“You’re a disgrace,” she spits, hatred burning in her eyes that are so similar to my own. “Wasn’t it bad enough that you ruined my life when you were born, but now you’re going to ruin it again by dragging this family’s name through the mud?”
I flinch, her words hitting exactly where she intended them.
“Your grandfather has a nice man lined up for you to marry, someone who can take over the family business and ensure we want for nothing for the rest of our lives.”
I roll my eyes. Always so fucking transparent. “Mom, I don’t need anyone to take care of me. I have my own money, my own business, and I have no interest in marrying someone I’ve never met. Just because you were happy to do that doesn’t mean I will be.”
She glares at me, her body radiating with barely contained anger. “He could ruin you, you know? That little business of yours that you’ve worked so hard on? Gone with one flick of his wrist. It’s easier just to do as you’re told.”
I suck in a breath at the threat, but it’s not like I haven’t already considered it. He’s done it time and time again to people right in front of my eyes. Why wouldn’t he do it to me?
Because I’m family.But even as I think it, I know it’s not enough to save me.
As much as I would like to think it will play any part in whether or not he decides to pull that trigger, I’m smart enough to know it won’t.
He’ll do anything to get what he wants, and unfortunately for me, he wants me to marry a stranger and give up everything I’ve worked for.
I shrug. “Then so be it. I’ll find a new career. You’re dumber than I thought you were if you think any husband that man chooses for me is going to allow me to keep working anyway.”
Her glare turns murderous as she takes a step toward me with a raised hand, but Asher doesn’t hesitate to step in front of me. “I know you weren’t about to assault my girl in front of me,” he growls, his voice cold and menacing.
It’s funny, I never knew Asher when he was a fighter. Sure, we met one time when our parents were married, but it was so brief I didn’t remember until I was staring at the two ofthem side by side. But I’ve always struggled to understand how someone who treats me with such softness could ever hurt someone. Right now, though? I see it.
“She’s my daughter. I’ll do what I want,” she snaps.
“And she’s my future wife and the future mother of my children, so I’m here to tell you that you can’t.”
My eyes widen at how menacing he sounds, but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t hot as hell that he’s defending my honor this way.
Rowan is the only other person who has ever stood up for me, and I can confirm it’s just as hot when Asher does it.
There’s silence for a beat, and I glance up at Rowan, studying his stern profile. His jaw is locked tight, his brows dipped in anger, but it’s the tension in his shoulders that has me reaching to take his hand.
As hard as this is for me, I can’t imagine how he feels. The woman he was forced to marry, who treated him almost as terribly as she treated me, is attacking the woman he loves, the one he’s spent years rebuilding his life for.
“Marianne, you have no place here. Hannah wants nothing to do with the Malone name, she has no interest in marrying some asshole Jeffrey has picked out for her, and if you were any kind of mother, you would walk out that door, tell your father to fuck off, and never try to contact her again.” Rowan’s words are even and calm despite how tightly he clutches my hand.
Taking a deep breath, I tap Asher on the shoulder. He sighs, but steps to the side, giving me a view of my mother, even if his body is still angled in front of mine protectively.
Fights with my mother used to leave me terrified because she was the only person I was ever allowed to have in my life consistently. I was never allowed to have friends or to see other family members. During school holidays, I was barely allowed to leave the house unless it was to attend an event to prove what a perfect family Granddad had. So having Marianne mad at me,no matter how terrible a mother she was, felt like the end of the world.
Now, though? Now I have the chance to say the things I was always too afraid to say. I have the chance to stand up for myself the way I should have when I was younger.
“I’m not leaving without Hannah.” She crosses her arms across her chest as her lip juts out like a petulant toddler.
“Yes, you are,” I say. “I’m done with all of this, and you can tell Granddad that. I don’t want to be used as a pawn to find his successor. I don’t care what happens to Malone Enterprises, and I certainly don’t give a fuck about what happens to either of you. I don’t know if things will work out with me and Rowan and Asher, but what I do know is that they’ll never force me into anything I don’t want to do. They won’t use me as a bargaining chip. And they certainly won’t belittle and bully me until I give in to whatever they want.”
Her laugh startles me, the sound so sharp that it sets my teeth on edge. “Is that what you think, Hannah?” She digs around in her oversized purse before producing a file, but when she moves to shove it at me, Asher intercepts it. “See? They won’t let you see the truth. They’re already controlling you, and you don’t even realize it!”
Asher rolls his eyes and hands the file to me, holding Marianne’s eye the whole time.
I swallow heavily, flicking through the first few pages of documents. The contract from when Rowan and Mom were married sits at the top, followed by a series of photos of my mother covered in bruises, which I assume they’re trying to blame on her ex-husband. Beneath that is a transcript of some kind, but it only takes a few lines to figure out it’s part of a conversation between Rowan and Asher, completely out of context.
“How dumb do you think I am?” I snap. “I have a master’s degree. I finished top of my class. I’m not someone you can manipulate with this kind of bullshit.”
I drop the file onto the table behind me. I may be confident almost everything within the pages is fabricated, but I’m too smart to write off the whole thing as bullshit.
“It’s not bullshit!” she shouts.
