None of it means a goddamn thing if she’s not here with us.
“What do we do?” He’s had far more experience with this family than I have. Maybe he has the answers I’m grappling for.
“I don’t know,” he admits.
I tilt my head to the side, my brows raised as I stare at the man who raised me.
He always knows what to do, always knows how to solve our problems.
“I’m beginning to favor the idea of leaving the city, just to cut off his direct access to her, but I don’t want to run. I don’t want her to have to leave everything she knows just so her family will stop harassing her.”
“But if we stay, he’s just going to escalate.”
He nods. “That’s what I’m afraid of. Calling in Marianne was just about the last thing I expected him to do. She hasn’t been back here in years. The fact that he tracked her down and brought her home proves he’s getting desperate, and desperate men have no limits.”
“What do you think is in that file?”
He shrugs. “Who fucking knows. If I had to guess based on what I know of his usual tactics, I’d imagine it’s a bunch of different things that make us look bad. Probably your sealed juvie records, proof of some of the shady shit we’ve done over the years. And then there’s likely some fabricated bullshit that will look true based on everything else.”
I glance toward the stairs. Everything in me is desperate to check on her, to make sure she’s okay, but if she needs space, that’s what I want to give her.
“I need to ask you something, and I want you to give me an honest answer.”
I nod slowly, my stomach churning with anticipation.
“If Hannah wants to leave, do you think we should let her go?”
I open my mouth to say, “Of course we will,” but then I snap it shut.
Can I let her walk away just like that? After everything we’ve been through, everything we’ve built, will I survive watching her walk away?
“What choice do we have?”
Rowan shrugs. “We kidnapped her once. I don’t know why we’d hesitate to do it again.”
“We did not kidnap her,” I snap.
“Didn’t we? Because the way I remember it, I drove her here and locked the place up like Fort Knox, while you brought her things here and organized movers. That sounds a lot like kidnapping to me.”
Okay, so maybe he has me there.
“Let’s see how she is in the morning, but I’m telling you now, I’m not going to let her run from us.”
CHAPTER SIXTY
HANNAH
The pages blur together the longer I spend reading them, but I can’t tell if it’s from exhaustion or the tears I haven’t been able to stop since the door closed behind me.
I hate that I’m alone.
I hate that I’m sitting here reading through every misstep they’ve ever taken instead of curled up between them.
And I fucking hate that I’ve let my mother get into my head.
I glance at the collection of photos showing her body covered in bruises. There’s a police report attached, but I recognize one of the cops Granddad has under his thumb as the officer who took the statement. It’s more than likely fabricated, but what if it’s not?
What if Rowan isn’t the man I thought he was?
