Page 49 of Keeping Her Safe

“What are you talking about?”

“You planning my life. You never ask me what I want.” She stood up. No way was she letting him look down at her, even if he was a foot taller than she was.

“I’m sorry I’m trying to keep you alive.” His tone had her temper rising fast.

“Well, don’t!”

“So, we’re going to do this again?” he yelled back.

“Yes, we are. If you are going to treat me like a child, we are going to do this again.”

“How many times do I have to say I’m sorry? I’m sorry I told my dad not to adopt you!” he yelled at the sky into the cold morning.

“That doesn’t change anything, and you know it. Do you know how many foster homes I was in, Zachary Wainwright? Fifteen in six years. I lost everything. Kids stole everything from me. They just destroyed it or threw things away. I have one picture of my mom now. I barely know what she looked like.” She stepped off the steps and walked up to him to yell in his face.

“That is not my fault, Zephyr Hart. I had nothing to do with it,” he hissed loudly.

“If it wasn’t for you, I would never have gone through that. You.” She poked his chest with her finger.

“Me, always me. How can I forget? What about the fact that your dad didn’t want you? He signed the papers Zephyr, but no—it’s me who’s at fault. What about Brian? Maybe he should have tried harder? He never even looked into …” His mouth didn’t say the words, but she knew he was going to say ‘sisters’ because he waved his hand at the house behind her.

“Brian was doing what was best for me.” She defended the dead man.

“Brian didn’t want to lose you. If he pushed hard enough, he would have had to send you to your family. I can see that with my own eyes. He knew it too. He made me promise to bring you here the week your dad died. He knew Zeph. They would have wanted you.”

“Don’t call me that. He did not know.” She put her hands over her ears, so she didn’t have to hear him.

“Of course, he knew! He knew that those people were nothing like Kate, but he still held on to you. He had you get emancipated as soon as possible because he knew the man was dead. But he couldn’t let you go, and he should have.”

“No!” She backed away from him, dropping her hands.

“He wanted me to bring you here when he was dead. He brought me to see my mom’s grave when I was eighteen. You were twenty-one when he died and still hadn’t brought you. Why? Because he was going to lose you.” He pointed at her.

“You’re lying,” she yelled.

“You know I’m not, Zephyr Hart. You know the truth!” he roared over her yelling.

“The truth is that you’re still angry that I got the beach house,” she hissed as she stomped up to him and poked him in the chest with her fist.

“You mean the house you’ve been hiding from the world in for five years?” he said more quietly this time as he grabbed her fist in his hand.

“I knew these last few days were a joke.” She pulled her hand free and turned and walked away.

“This is the fucking funeral all over again!” he yelled at her retreating form.

Turning, she glared at him. “No, Zachary, this is worse. I thought you loved me this time.”

Spinning on her heels, she took off running up the driveway. She heard someone following her, but the person didn’t catch her, so she kept running until they did. At the end of the drive, she turned towards the other Hart Farm down the road. Maybe if she got there, she would be overpowered by the place again. She just wanted to forget Zachary and his words.

Her lungs were about to burst when she made it to the exact spot she had been in the night before. Sliding into the grass, she sat with her head down, trying to stop the tears that were overtaking her. She knew he had followed her—it had been days since he’d left her alone. She tried to stop the tears, but Zachary could bring out the temper that she rarely showed.

“You can just leave if you don’t want to see me cry, Zachary,” she said without looking up. Silence was all that greeted her as she listened for the stories in the air. Empty silence.

“Zachary isn’t here,” she heard Zoey reply.

The other woman came and sat beside her and put her arms around her. “That was intense.”

“Sorry, we’re experts at fighting. Same fight, different day,” she explained.

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