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  An Excerpt from The Vow, Book 1

  “Just half an hour with my son, please, Jean. That’s all I’m asking for.” He’d won his ex-wife’s mother over once before and he knew she had a soft side to her.

  Colt smiled at Jacob. The boy had grown big. It had been two years, maybe longer, since he’d last seen his son. For one fleeting second he remembered the chubby toddler in his crib, when they had all lived together, when he’d still been married to Savannah.

  Looking back, life hadn’t sucked as much as he’d thought.

  “We need to go,” his ex mother-in-law said.

  “Twenty minutes?” He pleaded. “It’s been a while hasn’t it, Son?” He put out a hand to ruffle the boy’s hair and hated the way Jacob moved away from his touch as if he were a leper.

  “Don’t be scared, Jacob. I’m your Daddy. I won’t hurt you.”

  His ex-mother-in-law spoke. “He doesn’t know you.”

  He gave her a hard stare. “See what happens when your daughter won’t let me see my son? He can hardly bear for me to touch him.”

  “It’s not as if you’ve been beating down the door to come and see him.”

  “Look how far she moved.”

  “She needed a fresh start.”

  “I’ve been trying to come for a visit but your daughter won’t let me.”

  “I can’t say I blame her,” Jean said, obviously not backing down. “You didn’t make much of an effort even when you were married.”

  He exhaled slowly, trying to remain calm. “I was going through a tough time back then. I’m not here to argue with you, Jean.”

  “Then why are you here?”

  “I already told you, I was in town.”

  “Savannah’s not here.”

  “No?” He feigned surprise. “That’s too bad. I wanted to let her know I was here for a couple of days.” He hoped to get the money and leave, especially if he was to have a chance of leading a normal life again. Without any body parts missing.

  “Why don’t you come by on the weekend?”

  “’Fraid I can’t, Jean.” He shrugged and gave her his best look of disappointment. “Can you let her know that I dropped by?”

  “I’ll do that.”

  “I was hoping to buy Jacob an ice-cream and maybe a comic or a toy. I saw a few shops a couple of blocks away. Are you still crazy about them Ninja Turtles, boy?” Jacob shook his head, and he hadn’t yet let go of his grandma’s hand.

  “All I’m asking is to buy my son a small gift. Can’t you find it in your heart to let me? What do you say, Jacob?” But the boy looked at him silently with big green eyes that barely blinked. “Don’t be scared. I promise I’ll walk by your side, and you can stay close to your Grandma.”

  “One milkshake,” Jean insisted.

  “Just the one.” That’s all he needed.

  In the beginning she’d wanted them to try to make a go of their marriage, but that had changed later on, probably when Savannah went whining back to her parents. He was going through a bad time and she couldn’t deal with it. But sometimes he wished he could turn back time. It didn’t happen often, just lately, now that he was caught up in all this shit.

  Because life the way it was now, was completely shit. Seeing Merle and his wife and kids shook him sometimes and made him think about the life he’d let slip by. If he’d still had his job, if he was still earning regular money, if he hadn’t turned to drink, things might have been different. He couldn’t help but take it out on Savannah sometimes when the frustration mangled his self-esteem. She hadn’t exactly been supportive and wasn’t there for him the way a wife should have been. She was always too tired for him but had plenty of time for the kid. He’d been a douchebag sometimes, but not all the time.

  Once she left him, though, it was crazy how quickly his life had spun out of control. Small mistakes had ballooned into bigger problems and now he was in shit so deep that he almost couldn’t believe it.

  Coming here was his one final chance to fix his life and it was all thanks to Savannah and her new lover.

  They walked behind him and he turned around every now and then to pass the time by making small talk. “Where is she?” he asked, wanting to hear what the old woman had to say about it.

  “On a business trip.”

  “A business trip?” He laughed politely. With her lover in Miami? Now that was some kind of business trip, living the good life and servicing her boss. He had a feeling it was going to work out better this way, with Savannah not being here. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that his initial plan might not have worked. She might never have agreed to meet him, might never have given him the chance to hear his sob story. The woman was too smart to fall for anything like that—even though his story, the parts of it he chose to reveal, was true.

  “That’s right.” Her mom was being careful. “A business trip.”

  “She sure sounds busy,” Colt commented. “Looks to me like she’s doing good.” She had landed on her feet. Or on her back. Either way, she was doing better than he’d ever hoped.

  Screwing the billionaire.

  If he played his cards right, her good fortune would soon be his now that life had given him a chance to put things right. His prayers had been answered and with the boy as collateral, he had the perfect solution to his problems.

  He looked at the boy again and still couldn’t see any resemblance of himself, except for the hair color. Jacob had eyes like his mother’s. His were more of a brilliant green where hers were a murkier shade. Hazel she called them, not brown like his own.

