tanya scrambled off the ground and lunged for my phone. “Jace, pleasee


    back! If you don’t, Desmond’s parents are going to make me get rid of this baby!“—