Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 66697 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 333(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66697 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 333(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
The familiar tangle of pride, sharp and decidedly inconvenient, mixed with exasperation too closely related to fondness. I couldn’t fucking tell anymore. And beneath that, the thing I still didn’t want to make peace with, which was the sight of my daughter with a man twice her age who had prison in his past and a stillness in him that reminded me too much of men like myself.
Darby’s gaze found me across the room. She raised an eyebrow. “You could’ve called sooner.”
“You were on the road.”
“We were forty minutes out! We could’ve been here sooner!”
“You’re here now.” I kept my voice level. It was an old dance. She pushed, I held the line, and somewhere in the middle we found the place where we could stand without drawing blood. Now, anyway. It had been touch-and-go for a while.
She snorted and turned away, taking in the room with the quick, assessing look she’d had since she figured out which exits would get her clear fastest from my heavily fortified, heavily secured estate. Her gaze landed on Pippa, still huddled against the wall, and something in Darby’s face shifted. Hardened.
“What happened?” Darby was all business now, her voice soft as she questioned me.
“Gunnar’s hurt. Bad.”
Darby sucked in a breath. “Oh, no.” She looked back at Pippa where Hannah had moved to her side and held her while she cried. Knuckles still stood beside her, eyeing me. Yeah. I got it. He wanted blood, and I was right there with him.
Then Darby’s gaze caught when she skimmed over the room as she saw Tessa kneeling beside a woman with the bandaged arm, speaking quietly. The guilt shown on Tessa’s face, plain as day, telling me she’d come to the same conclusion we had.
Darby crossed the room without hesitation. She didn’t slow down when she reached them. She just dropped into a crouch beside Tessa and fixed her with a look that forced obedience.
“Stop it, Tessa,” Darby said.
Tessa blinked, and the woman beside her went quiet. “Stop what?” Tessa’s voice was careful.
“Whatever bullshit you’re telling yourself right now.” Darby gestured at the ruined room. “These assholes didn’t break down that wall because of you. They did it because they’re assholes. That’s it. That’s the whole story. You’re not taking blame on yourself for their shitty choices.”
Tessa stared at her. For a long moment, she didn’t speak. The set of her shoulders relaxed and she sighed. “They came for me,” Tessa said. Her voice was quiet. Matter of fact.
“Maybe.” Darby shrugged. “Doesn’t matter why they came. Matters that they chose to. That’s on them. Not you.” She pulled Tessa into a warm but gentle embrace. “You want to help, help. But this isn’t on you and I won’t let you believe it is.”
Tessa returned the hug. When Darby pulled back, she framed Tessa’s face in her hands and said something that made Tessa smile before Darby touched her forehead to Tessa, then went to Pippa.
I watched Tessa watch her go. The guilt hadn’t disappeared, but something had eased a bit of the tension in her expression. She turned back to the woman beside her and resumed whatever she’d been saying.
Sharp, unwelcome irritation rose inside me. My reckless, impossible daughter had just walked into the room and done in one sentence what I had been circling around for the past hour. To be fair, I hadn’t had to consider a woman’s feelings before. Not like this. She’d reached Tessa in a way I hadn’t managed to, and the worst part was she hadn’t even been trying. Christ, I didn’t need this. Feeling something for a woman not my blood. I’d learned that lesson with Jen and paid for it with not having Darby in my life for twenty-three years.
Sully had moved to the edge of the room. He stood with his back to the wall, one hand resting lightly on Darby’s shoulder as she crouched beside Pippa. His gaze still moved over the room in that slow, methodical way of his.
I forced myself to turn away. I needed to make sure Kass had everything I needed to secure Tessa away from here. While no one blamed her for any of this, I was bastard enough to use her guilt to encourage her to do what I wanted. Like I should have done with Jen and my father over two decades ago.
Securing arrangements and coordinating the cleanup ate away most of the day. By the time I finished, the promised rain had blown through, and I found Tessa in the kitchen. She leaned over the counter with her head down, looking like the weight of the world had settled firmly on her shoulders. She looked up when I approached. When her gaze locked on mine, I knew she’d leave when I told her to without argument.
“You’re leaving,” I told her.