  The boy caught him staring, so Colt smiled at him, and the boy almost smiled back. A tiny prick of guilt nudged at him, at what he was doing. He wouldn’t hurt the boy but even so, this was as dirty as it got, holding his own son for ransom. It was as low as being a drug mule.

  He hadn’t had much to do with his upbringing, but blood was thicker than water, and there was a bond, even if it was weak. Now that he was with him again, he felt it more. Seeing his son reminded him of what he had missed out on and what he would never get back. Flashes of these moments stabbed at him as they walked down the street to the parade of shops nearby. “Can we call Mommy?” Jacob asked his grandma.

  “Let’s call her,” offered Colt and called the number to his own house. “She’s not answering,” he sniffed. “Mommy might be busy, or in a meeting or something,” he replied, giving Jean a friendly smile.

  “Maybe Mr. Stone took her somewhere nice. He always takes us to nice places,” Jacob said.

  Colt forced a smile. “That’s mighty kind of him, ain’t it? It’s not fair that they’re having all the fun. How about we get a milkshake or an ice cream?” He asked. “I feel like I’m missing out on you growing up, Jacob. Sometimes it makes me real sad.” The boy attempted a smile.

  “We can’t stay out too long,” Jean cautioned. “Dale will be wondering where I’ve gone. Maybe I should call him.” She reached into her bag and pulled out her cell phone.

  “We won’t be long, Jean,” said Colt quickly. “There’s no need to call him. Dale hates me and you’ll only make him worry if you tell him I’m here. He’ll probably charge right over and take you both home.”

  She put her phone back into her bag. “Okay, but hurry up.”

  “How about a nice chocolate ice-cream?” Colt asked the boy. “This shop looks like it might sell some.” He was familiar with the parade of shops because he’d been hanging out around here while killing time during the day.

  “Come on,” he beckoned to them both and walked in. “What can I get you, Jean?” But Jacob’s grandma politely declined and in the end he bought the boy a double scoop of chocolate ice-cream and picked the cheapest ice pop for himself.

  “How’s school?” he asked, as they walked out.

  “Okay.”

  “Just okay? Made any friends?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Yeah? Do they have names?”

  “Lenny.”

 
; “Lenny?”

  “He’s my best friend.”

  “Lenny.” He turned to Jean. “He seems kind of settled in.”

  “He is,” Jean replied. “They’re both settling in just fine.” She glanced at her watch again and looked as if she couldn’t wait to get back home again. As if she couldn’t wait to be rid of him.

  He attempted to set her mind at ease. “There’s a shop along here that sells toys. I want to buy him a gift, and I promise I’ll leave you both in peace.” He pretended to look at his watch. “I didn’t realize it was that time already. I’d better get back.”

  “Alright,” she replied. After a while she asked him, “What kind of work are you doing now?”

  A bit of this and a bit of that. The truth wouldn’t sit well with her, so he lied. “Trucking. I was helping a friend out part of the way, that’s how I got here.”

  “Part of the way?”

  “We drove up to Philly and then I got a ride here. It was the only chance I was going to get to come to New York. Seemed a waste to come so far and go back without seeing my boy and Savannah.”

  Jean wrinkled her brow. “Philly is still a couple of hours away.”

  “Like I said, I was close by. Closer than being ten hours away.”

  Jean’s mouth twisted, as if she was watching what she was saying. “Helping a trucking friend doesn’t sound like a consistent way to earn money.”

  “I keep my hands in a lot of pies, Jean,” he told her stiffly. “It’s tough. I never found a stable job that paid as much as my foreman job did but I’m doing the best I can.”

  Crazy old cow, he thought. She never lets up. Always interfering, always thinking her daughter was too good for him. He turned to Jacob. “What kinds of toys are you into now?”

  “Marvel super-heroes,” the boy mumbled. Jean had paused at the entrance to a small grocery store.

  “Do you need to get something?” Colt asked. She frowned, as if she wasn’t sure whether to go in or not. “I need to pick up a few things for dinner.”

  “Go right on in,” Colt urged her. “We’ll wait.”

  “I won’t be long. Those avocados look nice and ripe.”

  “You might as well get them now,” Colt insisted and watched as she wandered into the shop. “You still like model cars don’t you, Jacob?” The kid had liked them when he was three. But the boy shook his head.

  “No?” Colt asked. “What do you like?”

  “Iron Man, but you don’t need to get me anything. The ice-cream was enough.” Refusing to give in, Colt pulled out his cell phone and scrolled to some photos of his ex and the billionaire that he’d found online. “Look,” he said, “Mommy sent me some pictures.”

  Jacob looked, then wrinkled his nose. “That’s not a picture,” he said. “That’s from a newspaper.”

