A Wedding Night Gone Terribly Wrong novel Chapter 156

After laying it all bare, she stripped away her deepest secrets and placed them on the table.

"The biological father of my children, my ex-husband, is Holden Lockwood.

"My mentor, the man they call their father, is Quentin Adams, the owner of the Adams Wellness Clinic."

Leland knew Holden Lockwood. And he certainly knew his mistress, Iris Morgan. The stunt pulled in his office at the Lockwood Group the other day was proof enough of how Holden treated her.

Winifred figured Leland would understand the gravity of it all.

Leland pulled the car over to the side of the road and parked. His grip on the steering wheel tightened, the veins on the back of his hands bulging, trailing sharp, blue lines beneath his cuffs.

When he finally spoke, his voice was dangerously low. "You're trusting me with your deepest secrets. You really don't see me as an outsider anymore, do you?"

Winifred replied evenly, "I'm being honest with you for two reasons.

"First, you're a good man. I trust you, and you have the power to help me.

"Second, Holden is backing his mistress entirely. To build Iris-Adams Biopharma into an empire, producing generic drugs won't cut it. He needs proprietary formulas to corner the market and dominate the pharmaceutical industry.

"Quentin is Holden's golden goose.

"Holden believes the proprietary formulas used at the Adams Clinic are Dr. Adams' own brilliant creations."

She fell silent.

The car was dead quiet until Leland finished processing the information.

When he spoke, his voice was a husky murmur. "How do you want me to help?"

"Cover for me. Trust me. Provide the manpower when I need it, and help me 'assist' my ex-husband and Quentin in successfully pouring a massive fortune into Iris-Adams."

Leland chuckled softly. "If I help you, how are you going to thank me?"

She had heard that exact phrasing twice tonight from her kids. Hearing it a third time from him, Winifred applied the twins' logic.

"How do you want me to thank you?"

Did men like this actually exist? Winifred almost doubted her own ears. She shifted slightly in her seat, trying to suppress the wild fluttering in her chest.

She had encountered far too many terrible men. From Holden to Kian, and now Quentin—every single one of them had been blinded by their own toxic desires, severely damaging her ability to trust men.

This felt like a dream. She couldn't fathom that Leland was offering this kind of unconditional support.

After a moment, she fell back on their previous agreement. "Leland, we said it before: career first, romance later."

"Alright. Whatever you say."

Leland put the car back in drive. It was a standard-issue bodyguard vehicle, and he clearly despised the handling, tapping the steering wheel impatiently after a few minutes.

"Let's talk about the immediate future then. The legal team is drafting the contracts for the medical company. My review process will take about a week. You'll sign the equity agreements next week. You're busy moving for the next couple of days, right?"

"Do you have something else planned?"

Sylvia was back in town. She mentioned yesterday that she'd like to meet Dr. Shultz.