Chapter 226
I parked in front of Tess’s dad’s townhouse and sprinted toward the door. Taking a deep breath, I knocked twice. When no one answered, I knocked again, louder and harder.
“Tess,” I said. “It’s me. It’s Brady.”
There was another beat of silence, and then I heard a muffled shout from inside. “Brady!” Tess screamed.
I didn’t hesitate. I slammed my shoulder against the door and stumbled into the townhouse. A short blonde-haired man was standing in the center of the hall, holding Tess in front of him, her arms pinned behind her back.
Tears pooled in her eyes.
“Are you okay?”
She gave a curt nod, her expression strained.
“It’s you,” the guy said. “Brady Wyler. So it’s true? You two were fucking?” He ran a hand over Tess’s stomach, and I tried not to lunge at him and rip his throat out. “I’m guessing this is your baby?”
“Scott, is it?” I said. “Let’s keep calm, okay?”
Scott glared at me. “You know, we wouldn’t be in this situation if you hadn’t gotten your scum ass lawyer in trouble with the law, right?” “How much?” I asked.
“W-what?” he stuttered.
“How much do you want? Rich fucked over a lot of people. Not just you, Scott. If you want money, I’ll send it to you. What do you want?”
Scott sighed. “Let’s go with fifty million, shall we?”
“That’s a lot of money,” I said. “More than I expected you to ask for.” “Rich promised me a payday for that photo, but I didn’t get shit.” “Fuck you, Scott,” Tess growled.
Scott yanked her hair back, and she cried out. “Shut it.”
“Okay!” I shouted. “Okay, I’ll pay. Just let me handle this. Leave her out of this. Please, just let her go.”Text © 2024 NôvelDrama.Org.
“Send me the money, and I will,” Scott said sternly.
“I can’t just send over fifty million. But how about we start with one, huh?” I showed him my phone screen, the app my accountant had logged me into, a fake image that was used in situations like this to convince perpetrators they were about to be sent whatever money they wanted.
This was a surprisingly common scenario, and it happened enough times that people who made a certain amount of money had access to this kind of app should these situations arise.
“I could start with one,” Scott nodded.
“Okay,” I said. “As soon as you let Tess go, I’ll press send, and you’ll get a notification on your phone.”
Scott hesitated for a second and then seemed to come to his senses.
“Fine. But after this, I want the rest of the fifty mil, or I’ll be back.”
I tried to hide my smirk. “You got it.”
He let go of Tess, and she stumbled toward me. I grabbed her, the feel of her body against mine sending a rush of relief through me.
“Did you send it?” Scott asked just as I noticed the red laser dot appear on his shoulder.
“Yep…in three…two…one.”
The glass window shattered behind us, and Tess screamed at the sound as the rubber bullet struck Scott in the shoulder, knocking him to the floor. The front door burst open, and a parade of police officers stormed the townhouse, blitzing toward Scott.
I twisted around, wrapping my arms tight around Tess. “Are you okay?
I’m so sorry, Tess. For everything.”
She took my face in her hands and kissed me. “I love you.” I choked back the emotion. “I love you too, so much.” Her eyes widened. “Brady,” she whispered.
“What?”
She gulped. “My water just broke.”
Two hours later, I paced the hospital emergency room, asking the triage nurse every five seconds if she had any more answers. Tess’s dad and her best friend Kate sat in the corner of the room, both quiet and equally terrified.
“Brady!”
I spun around at the sound of Brooke’s voice. She rushed into the hospital, wrapping me in a tight hug. “Are you okay?” She asked, hugging me. The question nearly broke me.
“No…Yes…I mean, I don’t know.” “Have you heard anything?” she asked.
“Nothing,” I said. “She’s eight months along. Is that…too early? They haven’t told me anything. Just that she needed a C-Section.”
“Babies have been born much earlier than that and have been totally healthy,” she said.
“But what about her? Will she be okay?”
Right as I asked the question, the emergency room doors opened, and a doctor appeared. “Is the family of Tess Perkins here?”
Kate and Tess’s dad jumped to their feet, and me and Brooke joined them beside the doctor.
“Is she okay?”
“She’s fine,” the doctor said. “Better than fine.”
“Thank God,” I gasped, hugging Brooke. I turned toward Kate and Tess’s dad, and even though I barely knew them, I hugged them anyway because anyone who loved Tess I now considered family. “Would you like to see her?” “Hell yes,” Kate quickly answered.
The doctor looked at me and smiled. “And your children?”
I glanced at Kate and laughed. “What she said.”
The doctor led the way through the double doors as Brooke and I followed Kate and Tess’s dad.
“Here,” Brooke said. “You forgot this.”
She passed me a maroon ring box, and I grinned. “Thank you.”
As we entered the hospital room, Tess rolled over on the bed and smiled at us, dark circles beneath her eyes. “You guys are here,” she sighed.
Kate and her dad hugged her. “Of course we were.”
They stepped aside, and I reached her. Overwhelming emotion flooded me as I kissed her forehead, her cheeks. “I love you,” I said.
Tears sparkled in her eyes. “I love you so much.”
“I have to tell you something,” I said. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” I opened the ring box, revealing the diamond inside. “Marry me, Tess Perkins?”
There was a roll of gasps from Kate, her dad, Brooke, and even the nurses.
Tears spilled down Tess’s cheeks. “Yes,” she grinned.
I didn’t know it was possible for one person to feel this happy until I slid the ring on her finger.
Tess sighed. “I have something to tell you too,” she said.
“What?”
She pointed behind me, and I turned around to stare at the three nurses, each holding a newborn baby. I glanced back at Tess, and she smiled.
“Brady, we have two healthy daughters and a healthy, beautiful baby boy.” “Can I…hold them?” I asked.
The nurse handed Tess our daughters and carefully placed my son in my arms. As I cradled him, looking at a face of pure innocence, a surge of emotion constricted in my chest.
Tears spilled down my cheeks, and I glanced up at Tess. I didn’t wipe them away, and for once in my life, I felt no embarrassment at showing my vulnerability, my emotions.
I wanted to remember everything about this moment. This was the true definition of happiness. I smiled through my tears at Tess, at my daughters, at my son, and an overwhelming rush of love slammed into me.
A love I didn’t know existed.
At that moment, I knew that I could die right here and now, and my life would be complete.
Tess had made that possible. I knew I would spend every day for the rest of my life letting her and my children know that they had saved me, that they were my everything, that this was my purpose in life.