Page 84 of Dirty Shots

They both looked to her. “You know Eric didn’t force me, Dad. We’re in love. He’s as protective of me as you are.”

Trent Bergman snorted. “I highly doubt that. He’s almost ten years older than you, Anya!”

She bristled, her back straightening, shoulders back. “He’s eight years older than me, which, I believe, is about the age difference between you and Mom?”

“That’s completely different!”

Her eyebrows lifted. “Is it? How?”

“It just is.”

Anya frowned slightly. “And how is Mom? I haven’t heard anything from her, and she’s not responded to any of the texts I’ve sent her.”

“I’ve instructed her not to speak to you,” he said, folding his arms across his chest. “She’s softer than I am, and I won’t have her making you think that we’re okay with you doing this.”

“You won’t let her speak to me? Does that mean she wants to?”

“She’s been brainwashed by that man as much as you have. But I won’t have it. I will not allow her to have a relationship with a child who behaves in such a way.”

Tears blurred Anya’s vision. “You can’t stop her.”

“Just watch me. I expect the women in my life to do as they’re told, and it seems you got your impertinence from her.”

Anya didn’t even know what to say, so she just stood, gaping at him. She’d always known he’d been strict, but this was something else. Was he really trying to control her mother, too? She never thought her mom would stand for such a thing.

Logan’s hand touched her waist, making her jump. She’d forgotten he was there.

“Come on, Anya. We’ve got more important things to do than stand on the sidewalk arguing with someone who clearly will never see sense.”

Feeling numb, she allowed Logan to guide her away from her father.

Who was this man? He’d never exactly been warm and loving, but this felt like an extreme. Was she only seeing the real man now, her love for him blinding her all these years?

Or had her own actions created the monster she’d found before her?

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