Page 22 of Unbreak Me
“The FBI has seized all his assets. He has nothing left to threaten me with. I knew he did shady things in his business, and I tried for three years to find it. I got approached by an FBI agent when I was pregnant, and I’ve been working with them ever since. I finally found what they were looking for late one night while I went through his office. He got careless and left a thumb drive out in the open after one of his scotch nights. I quickly copied it before I could get caught. My father is facing alot of years in prison for embezzlement. They wanted me to run with them but I left in the middle of the night to come back here. After my phone call with Agent Davis, letting him know of their plans, I’m sure my father is rotting in a jail cell right about now.”
“Jesus,” I mutter. My body feels numb, and I have no idea how to feel.
“Leaving that day was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. I was afraid if I left a note or tried to call you that, they would find out and follow through on their threats. I was nineteen and scared. I was losing the only person in this whole world who ever made me feel loved. I had to be strong for our daughter, and I knew when I left that I was coming back here as soon as I could find a way out of it. I know you have every reason to hate me. I robbed you of those three years, just like Jake said. I would hate me, too. I did it, though, to protect you and your family, and I would do it all over again if it meant protecting the ones that I love.”
“Like I said earlier, I don’t hate you,” I rub my hand over my face. “I don’t know what to feel right now, but I know I don’t hate you. I’m going to need some time to process this.”
She nods her head and hesitates before stepping back. “Take all the time you need. We should probably get back up there. Ryland will be wondering where I am if I’m gone too long.”
“I’ll be up in a minute. I just need a second.” I watch her walk back to the house, my heart in my throat. I sit down and stare at the ocean. It doesn’t take long before I feel my brothers come up behind me. They sit down beside me, and just like when I was three years old and found out my parents had died, no words need to be spoken. Just them being here helps.
I finally break the silence and tell them what I just learned. When I finish, I look around at their shocked faces. Anger brims near the surface, though, as they come to terms with everything her father took away from us.
“She was protecting us,” Miles whispers. “I knew her dad was a controlling ass, but I had no idea how far he was willing to go to control her. It must have killed him to know he couldn’t control her anymore because she had you and our family. He must have been planning this for a while, and what better opportunity than when they have to move.”
“I wish I could see his ass rotting in jail right now,” Travis grounds out. “He took the coward's way out and threatened his own nineteen-year-old daughter. He knew by mentioning Max that it would get to her. She was too scared that he would hurt us, so she sacrificed her happiness and left.”
“What are you going to do, Ryder? You’ve been in love with her ghost for three years, and she’s back.” Jake says softly. “It’s clear that she never stopped loving you.”
“I don’t know,” I admit truthfully. “I’ve spent so many days wanting this moment, and now that she’s back, I don’t know what to feel. I’m still so angry that I’ve lost all that time with my daughter, and she’s the easy one for me to blame since her dad’s not here.”
“She did what she thought was right regardless of how any of us are feeling,” Miles sighs.
“We’ll never know what would have happened if she hadn’t left and stood her ground. His threats could have been useless, or we could all be living a completely different life right now and not doing the things we love,” Travis admits quietly.
“It’s going to take time to figure out all these feelings, but one thing is for certain. I’m a dad,” I whisper as emotions take hold of me and tears prick my eyes.
“Yeah, you are,” Travis says, wrapping his arm around my shoulder. “She’s beautiful, Ryder. I see so much of Max in her. He’s already taking on the protective older cousin role.”
“Mom and Dad are going to flip when they find out they have a granddaughter,” Miles grins.
“Yeah, she’s going to be over the moon with a little girl to spoil,” Jake agrees.
“I’m thinking I need to FaceTime them later with Savi. I don’t want to wait to tell them until they get here. It will be better if they know now, so it can sink in before they see Eve. Mom thought of her as another daughter and Eve was a sister to Savi. There’s a lot of feelings involved here,” I say, standing up and brushing off the sand. “I told Eve she’s staying here until we figure things out. I don’t want to waste another minute being with my daughter. I thought I would take them into town after breakfast. I want Ryland to be comfortable in my place, so I need to get a few things for her.”
“Sounding like the perfect dad already,” Travis beams at me as we walk back to the house.
“I had the best role model,” I grin back at Travis.
“Geez, I’m going to have to find my manhood again after this morning. I feel like I’ve lived through an episode of Oprah,” Miles mutters.
“You’re telling me. Ryland hugged me earlier, and I almost cried like a baby,” Jake chuckles.
“No shame in that. I’ve been known to cry a few times in front of Sophia. It just means you love hard,” Travis smiles.
I see my daughter spot me as we walk back into the room and the smile she gives me melts my heart on the spot. Yeah, I definitely love hard.
CHAPTER NINE
EVE
“Idon’t think we need anything else,” I laugh as I push the overflowing cart to the checkout line. Ryder insisted we go shopping this afternoon for some things he wanted to get Ryland.
Ryder turns to grin at me, and my heart does a little flip. It’s the first genuine smile I’ve gotten from him, and a sliver of hope weaves its way in. He has Ryland on his shoulders, and she’s happily sitting up there with fistfuls of his dark hair. She’s taken to him as if she’s known him forever. Like momma like daughter, I suppose.
“I want her to be comfortable in my place. She needs a place to sleep, a safe booster seat for the kitchen table and did you see how cute those swimsuits were? I mean, who could resist those pink ruffles on the bottom with a matching sun hat?”
“Obviously, not you,” I giggle, holding up the other three swimsuits he got her. “Or the one with watermelons on the front, the yellow one with daisies, and the strawberry one.”
