Page 121 of Sven

“You okay?” Conner asked.

Sven nodded as his phone rang. He declined his father’s call and blocked his number.

“Your dad did this?”

Sven took a deep breath and nodded.

“That’s fucked up.”

“You don’t even know. He wanted me to give up Winnie to her mother. Instead, I got custody of her and paid her Stacie’s rehab. My dad is losing control of me and not handling it well.”

“Well, for what it’s worth, I think you are doing the right thing.”

Sven just nodded. “Thanks, man.”

The road the rest of the way to Conner’s in silence. Having the respect of someone like Conner McPhee meant more to him than the respect of his own father. Conner was a good man. His father was a selfish man. He’d known that, but it wasn’t until this that he knew what to do about it.

If his father tried it again, he would tell the world about his abuse when he would lose a hockey game. He would let the world know what kind of man Peter Olsson is. But he wanted to be done with him.

He was so ready to get back to Natalie and make sure she was good but then he realized...

“This is all my fault,” Sven said as they pulled into Conner’s subdivision.

“No. It’s not,” Conner said plainly.

Sven shook his head. “If it weren’t for me, Natalie wouldn’t be dealing with this.”

“No,” Conner said again firmly. “Natalie is dealing with this because of right-wing weirdos. Natalie is dealing with this because you stood up to your father. None of that is your fault. This whole situation sucks, but you’re doing the right thing.”

Sven took a breath and tried to let Conner’s words sink in as they pulled up to his house.

Once they were in the house, he was surprised by the quiet. But it was after midnight. The girls had gone to bed, and he was glad. Hopefully Natalie was getting some sleep.

“I’ll take you up to the guest room,” Conner said as he helped Sven carry in all the stuff he’d brought.

He quietly opened the door and saw Natalie curled up on the bed with Winnie. All the tension he’d been carrying since that awful fight with his father left. Conner was right. He was doing the right thing. All that mattered was in this room. His precious daughter and the woman he was so fucking in love with he could barely breathe. He would do whatever needed to be done to keep these two protected.

The two men quietly entered the room and dropped off the bags. Conner turned to leave while Sven tried to set to the Pack ’N Play as quietly as possible.

Once he had it done, he went over to the bed to get Winnie. To his surprise, Natalie was awake.

“How are you doing?” he whispered as he gently picked up Winnie.

Natalie just shrugged, and it just about broke his heart.

He laid Winnie in the Pack ’N Play and crawled back into bed with Natalie anxious to hold her. But as he slid into bed, he reached for her, and she allowed herself to be pulled into his embrace, but she wasn’t really there. She was a million miles away. Holding her, he smoothed her hair, wishing he could take away all of this. Even though he wanted to lift every burden from her shoulders, he couldn’t do that. This problem was bigger than the both of them, but together, they could get through it.

“I’m going to go get ready for bed,” she said as she slid out of his arms.

“Your things are in that bag,” he said, pointing to the weekender by the door.

She soundlessly picked it up and slipped out the door.

Sven rolled onto his back, covered his eyes with his hand, and blew out a breath.

What a fucking day.

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