Page 31 of Protecting Tiffani

“You should have listened to me and stayed away from here. It didn’t have to come to this, Levi.” He ignores his own daughter, choosing to speak to me, which is fine with me.

“I should have never fucking listened to you in the first place, you piece of shit,” I spit out at him with all the venom racing through me.

“Remember, my way,” Uncle Sonny whispers to me.

“Levi, what’s he talking about?” Tiffani asks quietly behind me. I don’t want to take my eyes off the snake standing in front of me, but I have to get to my girl. Turning around, I try to keep my face from showing how the blood pouring from her nose affects me.

“Are you okay?”

“Tiffani, come on, we’re leaving,” Mr. Summer demands, and my hackles rise.

“She isn’t going anywhere with you. Not after what you did!” I pull Tiffani from Parker’s arms and wrap mine around her. I hold onto her tight to keep myself from ruining whatever Uncle Sonny has planned.

“What about what you did? Would she be standing in your arms if she knew?”

“Knew what?” Tiffani yells. Her whole body trembles from everything she has gone through, and I wish I could save her from this, but it’s time she knew the truth.

“That he took money to leave you.” A sinister laugh comes from me. Tiffani stops trembling, going rigid in my arms.

Chapter eighteen

Tiffani

“Youdidwhat?”Lookingover my shoulder, Levi’s locked in a heated stare down, with my father. All the while, I’m losing my goddamn mind over here. Levi’s arms are keeping me plastered to his chest, and for the first time ever, I can’t stand the feel of his body against mine. I try to wedge my hands between his arms and my stomach, but he doesn’t let me. He has to let me go. I can’t be this close to him right now. “Parker, get his goddamn arms off me now.” Parker has been a statue beside me the whole time, but he moves when he hears the emotions clogging my throat.

Placing a hand on Levi’s arm, Parker says, “Levi, man, let her go. I know you don’t want to, but you need to respect her wishes right now.”

“Tiffani, you can’t go with…” Levi starts, but I’ve heard enough right now. He isn’t moving his arms, and I feel like I’m about to go crazy. Pulling my elbow forward, I shove it back into his ribs. I have enough space to put some power behind it, making him grunt and drop his arms.

“I’m not going with anyone, not you, Parker” I point to my father, “or him.” Parker looks shocked that he was added to that list. I move to lean against the opposite wall from Parker and Levi. Crossing my arms, I dig my nails into my sides so hard I feel the skin break, but I welcome the sting. “Now, someone better start fucking talking. I want to know what the hell is going on, and, for the love of god, I want the goddamn truth.”

“Tiffani, manners,” my father scolds me. Levi and, surprisingly, Parker both growl at him, but I don’t need them to protect me from him. I can defend myself.

“Fuck you. You don’t get to show up after years of nothing and tell me what to do or say. You’re no longer the boss of me.” It feels good to stand up to him. When I left home, he wasn’t there, so I didn’t get a chance to tell him to piss off like I did Mom.

His smile never fades from his face, and the longer he stares at me, the more uncomfortable I get. I roll my eyes because it seems like all the males in this room have forgotten how to fucking speak. “What money is he talking about, Levi?” I pull my gaze from one liar to another by the sounds of it. “You seemed to have conveniently forgotten to include that small detail in your explanation this morning.”

“Of course he did…”

“Manners, father. I wasn’t speaking to you. You can stand there all day with that fake ass innocent look on your face, but I’m not buying it for one second. I wonder who would have offered him the money? It couldn’t possibly have been you, right? You wouldn’t do something that cruel to your daughter, would you? Oh, wait, of fucking course you would. I will bet you the two dollars and sixty cents I have in the bank that when Mom found my diary, she gave it to you. Of course, you wouldn’t like what you read one bit. You always said the cruelest things about his family and turned up your nose like you thought we were better than them. All because we had money. You never liked him, so you used his insecurities to make what you viewed as a problem, disappear.” His smile fades, replaced with a sneer, but I continue my rant.

Turning to Levi, I continue, “All that he did, I can believe, but you?” I narrow my eyes trying hard not to fucking cry and show him how much this hurts. He has seen enough of my heartbreak, but that stops now. “I never would have believed you could be bought, but I was wrong about you before. You had me so fucking fooled, didn’t you? Was that the plan all along? Did anything that happened back then mean anything to you? Tell me, Levi, how much was my heartbreak worth? God, please tell me it was at least fucking more than a couple hundred?” I scream at him. Picking up the chair next to my leg, I throw it across the room.

“Why are you standing there not saying anything? There is no way you’re embarrassed by all this now, are you? Was it just a one-time payment, or is it still ongoing?” I turn my attention to Parker. “It is, isn’t it? That’s why you and Emilee encouraged me to listen to him, and then when I did, you guys got pissed. Did he offer you some of the money?” My gaze lands on the individual that holds the blame for starting all of this. “Was there a stipulation you put on his payment when you found out he came back to town? I don’t know, break her heart again, make her already miserable life even harder?” My hands tangle in my hair pulling at the roots, “Huh. What the fuck did I do to any of you?” I scream.

The rage fueling my manic episode fades away, leaving me weak, shaky, and unstable on my feet. Arms catch me before I hit the ground again. My heart is racing, and my head is pounding from the handful of hair I pulled out. Parker’s face is close to mine as he holds me up. His eyes are wide and shiny with unshed tears, brows are raised so high they have disappeared under his hair. “Do you really think that badly about all of us? I know your mind has to be racing around trying to make sense of this, but… Sunshine, think about what you’re saying. Emilee would never have a hand in hurting you… hell, none of us would.”

My jaw drops, and my hands cover my gaping mouth as his demeanor slows the racing thoughts long enough for me to comprehend what I just shouted at them. He’s right, at least when it comes to Emilee, she would never hurt me. Behind Levi, the back door opens, and Adam joins the party.

“I searched everywhere. He's alone,” he says, then moves to stand shoulder to shoulder with Levi, mirroring his death stare.

Turning my attention back to Parker, I answer his questions. “I don’t know what to think anymore, Parker. I don’t know who to believe. I think it’s best if all of you leave.” I’m more stable, so I push out of his embrace. “While learning all the secrets hidden from me has been nice, I have a lot to think about. Plus, since my boss and landlord just attacked me, I need to call the authorities and also pack my stuff. I can’t continue to live here or even work here.” I sound just as defeated as I feel.

“No one is leaving this room!” My father’s loud voice booms around us all. Levi instinctively steps closer to me, and Parker pulls me to his side while Adam and their uncle step closer to my father.

“Just admit what you did, Mr. Summers. Even someone as cold and evil as you has to have some sense of right and wrong. It has to be eating at you. Tell her, your flesh and blood, how you destroyed her life all because she wasn’t the perfect daughter in your eyes. Tell her how you threatened me with jail time because I was eighteen and she was seventeen during our relationship. How you threw ten thousand dollars in my lap to leave her, but I refused.” Levi’s eyes connect with mine, and I feel like such a fool for my previous outburst. “Because she meant more to me than everything. She still fucking does.” He turns back to the person I thought was my father, “You said the unthinkable. You threatened to cut her off, take away college, and see her destitute, living on the street!”

“You did what?” I know my dad was crooked and could be vindictive, but this is fucking crazy.

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