Page 142 of Back to Willow

“She probably fucking asked for it,” he booms. “She entered the house late at night with only him inside! She went straight into the wolf’s lair and didn’t expect anything to happen? She couldn’t be that naïve!”

“What are you saying?” My voice is quiet, deadly, while my blood boils inside me. “She entered our house, lured in by my brother when she was expecting me to arrive at any given moment and should have expected to be forced to do what she didn’t want to? She went there because I was supposed to be there!”

“Well, I—”

“Get out,” I grit the words out. There’s nothing they can say to change my mind.

If my brother wanted to make things right, he would have gone to the police right away to confess what he did, not hide behind the drugs and now put the responsibility on my parents to make it all go away. Because that’s all my parents are good for—making problems disappear.

They have this perfect family picture on the outside, but they’re completely rotten on the inside.

And I want nothing to do with them.Nothing.

They keep silent as they help Mason back on his feet, and I fight the urge to beat him to a pulp once more. When they don’t move after I’ve told them to get out twice, I scream, “Get the fuck out!”

“We’ll see if you keep talking to us in that tone once I cut you off,” my father snarks back.

“Shove the fucking money up your ass!”

“Watch your mouth,” he snarls while my mother slowly walks my brother to the front door.

“Or what?” I counter, getting in his face. “Want to take a swing?I dareyou.”

We stare off for a while, daring each other to make a move or stand down, and thankfully, the man in front of me takes a step back. He shakes his head, showing his disappointment, but I am way past caring for it—caring for them.

He stomps after the other two, slamming the door shut, and all the adrenaline travelling through my body slows down as my alert state wears down.

As some fatigue hits, my brain reels with thoughts of everything that just transpired, properly processing the information. All of these years, I’ve been angry at her for disappearing, for abandoning me while I needed her. For leaving me after I gave her the best of me.

I was so fucking wrong.

For so long, I’ve been furious at the wrong person instead because my brother was the one who forced her away. By hurting her so much she couldn’t even look me in the eye and confide what had happened.

So young and hurt…so alone.

Everything makes sense now: the panic when seeing me again, the constant hesitancy in not telling me what transpired, and telling me I’m not the father despite Dylan being my twin. She wasn’t being selfish.

She was protecting me.

Bloody hell, I love this woman so damn hard. She deserves everything.

“What the fuck am I doing?” I mutter to myself. “She’s out there alone, and I’m here stuck in my head.”

She probably thinks I hate her; she probably thinks I believe them...

I need to go to her and make things right.

I need to show her that I do believe her and that Ifucking love her.

FORTY-TWO

Willow

Iknewthiswouldhappen. I still did what he asked of me because...how can I say no to him? I love him so much.Too much.

And in the end, just like I imagined, he let me go because he didn’t believe it.

How could he? It’s his family, and I can’t compete with that...

---