“He’s knocking the house down.”
Kayden’s blood ran cold. To most, it would just be a house. Walls and floors and lights. To him, it was where all his memories still lived. Of his mom. His dad. Their family gatherings, before loss and devastation had hit. “You’re shitting me?”
“I wish I was. Barry heard it from Mrs. Sandler. I called Flint, and he confirmed it.”
Kayden hung his head, something dark and dangerous building in his chest.
Flint couldn’t knock down the house. In Kayden’s eyes, it was still their home. “I’ll buy it back from him.”
“We’ve tried that before,” Cody said softly. “He’s not willing to sell. The house was just a bonus for him. What he really wanted was the land so he could increase his livestock.”
Kayden rubbed his temple, the beginnings of a headache forming as his father’s words repeated in his head.
“I’ve sold the family house, son. I’m sorry. I had no other choice.”
Not just his words…the pain behind them. The guilt, as if his father had somehow let Kayden and his siblings down. He hadn’t. Martin fucking Taylor had.
“Kay…you all right?”
No. He was far from all right. “I need to go.”
He hung up and moved into the visitors center.
Pixie stepped out of the eco room, brows shooting up, probably from the expression on his face. “Hey.”
He nodded but that was about all he could manage before walking into Tilly’s office. He stopped at the door…empty.Where was she? She was usually here by now. He turned back to Pixie as she lowered into her desk chair. “Tilly’s not here?”
“No. She must be running late, which is unusual.”
He pulled out his phone, about to call her, when Pixie spoke again.
“Hey. I’m actually glad I caught you before she got here. I’m not sure if I should tell you this, but I heard that you and Tilly are dating, so…”
Kayden lowered his phone, wanting to tell the woman he didn’t have the capacity to deal with anything else right now, but she was already speaking.
“Last night, I was at Meridian and about to leave the bathroom when I heard Tilly on the phone…she was talking to her father.”
Kayden’s entire body locked, only a pulse beating at his temple. “What are you talking about? She doesn’t have anything to do with her father.” She’d told him that herself, and he believed her.
Pixie lifted a shoulder. “I just know what I heard. The phone was pressed to her ear, and she called the person on the line ‘Dad.’”
That couldn’t be true. It just fucking couldn’t. She wouldn’t lie to him. Not about this.
“I’m sorry,” Pixie whispered. “I just…I thought you should know.”
Kayden swung around, heading back out onto the deck and toward the mountains, hoping they could somehow give him the peace that felt so fucking out of reach, he was drowning.
CHAPTER 20
Tilly’s hands shook and she couldn’t suck in a single deep breath.
Almost there. She was almost at the visitors center. Her need for safety and comfort overrode everything else. She knew she needed to call Eastern, but rational thought had completely left her, and all she could concentrate on was her need to see Kayden. Because at some point, he’d become her safety.
Her father had never touched her like that before. Never hurt her or stared at her with that manic, desperate look in his eyes.
She’d had to pull over halfway here because of the panic. It had gripped her like a fist around her heart, squeezing. Tugging. Taking.
She pulled into the visitors center parking lot but didn’t get out of the car right away. She needed to breathe. To get herself together at least so that if she ran into other people, she didn’t look as completely wrecked as she felt.
