Page 99 of Exile and Embrace

“Ah yes, here we go.” Carter hums to himself for a moment as he moves closer to the lamp. “My dear family, if you are reading this, then it means I am gone. To my daughters, Ava and Zoe, I leave the heirloom jewelry I have given them up until the point of my death. To my wife, I leave the estate and everything in it. She may do with our former life as she sees fit.”

Carter reads more lines about how much our father loved us, but all I can think about is how fake those lines are.

If he truly loved me, he would have left me with some kind of explanation for why he ripped me away from my family when I was young. He would have told me why he and my mom pretended that I was theirs.

Dad would’ve never kept Becca away from my life. He wouldn’t have tried to sell me and Zoe to sex traffickers.

Hell, the biggest lie my father ever told is that he loved us.

Mom shoots up out of her chair as soon as Carter is done. “Let me see that will. He did not leave thousands of dollars in jewelry to the pair of them. Not when they’ve turned their backs on this family. I won’t allow it.”

Carter hands the will to her, sighing as she reads through it. “Mrs. Redford, the will is quite clear. Your husband has left your daughters the inheritance, and that’s all there is to it. You could try to contest the will in court, but I would advise you now that it will not go the way you wish it does.”

Mom scowls. “I don’t care what the damn will says. The pieces he gave them should be returned to me and put in my collection. His own daughters abandoned him. They deserted him. The jewelry is mine.”

I get up from the chair and stride to the door. There’s no reason to stick around and hear the woman I thought was my mother hurl insults at the poor man.

If she’s going to be furious about a necklace, she is more than welcome to be.

Zoe follows behind me, looping her arm through mine as we head down the hall. “I’m sorry the will reading didn’t go the way you thought it would. I wanted to believe that he was going to leave you an explanation for why he did everything he did.”

I shrug and tug her toward the ballroom. “If we’re being honest, I was hoping for the explanation, but I knew it was unlikely. When had Dad ever owned up to anything that everyone else thought was a mistake?”

Zoe gives my arm a gentle squeeze. “At least you have Oregon to go back to. I know you’re missing Finn.”

A sharp pain stabs through my chest at the mention of him. “I am. I thought that he would come out here with me, though. I could have used him today.”

“Did you ask him to come with you?”

“No. I told him that he was welcome to come if he wanted.”

Zoe arches and eyebrow, shaking her head as a small smile plays at the corner of her mouth. “You might be my older sister, but sometimes, I think you really are clueless.”

I scoff and lean against a little alcove in the wall, not wanting to go into the ballroom quite yet. “I’m not clueless. I know he’s a busy man, and I gave him the option to turn me down if he didn’t want to come.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t tell him that you needed him here.” Zoe leans beside me, her deep blue dress glittering beneath the shining light overhead. “He’s a man, Ava. You have to make it as obvious as possible sometimes. Especially if he’s grown up in the mob.”

“You know about that, do you?” My sheepish grin makes her laugh.

“Of course I do. Did you really think that Christian wasn’t going to tell me?” She nudges me with her shoulder. “I have no room to talk, given who I’m married to.”

“I don’t know what I was thinking. I guess out of all the things that I notice about him, that seems to be the least important.” I toy with the curled end of my hair. “Although, there is the problem with his family. He’s Declan’s brother, and even though I’m falling for Finn, I can’t seem to forget that fact. It’s always in the back of my mind, complicating things.”

Zoe smiles at two women who pass by and join the rest of the party in the other room. “What’s your biggest worry about it right now?”

“I keep thinking that I don’t want to end up subservient to a man like Mom did, but it’s expected in the mob. I’m supposed to listen to my husband and not speak back. I have to follow his orders without question.”

Zoe shrugs one shoulder. “I don’t know about that. Demanding, yes, but from what I hear from Christian, Cillian’s mob operates a lot like Camila’s cartel. People are given respect, and they are not treated as property.”

I suck my bottom lip into my mouth before releasing it on an exhale. “Finn may be demanding, but it gets more complicated than that. My birth mother is his boss’s wife.”

“Your life just keeps getting more and more interesting.” Zoe loops her arm around my waist for a tight hug. “Everything is going to be fine. You’re not the same woman you were all those years ago, and Finn is not his brother.”

“I just don’t know if I can do another dangerous life.”

“You came home to what you thought was a safe one and look at where that got you.” Zoe pushes off the wall and takes a step out of the alcove. “It’s possible to love a dangerous man and hold onto the person you are.”

My chest aches as I think about that possibility.

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