Page 97 of The Good Girl

“I told you she loves you,” I murmur, making her look up at me and roll her eyes, but I don’t miss the small smile on her lips.

By the time we get to the warehouse holding the bikes, we can hear raised voices. I feel Nevaeh tense again. I rub my thumb over the back of her hand in a soothing gesture. “This is why you’ve been quiet all week, isn’t it?”

“I called him when my identity was leaked. I told him the truth about everything. It didn’t go well.”

She pulls back her shoulders and lifts her head proudly, her game face on for all to see. “I’m done letting him make me feel small just to make himself feel better. I’m ready to tell him a few home truths, face to face. It’s time.”

“Okay, cupcake. Let’s do this. You take the lead, and I’ll have your back.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

Nevaeh

Iwalk through the warehouse toward the sound of my father’s voice and feel the fear and trepidation melt away. He might be the king of the castle back home, but here, I’m the queen.

When I walk into the sun, I stand beside Amity. G on her left, stands guard with his hand on her hip, and Circus stands beside them.

“Nevaeh, I’ve come to take you home,” my father snaps when he sees me.

“I am home, Daddy. I’m more at home here than I’ve ever been anywhere else before.”

He flinches but stands straighter. The look in his eyes, which I’m all too familiar with, prepares me to brace before he flings words like barbed wire at me.

“You are not of sound mind. Amity was always a bad influence on you, and now that she’s shacked up with a biker, she expects you to do the same. Well, not on my watch. I refuse to let you whore yourself out?—”

“I’m not on your watch. Not anymore. I haven’t been for a long time. You may have observed me, but only in the same waya scientist studies a bug. You thought if you did things differently with me, you could…what? Make me into the perfect daughter? You could make me into Citi?”

“Don’t you say her name,” he spits.

“Why? She was my sister. You act like you’re the only one who lost her, but I lost her too. She was mine more than she was yours. She was my twin, for goodness sake. I felt like I’d lost half my soul. You were supposed to help me. You should have held me, grieved with me, and loved me harder. But you left me, too. Where were you when I needed you?”

“I was looking for your sister,” he roars.

“I know, and I get it. But while you were out chasing ghosts, you forgot about raising the little girl you still had at home.”

“It was your fault that?—”

Havoc growls, knowing precisely what my father is about to say. But I shake my head, feeling sorry for him.

“I was a child. I was not responsible for Citi’s disappearance, and shame on you for blaming me. Should I have blamed you for sending her outside to play alone? Should I have blamed Mom, who got stuck in her soap opera and didn’t check on Citi enough? Maybe I should blame the cops. Or the justice system in general. Lord knows I’m angry enough to blame all of you. But I didn’t because the only person to blame is the man who took her.

“Miss?” one of the police officers calls out to me after silence descends.

I look toward the man and wait for him to continue.

“I’m Officer Pauly. This is Officer Jacobs. We are here because it is believed you’re being kept here against your will.” He says it evenly, but I can tell he’s figured out that not everything is what it seems.

I look back at my dad and cross my arms over my chest, letting my anger blanket the wounds his words have caused. “Really? That’s what you told them?” I shake my head,disappointed. “As you can see, officers, not only am I healthy, I’m of sound mind, if you discount how pissed I am.”

“Nevaeh,” my father snaps at my language.

“Don’t. You don’t get to parent me now, not after everything you’ve done.”

I blow out a steadying breath and draw comfort from Havoc, who rests his hand on my shoulder in a show of solidarity.

“I’m sorry you were forced to come out here, officers. Wasting police time is not something I’m okay with. That being said, I understand you checking up on me, and I thank you for it. I can assure you, though, that I’m happy here.”

“Ridiculous. You will get your things and come home, or you’ll never be welcome back again.”

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