Submitting to My Ex's Dad novel · Chapter 18 of 24
Chapter 18: Preston's Last Offer
At noon on Monday, Preston was standing on the sidewalk outside the clinic with a folder under his arm and a bouquet of white roses.
It was Lakeview at lunch hour.
A line of people waited at the coffee place next door, and two dog walkers had stopped at the corner.
The girl from the front desk had come out to stand on the step.
I got out of Benedict's car.
Benedict got out of the other side and stood by the hood with his arms folded.
I had told him: beside me, not in front.
Preston saw him and smiled with all his teeth.
"Hallie," he said, loud enough for the coffee line. "Thank you for coming."
"You said noon."
"I said I'd make you an offer."
He held out the roses.
I didn't take them.
He lowered them.
Then, slowly, in front of the dog walkers and the girl from the desk, he went down on one knee on the concrete.
It was his second time that weekend.
He was getting good at it.
"I was a coward," he said.
"I let my father's money tell me what to want."
"I want to say it to your face, where people can hear."
"Preston."
"I'll quit the whole thing."
"I'll go to work for somebody who isn't a Smurthwaite."
"I'll marry you at city hall on Friday, and we'll never touch a dollar of his."
He looked up at me, wet-eyed, trembling.
"Come home. Just come home, and I'll make it up to you every day."
Somebody in the coffee line said, "Oh my God."
For one second I almost felt sorry for him.
Then he took the folder from under his arm, opened it, and held up a sheet of typed paper.
"Or," he said, in a softer voice, "I put this where everyone can see it."
I knew the page from across the sidewalk.
Five rules, and my handwriting at the bottom.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of Submitting to My Ex's Dad are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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