“But the Animos Society—”
“Is dead. Or at least, it will be by the end of this news cycle.” He swallowed and sniffled, averting his gaze and blinking as if she hadn’t already spotted his tears. His words were still stifled, difficult for him to speak, but they fought against his nature and instinct, pushing their way straight through to Samantha’s heart. “Seeing what they did to you…it re-contextualized my entire life. Everything that I’ve done, I’ve done to someone else’s Samantha. So has Thomas. We were cruel, careless men who didn’t care who we hurt. But, today, you have ended that cycle. You have begun a new world, one without Animos.”
Shock locked up the muscles in her chest, making breathing almost impossible. Heagreedwith her. He wasn’t angry. He wasn’t disinheriting her. He supported her.
“I thought you would be so mad,” she whispered.
“I was. But then I remembered our time shooting. I told you to go out and make the change, to be better than you had been. You did just that.” His eyes glistened, and he bit the last declaration out with all of the feeling she’d never before see in him. “And I am damned proud of you.”
Her jaw dropped. Her heart stopped. He’d finally said it.
“Really?”
“Yes.” Laughter danced around the edge of his lips. He was as free saying the words as she was listening to them. Her heart soared. Rising from his place behind the desk, he came to stand before her, sincerity written in his every motion. “I always have been, really. I was a fool to miss out on so much of your life and a fool to try and force you into my world. I’m sorry. You deserve more. And if you’ll let me, I’d like to follow your example. I’d like to make things better.”
When she’d moved to England, Thomas told her that her father was very British. Not prone to emotional outbursts or displays of affection. But her father wrapped her up in his arms and muttered, “I love you, Samantha.”
And she could not help but reply, “I love you, too, Dad.”
The moment would never erase what he’d done to her or the life she’d had before it, but it was the start of something else, a new chapter of their lives, a new verse in their song. And she could not have been happier for it.
Unfortunately, the world outside of that moment still existed, and it intruded as her phone began to ring.
“Is that your mobile?”
“Yeah.” Sam broke away from her father and checked the caller ID. Captain. This must have marked the thousandth time he’d called today. It was about time she answered. “Just one second.”
She accepted the call and held the phone to her ear, answering gracefully. “Hello, Samantha Dubarry speaking?”
He was a rage monster. As soon as she spoke, the screaming began. “You fucking bitch—”
But this time, when he screamed at her, she was armed with something she hadn’t been before. Complete confidence that he had no power over her.
“Reginald. I have nothing to say to you. And you have nothing to say that is worth hearing.”
“I will fucking—”
“Dude. Get help.”
“Oh, you listen—”
No. The days of listening to him—or to anyone but herself—were behind her. “Goodbye, Reginald.”
And with nothing else to say, she ended the call, feeling better than she could ever remember feeling before. At least, as good as she could feel with one apology still left to make…
Chapter Twenty-Six
Everywhere Daniel looked, he saw Samantha. On the cover of tabloids with her father. In the pages of prestigious newspapers. Every time he opened any kind of social media. She was everywhere, cluttering his mind and tearing his heart apart.
Or rather, tearing his heart and his pride apart.
In his heart, he knew he needed to call her. He needed to say something. He needed… No, hewantedto talk to her. So much had happened that he itched to tell her about. He’d been signed to produce an EP for Icon Records. Angie had started seeing a girl regularly, the first long-term relationship she’d ever had. He’d been able to finally quit his job at the bookstore and now that he was making money with his music, he was finally—finally—looking into attending university. He wanted to ask her about her life, about her decisions, about what it was like to step out of Animos’s shadow and fight them instead of fighting for them.
He wanted to hear her voice.
Whether or not he wanted to admit it, part of him was still in love with her. Part of him still wanted her to love him. And that part of him knew that it would be as easy as picking up the phone, asking her to tea, and starting over.
But then…his pride (or his rational mind, he wasn’t quite sure which) knew and held one truth above the dense forest of feelings his heart was constantly trying to navigate:She’s never said sorry. Sure, she was changing. It was a transformation that played out in newspaper ink every day, one of sitting as a witness in lawsuits and raising money for Animos’s victims and (if the papers were to be believed) leaving Oxford’s school of politics to study social work. It was impossible to be anything but proud of her as he watched her rip off the costume she’d been wearing for her father. But that didn’t mean he needed to welcome her back into his life. At least, not when she hadn’t made any effort to see him. In the face of everything she’d done, an apology was such a small thing, but he couldn’t think about reaching out to her until he had one, so, he didn’t. They couldn’t start over if she felt the same way she did that night, no matter how many charities she started.
