Chapter 21: The Door

Jonas's POV

I put the phone down on the kitchen counter and walked to the door.

"Stay back from it," I said to Annabel.

She stood up from the couch, and she did not move away.

I put the chain on and opened the door four inches.

Lawson Draper stood in the hall with no coat, and his tie was gone.

His eyes were red, and his hair was wet from the rain.

"Rhinelander," he said. "Let me talk to my wife."

"She isn't your wife in this house," I said. "Go home, Mr. Draper."

"Ten minutes. I'm asking."

"No."

He put his palm against the door.

"Name it," he said. "Whatever you want. I'll double your salary, then triple it."

"You've guarded my family for three years. I know your price."

"I know it too," I said. "You paid your brother five thousand in cash to stay in her room."

"What did you pay the man who stood in the hall?"

His mouth moved, and nothing came out.

"Annabel," he called past me, louder. "Annabel, please."

"I'll buy the shares back at three times the price."

"I'll fund every treatment Poppy needs, and the best surgeons in the country."

"I'll resign the Foundation, and I'll divorce you, and I'll sign anything."

"Just call the District Attorney off."

I looked back at her.

She had come to stand beside me, one step behind my shoulder.

I would not have moved her out of the way if I could.

"Poppy's surgeons are mine to hire," Annabel said through the gap. "The trust pays for her."

"You don't have a price, Lawson. You have a signature."

"What signature?" he said.

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