Page 27 of Rescued By the SEAL

“Don’t do this.” Landon touches his hand to my arm, actually reminding me that he’s there. I just got myself so mixed up in this fight with my father that I forgot about him. “I don’t want you to go because it terrifies me, not being able to protect you, but you don’t want to cut ties with your father. He only wants to protect you. Clearly, something happened with your mother which makes him nervous to leave you with me, so you should go with him. Don’t lose him by choosing me.”

I stare into his eyes and see how serious Landon is about this. He’s torn, he really doesn’t want me to go anywhere, but he also can’t stand me to separate from my father. How the hell can my father not see what a good person Landon is?

“I lost my father,” he reminds me. “I didn’t talk to him for years and now he’s gone. It leaves me sad at what I missed out on and also upset with the feeling that maybe I could have done more to help him. I only have my mother left and she’s in jail. I can’t do anything for her at the moment, but you still have a chance here. You can make things work with your father.”

I do understand what he’s saying to me, but at the same time, it makes see both people a lot more clearly. After everything that we’ve been through, my father is still desperate to control me, and Landon wants to protect me, but in the way that’s best for me. He doesn’t want to push me in any particular direction. That makes it easier for me to want him.

“Dad, I’m not going with you,” I tell him seriously. “I don’t want to choose, I don’t want to lose you, but I’m not prepared to walk away from Landon. I know that he cares about me in all the right ways, and you need to understand that too.”

Dad’s face goes almost purple with anger. I know that I’ve pushed him over the edge this time around, which doesn’t feel right. Naturally, my instinct is to try and please my father because that’s what I’ve always done, but if I want to make changes, then that’s what I’ll do. I’m sure that this whole mess won’t be forever. We can fix this. He won’t actually push me out of his life forever. He’s my father, for crying out loud. He cares for me and loves me over everything else.

“If you go with him now, then I’llneverspeak to you again. I’ll never deal with you. You will be cut off and I won’t even think about you anymore.”

Oh. It seems not. It seems that my father really might be done with me. That feels cold and horrible. I almost want to burst into tears under the pressure of it. It’s really hard to remain strong, to be honest.

“I can’t go through this a second time, Heather, you know that. I’ll have to just… just forget about you, and you will have to forget me too.”

He stands firm for a moment, waiting to see if I’m going to buckle under pressure, but I don’t. The guilt trip might be working internally, stripping me down from the inside out, but it isn’t going to make me back down. I can’t. Not now.

“Right, well then, I guess I have no daughter anymore.” He flings his hands in the air in frustration. “I’ll get out of here.”

I shudder as he leaves. It’s pretty challenging for me not to burst into tears, but I keep myself standing tall. Just about.

“Are you sure that this is what you want to do?” Landon asks me quietly. “He seemed pretty serious then.”

“He might be,” I reply, unable to keep the shaking from my voice. “But I can’t keep living under his regime. I know he’s like that because of my mother, but that doesn’t give him any excuse to treat me like a child.”

“What… erm, what happened with your mother?” he asks. “You never told me that.”

I feel deflated and sad. “Yeah, I know, but I only just found out. I’m actually too emotionally drained to go through it all right now, but I’ll tell you everything. I will. For now, can we just get the hell out of here?”

“Where are we going to go?” Landon says, but not so much to me, almost to himself. “We need to be somewhere safe for the moment. I think we’re going to have to ask Max what’s the best thing to do.”

I shrug my shoulders because honestly, I don’t care where we go. As long as we don’t end up in my father’s home, my apartment, or even’s Landon’s place. I just want to be somewhere no one canfind us so we can have some time alone. I have a whole lot that I need to get my head around and to process, and I can’t do that while looking over my shoulder.

“I want to go far, far away,” I whisper. “I want to get out of here, away from everyone.”

“Away from all the danger, I know.” Landon misunderstands, really, because the danger is the last thing on my mind… although avoiding that will probably be better for us. I don’t want to end up in the back of another black van. “Don’t worry, I’m going to make sure that everything is okay. You can trust me.”

This time, it’s my choice to be locked away from the world, if that’s what ends up happening, which makes all the difference. I’m the one in control. That’s all I’ve ever wanted, to have my own power.

24

LANDON

“So, what do you think of this place?” I ask Heather as soon as it feels like we’re settled into our new temporary home for the time being. “It’s a little remote, I know that, but the safehouses under Max’s control always are.”

“I actually like it.” She beams happily. “I really like it here. I would like to live in a place like this. There is something inspiring about this whole area. It’s unlike anywhere I’ve ever been before. I feel like I could do anything here.”

She looks brighter, to be honest, like a massive weight has been lifted off her shoulders. I don’t know if that’s because we’re far away from danger or perhaps it’s because she finally stood up to her father. Or maybe it might have something to do with her being here with me. Either way, it’s nice to see her this way after all the stress she has been through. I can’t stop smiling because she looks so light and airy. This is how I remember her best, a ray of sunshine.

Max might not be best pleased with me, but he isn’t furious either, thank goodness, which is why he was more than happyto help us out with this place while he assesses the danger. He’s going to work out whether Heather needs to worry any longer.

“Oh, look.” All of a sudden, I notice something glimmering on her ankle. “Is that the bracelet I bought you?”

“I’ve had this on the whole time.” She giggles while waving it at me. “I can’t believe you have only just noticed. I’ve always had it on me. Although I moved it to my foot because it was too painful to keep it on my arm. I didn’t like seeing it every day not knowing where you were. I never quite expected to run into you again like I did. Life has been… strange.”

“Yes, it is strange.” I nod in agreement. “But in a really great way too. It’s kind of beautiful, don’t you think?”

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