Three Wishes(42)
Author: Kristen Ashley

“A million,” Lily’s head jerked back to Nate and her mouth dropped open in shock.

“A million pounds?” Alistair was nearly bouncing in his chair.

“Yes, a million pounds…” Nate stated and Alistair was about to shoot to the moon when Nate continued, “for each year Natasha has been alive.”

Lily blinked, her shock so profound a stampede of buffaloes could have stormed through the room and she wouldn’t have moved. If Alistair had done a back flip out of his seat, Lily would not have been surprised.

“Seven million pounds?” Alistair was now, simply, agog. Lily didn’t know anyone who had seven million pounds much less could transfer it into another bank account “by the end of the day”.

“Yes,” Nate said flatly.

Lily couldn’t look at Nate, her eyes moved to Victor and he was staring at her in a way, in a way…

In the way he used to look at her.

She had no time to process Victor’s look as Alistair pressed, “Do you agree to the visitation schedule?”

“No,” Nate noted implacably.

Lily, already stunned, became so still a single touch would have sent a crack running through her body. She had known it was too good to be true.

“I’m sorry?” Alistair parroted his earlier question.

“I want full custody,” Nate declared.

It was Lily’s turn to shoot out of her chair. At his words, all the shock and numbness fled and the fight came crashing back into her.

“What?” she shrieked.

Nate rose too, albeit slowly. He faced her, his eyes looking directly into hers, the expression on his face carefully controlled.

“I want full custody of my daughter,” he told her calmly.

“You can’t have it!” Lily shouted, not at all calmly and forgetting her promise to Alistair not to say anything.

“She’s moving to London to live with me,” Nate stated.

“No!” Lily yelled.

Nate went on. “And you are too.”

“What?” This time it came out as a high-pitched scream.

“What?” Alistair shouted, also jumping up from his chair.

Victor, not to be left seated, also got up.

Eyes never leaving Lily, Nate announced, “You’re moving to London.”

“I am not,” Lily returned.

“You and Natasha are moving in with me. You and I are getting married in two months.”

“What?” Lily screamed again.

“This is insane,” Alistair threw in.

Nate’s gaze sliced to Alistair and he repeated, “Lily and I will be married. She and Natasha are moving to London, moving in with me.”

Lily leaned forward and put her hands on the table. This was too much, just too damned much. She’d had enough.

“You forget, I tried that before and it… did… not… work!” Lily flung at him.

Nate’s carefully controlled face flinched.

“Lily –” Victor said softly.

She interrupted whatever Victor was going to say. “No! No, no, no!” Lily pushed away from the conference table and looked at Alistair. “I’m leaving,” she declared flatly.

Alistair was visibly grinding his teeth. If there was a paperweight close by, at that moment she would have gladly handed it to him and showed him where to aim.

He stopped grinding long enough to grunt, “Go.”

She grabbed her bag where it was sitting on the table, whirled and headed smartly for the door, not looking back.

She was brought to an abrupt halt with a strong hand on her upper arm.

She winced uncontrollably in pain when the hard fingers closed around her bruised arm and she turned and looked at the familiar, strong, long-fingered hand then at Nate who was standing behind her.

He watched her wince at his touch and something anguished flashed through his eyes.

“Take your hand off my client,” Alistair, seething, was walking swiftly toward them.

Nate ignored him.

“I want to meet my daughter,” he told Lily.

“Fine,” Lily snapped, wanting nothing but escape. Her head was beginning to pound.

“I want to meet her tomorrow,” Nate demanded.

“Fine!” Lily clipped.

“I want you there,” he pushed.

“Fine!”

“Lily, don’t say another word,” Alistair warned from beside them.

“You’ll be there tomorrow,” Nate ordered, it should have been a query but it was a command.

“Yes!” she cried. She would have said anything to get away.

She wrenched her arm free as Alistair said her name sharply in frustration.

She didn’t pay attention.

She turned away from Nate and ran away as fast as her high heels would carry her.

Chapter Fourteen

Nate & Victor, Nate & Laura

For the first fifteen minutes of the ride back to London, the two passengers in the back of the Rolls Royce were completely silent, each lost in their own tormented thoughts.

Then the silence was broken.

“Nathaniel –” Victor began.

“Don’t,” Nate’s voice cracked like a whip.

Victor held his breath for a moment.

There was not a single man on earth he would allow to speak to him that way except Nathaniel.

Especially now.

Victor sighed, looked out the window and instead of seeing the rolling pastureland, his vision filled with Lily.

Jesus, f**king, God, he thought. Laura couldn’t tell him not to curse so blasphemously in his thoughts and more than likely, if she’d witnessed the nightmare in that conference room, she’d have a few curses of her own.

The minute Victor walked in the room, seeing Lily so close and cosy with her lawyer, looking so beautiful, stylish and serene, he’d wanted to tear her head off.

Ten minutes later he’d had the crazy, sudden, unprecedented urge to get down on his knees and beg her forgiveness.

She’d named her child Natasha, for Nathaniel.

She’d named her child after him, Victor, she’d given her baby, Nathaniel’s baby, Victor’s name.

And she’d nearly died doing it.

And after ten minutes more, Victor had been too broken to know what to do and that was a feeling he’d not felt for decades.

He was broken because she was broken. Broken because the bright, vivacious girl who had walked innocently into his home eight years before had been all but destroyed.

That suit she wore was camouflage, making it not so easy to see all that had been the glorious Lily was lost. The longer the attorneys talked the more she retreated, the further she got from them, from anyone and especially from Nate. She was so thin, so pale, she actually looked at the end in physical pain.