"Then Max needs to help you."
I shook my head. "He won't do that. He wants nothing to do with me."
Max's eyes narrowed. "What about the baby?"
I shrugged. "Like I said, he threatened to take it from me but at the same time questioned whether I was really pregnant or if it was his child."
James tensed next to me. "He's being an asshole. I know what you're saying, that he has a reason to be mad after what Dad did. But you would never do anything like that and he should know that."
I looked at James. "How would he know that? We haven't known each other very long, and during that time, we've only seen each other on a few occasions."
James held my hand with both of his, looking at me earnestly. "He shouldn't have to know you very long to know that you are a good and decent person. He liked you enough to sleep with you."
I pursed my lips at him. "I don't think affection is very high on the list of requirements for sleeping with somebody."
"Nevertheless, you've been married nearly two months, and only now have you filed paperwork."
"He was out of town."
James shook his head vehemently. "If I woke up married to somebody unexpectedly, I'd be at the courthouse as soon as it opened, with paperwork in hand."
My heart skipped a beat wishing what James was saying were true. But the reason papers weren’t filed sooner wasn’t because we wanted to stay married. "There were extenuating circumstances."
"No. He made excuses. You don't think a man like Max wouldn’t be able to take a day to get to the courthouse and file papers if he really wanted to? Hell, he could hire someone to do it for him. But he didn't."
My heart thumped hard again, but I did my best to ignore it. "It doesn't matter now. Dad changed everything."
James his eyes narrowed. "Where is he staying?"
"Who? Max?"
James nodded.
"It doesn't matter, James."
"The hell it doesn't. Listen, Amelia, I can totally see why he'd be angry and suspicious, but he needs to get over that. You're having his baby, for Christ’s sake. And you're right, when Dad finds out he's not going to get whatever he thought he was going to get out of this, he's going to come after you. Hell, he might come after that baby because right now, it's the only solid link between you and Max's money."
A new wave of panic shot through me. "What do you think he could do?" All sorts of scary scenarios flashed through my brain. I looked up at James, clutching him. "He could ruin my business, making me destitute, and then take my child from me."
"He could try, but I'll make sure that doesn't happen. You’d make sure that didn’t happen. Even if he ruins your business, you have mad skills someone will pay for.”
“He wouldn’t let anyone hire me here.” I was usually a strong, determined woman. I hated how defeated I sounded now.
“Then you leave. He can be stopped."
"How?"
"Because I know where the bodies are buried. I know every dirty deal he’s made or tried to make over the last ten years. More than half of what I do at the company is to monitor him to keep the company safe from all the shady deals and tricks he tries to pull off."
I felt a little glimmer of hope as I looked into James’s fierce eyes. "You have to have proof."
"I have enough."
"But I don't. I need to stop him before he tries anything, and I have no leverage. I don't know who picked me and Max up in the car that night, and if I did, what are the chances he’d tell the truth when he's clearly on Dad's payroll? Whatever drug he used on us will be out of our systems, and we don't have the glasses or champagne that probably had the drugs. Plus, until he told me what he did, Max and I thought we had just gotten wasted and married."
"But he told you. You know the truth."
I rolled my eyes. "He'll say that I'm a liar. He'll say I’m trying to put the blame somewhere else so I don't look irresponsible at having gotten drunk-married and pregnant. He hasn't said anything about the baby yet, so I'm thinking he doesn't know, but when he does, that's just more he’ll use against me. I have nothing I can use on him."