Johnson Family 1: Unforgettable by Delaney Diamond Read Free Book Online Page B

believe you for one second.” Lucas twisted away from her and ran his hand over the back of his head.
    “How was I supposed to get in touch with you?”
    He swung around. “Oh, I don’t know, your family’s worth billions. I’m sure you could have found a way. Hell, you could’ve called Mama Katherine. Admit it, Ivy. You didn’t tell me because you didn’t want me to know. Having me in your life didn’t fit into your plans.” He closed his mind to the memory of the magazine article he’d seen, celebrating her engagement to her high school sweetheart. According to the story, they’d been secretly engaged all along. The article had gutted him.
    “And for some reason, your fiancé went along with this…this farce,” he continued, bitterness brimming in his gut. “He was either a good man, or a fool so in love with you it didn’t matter. Makes me wonder if you did tell him.” His gaze sharpened, examining her face closely.
    “He knew before we got married,” she said.
    The plot thickened. “ He knew ? And he just loved you so much he went along with it?” he asked savagely, deep down sympathizing with the sap because he had also been wrapped around her finger.
    When she spoke again, her voice was softer. “The choice I made was mine.”
    “The choice was yours to make, but it didn’t only affect you. And he had no problem raising another man’s child and giving her his name?”
    Ivy crossed her arms over her chest. “My relationship with Winston is really none of your business. We had a very good relationship; our marriage worked for us.” She took a fortifying breath. “I didn’t think you’d want her.”
    She twisted the ring on her right hand, a habit he’d noticed she engaged in whenever she was uncomfortable. The ring was an antique, made of gold and set with turquoise and white seed pearls. She wore the simple jewelry as proudly as she did her diamonds because it had been passed down to her from her grandmother.
    “Who else knows that Winston wasn’t her father?”
    She twisted the ring even faster. “Everyone. Both his family and mine.”
    Lucas’s mouth fell open. This story got better and better. “Un-fucking-believable. Let me get this straight, all of you planned to keep this a secret? For how long?”
    “I don’t know. I suppose…indefinitely.” He saw the guilt in her eyes, perhaps even a bit of shame at what she’d done. She should be ashamed. “What do you want to do?”
    “I don’t want to be a father,” he grated.
    He never had. He’d been cautious all along, always using condoms and had even played around with the idea of a vasectomy. Only the finality of the procedure had kept him from having the surgery. Because even though he knew without a doubt he didn’t want the trappings of fatherhood, part of him held out just in case he ever changed his mind.
    “Then don’t be a father,” Ivy said evenly.
    “We crossed that bridge eight years ago.”
    “I said you could walk away and no one will blame you. She doesn’t know you, and far as she’s concerned, her father is dead. You can go back to Atlanta with a clear conscience.”
    He stilled. “Is that what you want?”
    “I want you to have what you want. Our lives don’t have to be disrupted and neither does yours.”
    She was giving him a way out—freedom. Freedom from responsibility, freedom to continue his life in the way he had been living it without interruption. The travel, the women, his work—everything would remain the same. Yet he hesitated to seize the opportunity she offered.
    “I could just walk out of here?”
    “Free and clear.” Same cool voice, same impassive features. He couldn’t read her at all.
    “I didn’t want this, Ivy.”
    “You think I don’t know that?” A quivering smile crossed her lips. “I understand and I don’t blame you. You can make your choice the same way I did. What do you want to do?”
    The same question again.
    He thought about the little girl he’d just