  “So it is,” mused Colt. “I had some she sent, wait a minute.” As he started to scroll through his cell phone once more, a cab turned the corner and slid down the street, coming towards them. He had a split second to decide.

  Why wait to lose Jean later?

  This was it. His only chance. He hailed it down, his heart thumping like he was on drugs. The cab slowed, and he glanced quickly at the shop door, saw Jean with her back turned and walking away to another aisle. “Mommy has a surprise for you, Jacob. She’s coming home early and she wanted me to bring you to the airport.”

  Jacob looked and made a face, his eyes dubious. He looked at the grocery store. “What about Grandma?”

  “She’ll come later.” He opened the cab door quickly. “Come on, Son.”

  “But Grandma said—”

  Screw Grandma. “It’s a surprise.” He grabbed the boy’s arm and pulled him towards the car door and in his haste to get the boy inside, Jacob dropped his ice-cream. “Don’t worry, I’ll get you another one.” He shuffled the boy into the cab and slammed the door shut. Sweat licked at the hairs on the back of his neck.

  “Drive,” he barked, because he had no idea what the hell he was doing. Jacob looked out of the window, his lower lip trembling, “But Grandma—” He looked at Colt and shrank towards the car door, moving away from him.

  “Don’t worry about Grandma, Son. I promise you Mommy wanted to surprise you. Here, speak to her yourself, if you don’t believe me.” He got out his phone and it seemed to settle him a little.

  Once again he called his own home number. Colt shook his head. “She’s still not picking up.” Stay calm, he told himself, even though his heart rocked violently against his chest. But he knew it wouldn’t be long before Jacob figured out he was lying. And he only had a small window of time before Jean raised the alarm.

  “Tobias has his own airplane,” said Jacob, with a touch of defiance in his voice. This lie wasn’t going to last much longer.

  “His own airplane?” asked Colt, swallowing hard. The fucker had his own jet, did he? In that case, thought Colt, shrewdly, why not ask for more?

  $40k.

  It would buy him a pretty good life. It was enough money to pay off Santino and disappear to a new town to start over again.

  “Why would mommy tell you to come to the airport when she’s got Mr. Stone now?”

  “I told her I was in town,” Colt replied, the muscles around his neck cording as he fought to remain calm. “I like the sound of this Mr. Stone,” he said, smiling at his son. He sounds like a good man.”

  The Vow, Book 1 is now available OR you can get The Vow, Boxed Set (Books 1-3).

  Booklist

  Contemporary Romance Collection (4 Romances)

  The Billionaire’s Love Story:

  The Gift, Book 1

  The Gift, Book 2

  The Gift, Book 3

  The Gift, Boxed Set (Books 1, 2 & 3)

  The Offer, Book 1

  The Offer, Book 2

  The Offer, Book 3

  The Offer, Boxed Set (Books 1, 2 & 3)

  The Vow, Book 1

  The Vow, Book 2

  The Vow, Book 3

  The Vow, Boxed Set (Books 1, 2 & 3)

  Honeymoon Series:

  Honeymoon For One

  Honeymoon For Three

  Honeymoon Blues

  Honeymoon Bliss

  Honeymoon Series Boxed Set (Books 2, 3 & 4)

  Baby Steps

  Italian Summer Series:

  (A spin-off from the Honeymoon Series)

  It Takes Two

  All That Glitters

  Fool’s Gold

  Perfect Match Series:

  The Proposal

  Lost In Solo

  Heart Sync

  Perfect Match Boxed Set (Books 1, 2 & 3)

  A Leap of Faith

  Tainted Love Series:

  (A spin-off from the Perfect Match Series)

  Misplaced Love

  Reclaiming Love

  Embracing Love

  Tainted Love Boxed Set (Books 1, 2 & 3)

  Standalone books:

  Love, Inc

  An Unexpected Gift

  Acknowledgements

  My wonderful group of proofreaders check my manuscript for errors, typos and other weird things that sometimes find their way into my story. I would like to thank the following ladies for their time, help and support:

  Sherrie Brown

  Marcia Chamberlain

  April Lowe

  Dena Pugh

  Charlotte Rebelein

  Carole Tunstall

  A big thank you to Tatiana Vila for creating my awesome covers:

  www.viladesign.net

  About the Author

  Lily Zante lives with her husband and three children somewhere near London, England.

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  Copyright

  C
opyright © 2016 Lily Zante

  The Offer, Book 3 (#6, The Billionaire’s Love Story)

  Kindle Edition

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced in any format, by any means, electronic or otherwise, without prior consent from the copyright owner and publisher of this book.

  The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book through the internet or any other means without the prior written consent of the author is illegal and is punishable by law.

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, names, places and events are the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously and do not bear any resemblance to any real person, alive or dead.