Chapter 85
At Garner’s pad.
The rent for the auto shop was about to go up. Kristin, Summer, and Garner have all been cramming in there.
“Garner, the rent’s coming due. Are we still renting?” Kristin whispered. “The landlord was here. today to collect the rent, and he’s Jacking it up.”
Someone had been talking to the landlord, giving Kristin and Garner a hard time on purpose.
Garner sighed and leaned against the door outside, lighting a cigarette and saying, “I’ll handle the housing stuff.”
Kristin nodded. “Garner, Summer got into a scuffle at school today, roughed up the Gladstone family’s little lordling. Milo.”
Garner froze for a second, his cigarette hand going stiff. “Did Summer get hurt?”
Kristin shook her head. “Got a little bump on his head, nothing serious. But school… it’s off the table now. Milo’s mom is Eve. She’s from the FitzGerald family.”
Garner frowned, speaking in a heavy tone. “Forget it. We’ll find a new preschool.”
Kristin smiled bitterly and nodded. “Garner, you know what? Sometimes, I wonder if I should even be around.”
Garner tossed his smoke and yanked Kristin into the yard. “If you leave, what happens to Summer? No dad, and if no mom, how will he make it?”
“Sorry, Garner.” Kristin hung her head, tears hitting the ground.
1
Garner took a deep breath and glanced at his phone. “I’m pulling an all–nighter at work. I’ll handle the cash. Just take care of Summer.”
“I’m thinking of going to work on Monday. Got a shot at an interview,” Kristin said, checking her watch.
Garner nodded. “Cool, we’ll sort out Summer’s school thing before Monday.”
Kristin sat in the yard, zoned out.
Garner had been busy lately. He thought his lady boss was a loon with more dollars than sense. stirring the pot constantly.
But the pay was good, so he was sucking it up.
Bright and early the next day, Kristin was out hunting for a new preschool with Summer.
Every preschool was all smiles and welcome, but when it came to registering, they got the cold
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shoulder for some weird reason.
The excuse was that Summer didn’t meet the entrance requirements.
Kristin got it figured out, though. It was useless trying more preschools. Eve was pulling the strings.
Eve had been holding a grudge over Caleb’s thing, and she’d got her excuse and motive.
“Kristin, it doesn’t matter how many preschools you try. I’ll be waiting for you to come crawling.” Eve taunted, parked at the curb, waiting to gloat over Kristin’s misery.
“Mommy, can’t we just not go to preschool?” Summer whispered.
Kristin shook her head. “We’ll find another one.”
Early education mattered, and Kristin didn’t want her son to lag at the starting line. Otherwise. he would lag behind other kids when he hit grade school.
“Kristin, I’m curious how you have sweet–talked my brother into backing you?” Eve wasn’t just there to shame Kristin but also to figure out what Rhett was up to.
Rhett was no Good Samaritan. He had no business meddling with Kristin.
With the FitzGerald Group’s internal squabbles, Eve and Vincent being full siblings, Rhett would be it if she had to pick an outsider.
Eve was no fool. She feared Rhett’s support for Kristin was a move against Vincent.
After all, Vincent once loved Kristin dearly, and she was his fiancée.
Was Rhett aiming to humiliate Vincent?
Or was it a warning, a provocation?
Kristin ignored Eve.
“Kristin, can’t wait to see how long you can stand tall,” Eve sneered, slamming her car door
shut.
Peeved by Kristin’s pride, Eve buzzed Vincent. “You still in Crescendo Town?”
“Uh–huh…”
Vincent was clueless about Kristin being back in Silvergrove City and had made excuses to hang in Crescendo Town to find her. But he didn’t want to admit that he had still hung up on Kristin.
“Aren’t you coming back? Silvergrove City is flipping upside down! Did you know Kristin’s son getting into Angelic Guard International Nursery was Rhett’s doing? She’s walking tall with Rhett backing her and had her kid hit my boy yesterday! I heard she has even given Amy Brook a piece of her mind.”
Eve’s voice dripped with sarcasm, acting like she was about to hit the ceiling.
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Vincent paused, and his voice was urgent. “Who? Kristin? She’s in Silvergrove City now?”
“Yep, strutting around with Rhett’s backing. Can’t understand what Rhett is thinking. What did you do? Did you piss off Rhett again?” Eve wished for family harmony.
It was too bad that Mom and Vincent’s ambitions were off the charts.
Vincent’s voice turned icy. “Rhett, of course.”
Rhett took Kristin away, the same guy who made cops haul him off at the party.
Was Rhett using Kristin to play him? Pfft! How low could he get?
After hanging up, Vincent glared at his assistant. “Drive! Hit the gas. We’re heading back to Silvergrove City, and make it snappy!”
Inside the villa, Melissa lounged in her pajamas, chilling in the massage chair with a face mask, occasionally sipping her coffee.
She glanced at Garner standing beside her like a robot and rolled her eyes.
What a clueless, irritating man.
Besides taking a knife for her that day, Garner barely wanted to give her a second glance any
other time.
Melissa seriously wondered whether she was not hot enough or her figure wasn’t curvy enough.
Guys would have lost their cool over her in a heartbeat, but Garner was always sporting that poker face.
“You’ve been standing here all night. Aren’t you tired?” Melissa found Garner interesting. It seemed he could use some cash.
He took that knife for her, darting through the alleys with her like a desperado with nothing to lose, and the intensity he radiated attracted Melissa.
She had done her homework on Garner, who was from a family of poverty, had a nephew to look after, got screwed over in a car repair job and had to pay up 300 thousand dollars, borrowed from loan sharks, and with interest piling up, it’s probably around 600 thousand dollars,at the time.
Garner kept quiet, not saying a word.
Melissa invited him into her room the night before, but he refused, choosing instead to stand guard all night long.
Garner needed the dough but was there to be a bodyguard, not to play the gigolo.
Melissa raised an eyebrow, peeled off her face mask, and tossed it aside, confident there was no man she couldn’t handle.
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“Don’t you have anything you want to ask me for? I heard about the loan sharks. I could help you pay them off.” Melissa said with a seductive smile.
Garner frowned, slightly annoyed.
To someone like Melissa, an heiress with deep pockets, 600 thousand dollars was like pocket change. But he didn’t need her charity.
“Talk about not playing along.” Melissa snapped, clearly annoyed. “You’re off the clock. Get
lost.”
She could have fired Garner on the spot, but Melissa was reluctant to let him go. Without him, she’d miss out on teasing her very own blockhead.
Lately, Melissa had found a new pastime in getting a rise out of Garner each day. It became entertaining.
After hearing he can finally clock out, Garner breathed a sigh of relief.
Heading to the locker room, he went to grab his clothes and phone.
Just then, Kristin called.
“Garner… Eve has talked to all the kindergartens in Silvergrove City, and it will be tough for Summer to get in,” Kristin’s voice came with emotion.
Garner’s grip on his phone tightened, sick of these people pushing them around. “Don’t cry. I’ll figure it out.”
After hanging up, Garner raised his hand to his forehead, thumping it lightly, then sat on the bench in the locker room for a long while.
What else could he do except going to beg Melissa?
