Page 78 of Unbreak Me
It takes everything in me to reign in my anger. I’ve never once laid a hand on a woman before, and I’m not about to start now. In the end, she’s still Eve’s mother, but that doesn’t mean I have to like her. I watch her glare at me before she sits down.
I turn to Jake, and he lifts his brow at me. He hates her just as much as I do right now, so I know he thoroughly enjoyed that. “Can you take Ryland back home with you? We won’t be too far behind. I think Ryland has had enough excitement for the day.”
“Of course,” he walks over and grins at Ryland. “Do you want to go get a muffin with Uncle Jake, Rybug?”
“Muffin.” She reaches for him, and he hugs her tight. I think we all are still shaken about what happened earlier. He walks her to the door, and Gayle’s voice stops him.
“Don’t I get to say goodbye?” Jake looks at her over his shoulder with a stare that causes her to pale and keep her mouth shut.
“No.” He meets my eyes. “Call me if you need anything.”
I nod my head and watch him leave before walking over to Eve and gathering her in my arms.
“You are in control here. We leave when you say the word. She can’t hurt us anymore, Eve. No matter what happens, our family is the only thing that matters.” I whisper softly in her ear. I feel her nod her head against me. “I love you.”
“I love you too.” She sits down on the bed, and I sit next to her. Grasping my hand, I give it a squeeze. “Why did you do it? Why take Ryland?”
“Can’t a grandmother just want to see her granddaughter?” Her smile doesn’t reach her eyes. It’s hard to believe someone so cold could be related to someone who has the biggest heart I know.
“Cut the bullshit. We both know you never wanted to be a mother, much less a grandmother.”
“I’m surprised you found me so fast. Except for the grocery store, I thought I’d done a pretty good job of hiding myself. I have to say I was a little hurt when I saw you get married. I’m assuming my invitation got lost in the mail?”
I grip Eve’s hand tighter. She’s been watching us longer than I thought. All this time, she’s been right under our noses. “How did you get in? The door was locked.” I need to know what I did wrong…where I failed to protect my daughter.
“Easy.” Her eyes move to me. “You guys are always down at the beach playing family. I just waited until the right moment to have a spare made. I was in and out before anyone knew the wiser.”
“So you took Ryland to what? Punish us somehow? How was this plan of yours going to go.”
“I wasn’t going to keep her, obviously. I just wanted to have a little reunion before I have to say goodbye. It hurts to have something taken away that you love, doesn’t it.” Her cold stare hits Eve. “You have no idea the mess you caused when you handed over that thumb drive to the FBI.”
“Father did that to himself. All I wanted was to get back home. If you would have just let me stay none of this would have happened.”
“I was protecting you,” she seethes. “I was making you stronger. You need to realize that the only one you can count onis yourself. Your father destroyed me. Love is a weakness, not a gift. I learned the hard way, trust me.”
“My father…”
“is dead…” She finishes the sentence, and the room goes eerily quiet.
“What? I don’t understand.” Eve shakes her head. “Did something happen in prison?”
“Richard?” Her laugh is laced with disgust. “No, I’m sure that weak bastard is still surviving in there somehow.” She looks Eve dead in the eye without a trace of emotion. “Richard’s not your father, dear. I think it’s time you finally know the truth, and then you can decide for yourself if you are leaving with me.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
EVE
Iblink and force myself to keep it together. She thrives on making me feel weak and dependent on her. I won’t give her the satisfaction of letting her know how bad her words shocked me. I break her gaze and get up to pace in this small room.
Ryder meets my eyes, and I can see the worry in them as I walk across the bare, ugly carpet. Even across the room, though, I can feel his love, and I know no matter what she says, she won’t take that from us.
“Tell me.” I sink into the other chair in the room and face her.
A satisfied look flashes across her features, but what she doesn’t know is that although I’m willing to listen to what she has to say, she’s already lost me as a daughter. “I was around sixteen when I met your father, Ian. The same age you met Ryder.” Her eyes flick to Ryder before meeting mine. “He was eighteen and eager to learn from my father. Back then, I had no clue what kind of business my father was in, but I wasn’t naive enough to know it was bad. I would see the men in suits come in and catch glimpses of the guns under their suit jackets. He always had a team of men follow him wherever he went.
“I knew your mom died when you were little, but you would never talk about your dad when I would ask about him.”
“My father is a cold, ruthless bastard,” she laughs coldly. “I think that’s why I fell so in love with your father. I was craving love and he showed it to me. We started seeing each other behind my father’s back any chance we could. He would tell me how much he loved me and how we would get married one day, and all of this would be ours. I believed every word he said and gave him everything.” She glances down at her hand and twirls the gold band on her right ring finger.
