Page 54 of Kade

That went back to football.

Which went to running.

Then to her cousin Sammy.

She came back around. “That makes me want to know if the company’s going to be sold to Aurelia Avoy’s dad. I just want a heads-up. Because, like, if that’s going to happen, I need to prepare for war. I’ll have to cyberstalk her and find out any dirt I can because I’m not letting that HBOTC hold it over me that her dad’s taken over my grandfather’s empire. Hel—I mean, no way.” She stopped a moment. “So, is it? Are we going to be poor again?”

I’d lost the context foreverythingin the last hour she’d been talking, except a few things stuck out. One, was high school like this now? Were they worried about whose father was going to buy whose grandfather’s company? Two, had it been like that when I was her age? We only cared about business in terms of whether we had money or not, but the way she was talking about going to war, that was familiar.

Also, we’d never been poor.

“Honey,” I started, speaking softly.

She drew in a breath.

“Where did you hear that your grandfather shot himself?”

She sucked in some air, her eyes bulging. “He shot himself? That’s how he did it?”

Fuck. “No. I—”

Tears began streaming down her face.

I’d made it worse. “Maddy—”

“Nolan.”

“What?”

“Nolan. She knew, Dad. She knew. She told us the night it happened. We knew before you even got home.”

I stared at her, not wanting to accept that, but I couldn’t dispute it. Nolan knew things when the only way was intuition.But they’d known? This whole time? “I’m so sorry, Maddy.”Fuck.

More tears slipped down, and she sniffled, trying to clear the emotion away. “I just need a heads-up. Are you going to sell Grandpa’s company?”

I shook my head. “No.”

She held onto my eyes and swallowed. “Really?”

“Really.”

She sniffled. “Promise me?”

I inclined my head, wishing again for the ability to take pain away from the people I loved. All I could do was be honest. “I don’t need to. The company’s fine. We’re not going to sell it.”

“But then…” She looked away, hugging her knees again. “Why?” Finally her full question came out, choked, “Why did he do it?”

My heart broke as my little girl slid open a door and let me see the pain she was enduring. It was a gift, though it shattered me at the same time. I wanted to pull her into my arms, but Maddy didn’t work that way. If she wanted comfort, she went to her mom. From me, she wanted truth.

“We don’t know. I—what I can tell you is that your grandfather said some words to me that suggested he felt he was under threat. He said he knew I’d be able to protect the company.”

“So the companyisgoing under?”

I shook my head quickly as panic rose in her gaze. “No. I haven’t gone through all the accounts. It’s too much for that to happen in one day, but I’ve seen enough to know that the company is fine. It’s more than fine. It’s doing good, which I’m not surprised about. Your grandfather was a phenomenal businessman over the last twelve years. He built a strong empire. It’s not going anywhere, not that I can see.”

“Then why?” Her voice broke again.

Staring at her, seeing her pain, I had to remind myself that right now all I could do was love her. “I don’t know, but we’re going to find out.ThatI can promise you. We will find out.”

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