Page 99 of Best Kept Secret

I felt the room tilt around me, but I didn't fall. I didn't break. I stood tall, staring at the woman who had always been my abuser's accomplice, who had always protected him and defended him. "You think my telling the DA what he did to me is going to help him?"

"If you tell the truth, Mira, it will—"

"Get out of here." I stepped forward.

Her eyes shot up to mine, and suddenly, the vulnerability was gone. In its place, the cold calculation I knew so well. "You need to speak on his behalf, Mira. Youneedto help him. Be a good daughter at least for once."

I let out a humorless laugh. "You wantmeto help that asshole?"

"You owe him—and don't call him that," she snapped, her voice tight with barely restrained fury. "He's your father."

The room went quiet, my breath coming slow and steady as I stared at her. She was waiting for me to fold, to break the way I always had, to give in to her demands like I used to. But I didn't. I wasn't that girl anymore.

"I'm going to tell you something now that's going to blow your mind," I said with great satisfaction. "Iwilltalk to the DA. Asha's lawyer will talk to the DA. Did you know Asha left letters for judges in case you pulled a stunt with Pari?"

My mother's face went utterly pale.

"Her lawyer said that it's almost like a deathbed confession, and judges love that." I was starting to enjoy the look of fear and panic on my mother's face. "You know what else I'll do? I think I'll talk to a journalist or two. Tell them my story. Tell them howyouwere his enabler." I dropped my voice and leaned forward."Maybe we can make sure you're in a jail cell as well for aiding and abetting him in molesting his daughters."

My mother gasped. "Mira—"

"Shut up and get out." I opened the conference room door.

Immediately, I saw Beau waiting on the other side, his hands curled into fists. Rachel must've called him, I thought, but instead of rushing in, he was waiting impatiently, angry as hell, but he trusted me to handle this.

"Apparently, my sperm donor has been arrested for being a child sexual predator. His wife, here, came to me, hoping I'd speakon his behalfto the DA," I said casually, without inflection, as if I was telling him what was on the menu for lunch today.

My mother looked like she'd been smacked in the face. I loved that look.

"I told you to stay away from Mira," Beau ground out.

"I was only trying to—" my mother began.

"You were told to stay the fuck away." Beau cut in, and then turned, made a hand gesture. "Can you drag this woman out of this building and make sure she's deposited on the fuckin' curb like the trash she is?"

Seema's face turned ugly, something I recognized all too well—her anger, her disappointment, the realization that things weren't going her way. "You'll regret this," she spat, her voice venomous.

I cocked an eyebrow. "I highly doubt it."

The security guards grabbed my mother's arm, but she pushed them away as she stomped out of Savannah Lace. I watched her with Beau as Rachel walked past us and grinned. "Nice work, you two."

"How do you feel, darlin'?" Beau asked me as we walked to the kitchen like we'd been at some mundane meeting and not at one where I'd slayed my demons.

"Like a freaking warrior," I told him smugly.

"That you are, darlin." He trapped me inside the kitchen, against the closed door.

"Thank you," I said sincerely.

"You don't ever have to thank me," he remarked, his voice firm.

"You did this for me."

"I'd do anything for you." He kissed my mouth softly.

I kissed him back, feeling invincible—it was something that I was starting to feel more and more. "You won't get into trouble, right?"

"Me?" He chuckled cockily. "I'm a Bodine, darlin'. We don't get into trouble in Georgia."

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