Yes, I could’ve done this better.
But I wanted revenge.
And I wanted to get to know them.
Two birds, one stone.
Decker glares at Rhys. “Protecting us from fuckingwhat?”
Those words—those words, I have. “Threats and intimidation and everything my father would throw at you to keep you silent.”
Lucky rears back. “You know him? Our—our biological—you know him?”
“He raised me. He’s not a nice person. And he wouldn’t like knowing that you exist.”
Mrs. Sullivan is leaning so heavily on Decker that if he moves, she’ll fall over. “Make her leave,” she whispers. “Please make her leave.”
Crying is weakness.
That’s what my father always told me.
Fuck my father.
Crying is real. It’s human. And too many of us are in pain for me to not want to cry right along with this woman who’s been doing her best for her sons for decades.
Has she made mistakes?
Who hasn’t?
Not my place to judge, and there are more important things to hash out than how we all got here.
“He will hurt them over my dead body.” My voice cracks while a tear slips down my cheek. “There is nothing—nothing—that I won’t do to make sure he never has the chance to hurt any of you.”
“Who ishe?” Decker demands.
“Tobias Merriweather-Brown,” Laney answers for me. “CEO of the Aurora Gardens empire.”
Mrs. Sullivan flinches like she’s been punched. Lucky joins Decker in flanking her. “It’s okay, Mom. We’ve got you,” he murmurs.
“Some big corporate dude?” Jack says.
“Second-generation billionaire hotel king,” Laney says. She nods toward me. “With Margot being next in line.”
Jack sways like he’d like to sit down.
Lucky and Decker huddle tighter around their mom, and my heart squeezes again.
I don’t think they care how or why she slept with someone who wasn’t their dad.
They’re with her to the end too.
And that’s family.
That’s the kind of family I want.
The family that forgives when you fuck up. The family that stands by you in the storms. The family that embraces you for your humanity instead of your perfection and productivity.
I want it so badly while realizing it’s slipping out of reach that I can’t suck in an even breath while I swipe at my cheeks.
