Page 54 of Unfinished

Hannah, I know what I have to do to win you. Wait for me. Always yours.

“What the fuck is this?” I asked, looking at the back of the paper, trying to figure out who sent it, then handing it to Ashley.

“Is it from Liam?” Ashley questioned as she read it.

“Maybe … it’s a bit odd for him. He’d sooner text me or call me.”

“Or he knew you’d ignore those but wouldn’t be able to ignore a letter,” Ashley suggested with a shrug. I pursed my lips and crumbled up the letter, throwing it in the wastebasket next to my bed.

Ashley bumped her shoulder into mine, “We’re leaving in a week. Then we’ll never have to look at this town again.”

“I know.” Laying back down I tried to put Liam out of my brain but it wasn’t working. All I could think about was how I had to give him up to protect everything else. I silently pleaded with anyone who might have been listening to take this pain from me.

Chapter 24

Liam

Archer took me back to Rion and Bas’s house, but Bas and Ashley had already left. I thought about texting Ashley to find out if Hannah told her what happened, but I already knew she’d keep whatever secret Hannah had. Rion cut the party short and told everyone to leave. I told him it wasn’t necessary but he insisted it was.

I was angry because nothing about this made sense. I should have held my ground on that damn dinner. I should have said no and left it at that. I knew that my mom would have found another way to do whatever she did.

I would say my mom won, but she didn’t. I’d never marry someone else. Hannah was it for me and I’d only marry her or have kids with her. My mom couldn’t force me to marry, so I’d live alone forever if I couldn’t convince Hannah to be with me. No matter what, I’d do everything within my power to get her back.

“I dropped Ashley off,” Bas said to me, and I didn’t even realize he had come back, “I saw Hannah.”

That brought me back from my daze, “Did she say anything?”

“She started to but stopped. I tried to convince her to tell me but she wouldn’t. I do know she didn’t want to do this though. A woman doesn’t sob like that when she isn’t fucking heartbroken.”

“What exactly did she say?”

Bas relayed the entire conversation he had with Hannah to me. It was more of the same, we still didn't know exactly what my mom said to her. This time all those old fears I thought we got past also made an appearance. Hannah was concerned about being able to make things work when our lifestyles were so different. She wasn't wrong that women might try to take advantage of my distance from Hannah and how that could cause problems for us. Still, my biggest concern was finding out what my mom said to her.

“Did your mom threaten to kill her?” Rion handed me a beer, which I took but didn’t drink.

“Your mother is a little crazy,” Archer said, and I looked at him.

I pondered that for a second, wondering if my mother was that stupid and crazy to think threatening my Hannah was a good idea. Honestly, I think she would.

“Maybe it’s time to do a bit of social damage to your mother, show her who’s really in charge here,” Rion said.

“We’ve got enough people in our pockets that we can cause irreparable damage to her for the rest of her life,” Bas said.

“At what cost to my father,” I said.

“Maybe it’s time for your father to choose his son over the wife who is trying to destroy everything,” Archer said.

“Give my father an ultimatum and tell him to divorce my mom?”

“You’re the future of Trident Advertising and part of the future of the family as a whole. Your mom is nothing but a leech,” Rion said.

“I don’t know, my mom is gone till Thursday anyway. She’s on some spa trip again.”

“Which means we have plenty of time to see what we can find out and give it to your dad,” Bas said.

This family always had my back and over this summer they grew to care about Hannah too. They wanted to protect her as much as I did. We all knew my mom did something to scare Hannah off, now I needed to figure out what and then ruin my own mother.

“What happened to Derek?” I looked up at Bas and Rion.

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