Page 78 of Heart Strings & Hotlines
He really is suing her—his own daughter.
Anger boils over to rage and then turns into all-consuming hatred for the man who created my woman. In all my time as an entrepreneur, I’ve never cared about what other companies were doing. I’ve been confident in my skills, unlike others who feel threatened and are constantly attempting to tear others down.
Staring at this letter, I now understand the appeal of ruining something. Until Lottie, I haven’t cared enough. But this is after-Lottie me, and after-Lottie me is out for blood.
I’m going to ruin this miserable excuse for a human being, and then I’m going to watch him burn while she soars like the motherfucking unicorn that she is.
“Thane.”
I don’t have to face her to know that she’s pissed.
Well, I’m pissed off too. She should have told me about this so I could fix it. She should be in bed so she can get better. She should just listen to me.
“What, Charlotte? This?” I hold up the letter I’m reading.
“Yes, that.” She tightens the sash of her silk robe. I want to know if the fabric is as soft as it appears, but her scowl tells me to stay put.
See? You are learning.Fucking narrator.
“You can’t keep steamrolling into my business, Thane. That’s not how this works.”
“I already knew about this. I knew within days of you telling me he was suing you.”
Her eyes narrow into tiny slits. “How did you know?”
“People at the courthouse talk, sweetheart. Especially when a name like yours or mine is involved. How do you think the entire world knew about my father’s fifth DUI before I did?”
“Did you actively seek out this information?” She drops onto the sofa, crosses her legs, then swings her right foot aggressively.
“Yes.”
“Jesus, Thane. I told you I didn’t want to tell you.”
“And you didn’t, so what’s the problem?”
“I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to know. Did that ever once cross your mind?”
“No.” I refold the letter, my hands trembling with anger at her father. “How can I find a solution if I don’t understand the problem?”
“This isn’t your problem to fix.” Her voice rises to a pitch I’ve never heard from her before.
“Yes. It is.”
“The Hotline has nothing to do with you outside of you being a client, which also makes what we did upstairs wrong on so many levels.”
Wrong. That punches me in the gut.
“Stop.”
Her gaze jumps to mine.
“First, what happened was in no way a mistake. Take it back.”
Lottie’s mouth hangs open, and then she laughs in my face. Fucking. Laughs.
“Take it back? Thane, we’re not in the fourth grade.”
“Take it back.”
