The dam breaks, tears trickling down his cheeks, and I feel like his true self is surfacing for the first time since I’ve known him. I’m not going to quit now, not when he’s finally cracking.
“You can’t wish the pain away or pretend it doesn’t exist. But grief isn’t an emotion at all. It’s a force of nature. It’s a storm you have to weather, no matter if you want to or not. But the damage wrought during the havoc of evading it is only making it worse for you and everyone around you, especially Dean and Asher. You might have lost your wife, but they lost their mother, and honestly, with the way you’ve been acting, I’m sure they feel like they lost their father that day too.
“I’m sorry to make it worse by telling you the truth about Adrianna, but I refuse to let her do to your family what she did to mine,” I declare to both of them, flicking my gaze at her long enough to see her fuming, smoke coming out of her ears.
Everett’s eyes close, tears streaming down his face. No one moves or dares to breathe as his walls break, tumbling down.
A sob tears not only through him, but through the deafening silence in the room. His hand covers his face as he lets it out, probably for the first time in a long while.
I feel bad for doing this at the party, but he did it to himself. Dean and Asher had tried talking to him, and before they could ever really get a word in, Everett ended the conversation.
He drags his hand down his face, opens his reddened eyes, and quickly finds mine. “A-are you really … Patrick’s kid?” His voice cracks on my dad’s name, his face contorting with anguish.
In this moment, he’s not only grieving his wife, but one of his good friends.
My chest tightens, my heart rising into my throat. “Yeah, I am.”
He studies my face, searching for glimpses of my dad, and if he looks closely enough, he’ll find his eyes in mine and the same Cupid’s bow on my lips.
Biting the inside of his cheek, he nods in acceptance and then does something I never expected. Reaching forward, he pulls me into his arms, wrapping me up with his hand cradling the back of my head.
For a moment, my body is stiff, and I’m unsure of what to do, but as his arms tighten around me like my dad’s always did, I fucking melt. I throw my arms around him, and he rests his chin on my head, lightly rubbing my back as tears streak down my face, bleeding into his suit. He holds me for a moment, clinging to me like I’m the only thing holding him together, and for a second, he’s the same for me.
Planting a sweet kiss on the top of my head, he slowly pulls back and sobs, “I’m so glad to meet you, Cirella. It’s an honor.”
Dean’s hand snakes around my waist, and I step back, letting him guide me between him and Asher as they hold me protectively. Dean has his face buried in his phone, reading something rapidly, and I’m dying to know what it could possibly be.
But I look back at Everett and grin. “It’s nice to meet you too,” I tell him, and a smile breaks across his lips.
“Why are you smiling?” Asher asks hesitantly.
Everett’s smile shifts to a frown before returning, lighting up his eyes. “You just reminded me a little bit of Elizabeth.”
“I’m sorry,” I apologize, not wanting to have made this any worse for him. “If I overstepped.”
Everett waves at the security behind us, gesturing them over.
He shakes his head, and his eyes are haunted, but with happiness, not sorrow. “Not at all. I think she may have sent you to put me in my place.”
Adrianna steps back nervously, probably hoping to somehow make an escape.
But Everett turns to her, addressing the monster for the first time. His voice is deep, booming, and intimidating, a stark contrast from the way he was just speaking to me. “You are goingnowhere.”
“Everett, please,” she begs, her hands together.
“How dare you treat Patrick’s daughter with such disrespect?! You are lucky I didn’t find out about it sooner.”
Security strolls over, and with a nod from Everett, they are at her side, grabbing her arms and keeping her in place.
Everett sneers, looking at her with pure disgust, “I knew Patrick very well. We still had our secrets, but he was one of my truest friends.” His voice lowers, scarily deep. “And I know damn well he didn’t leave everything to you, now did he?”
“Yes. Yes, he did,” she stutters. “He left it all to me to take care of Cirella with.”
Hearing her admit to the truth that she’s my stepmother relaxes something in my shoulders. She’s not denying her lies.
Everett clicks his tongue. “I find that very hard to believe. And I intend to prove that you’re lying. Are you prepared for that battle, Adrianna? Because you are heavily outnumbered.”
Her lips open and close over and over, as if she’s going to say something, and if she’s being honest, why wouldn’t she just speak the truth and tell them about the will?
