Page 97 of The Love You Fight For
“Did you know?” she asks, opening her eyes and meeting mine. “Did you know that my father had an affair with your mother?”
I flinch with surprise, but then I nod.
“I did.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because it doesn’t matter,” I answer pointedly. “Because my mother was young when she got pregnant, and she was restless in our small town, and she always wanted something more than what we could give her. Because she would have left anyway and because it had absolutely nothing to do with you.”
She narrows her eyes at me, and I brace myself for whatever she’s going to say next. When her eyes start to mist over, I fist my hands to keep from reaching for her again.
“And when were you going to tell me about Michael?” she asks finally, and I’m consumed with shock.
When she sees my expression, when she knows for sure that I knew the truth and didn’t tell her, her face crumples, and the first tear falls.
“My family has ruined yours,” she whispers as tears stream down her cheeks.
I shake my head.
“My family isn’t ruined,” I say clearly. I mean it. “Youhaven’t ruined anything.”
She clamps her eyes shut and sucks in a shaky breath.
“You gave up your dream. You gave up everything to pick up the pieces of a mess my family caused, all while you watched Chase and my father andmeget off without any consequences.”
I step toward her, and she takes another step away. Her tears never stop falling. Her makeup is smudged. Her eyeliner is starting to run. She’s still beautiful.
Beautiful and innocent.
“You didn’t deserve any of the consequences. None of it was your fault.”
“My brother almost killed your brother-in-law,” she shouts. “My father is the reason your family hasn’t gotten justice. Why you had to quit your dream job and move back to Franklin just to make sure everything didn’t fall apart.My familydid that.”
“Yes.” I nod. “Yes, your family did that. Not you.”
She grits her teeth and glares at me.
“Do you know how much money he spent to make sure your family was fucked, Chris? How much he paid to make sure Chase got off scot-free while you all suffered?”
“I don’t want to know.” I shake my head. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Ten million dollars. Ten million dollars, Chris. He paid off cops. He paid off a judge. He paid off a fucking chop shop and a doctor. He paid to send my brother to South Africa on a fucking extended sabbatical, for fuck’s sake, all while you guys were dealing with the fallout. All while your lives were irreparably altered.”
I close my eyes and nod. I almost want to laugh. The bastard only offered my sister five hundred thousand to keep quiet. She told him to go fuck himself, that she was going to see him and his son put in prison for life, but in the end, there wasn’t enough evidence. Just Michael’s eyewitness account while on pain meds and some tiremarks on the road. By that point, the car was nowhere to be found, and Chase Harper was gone. The story didn’t even make it past the local news.
It’s dizzying when you finally understand how much power money can buy.
It always leads to evil.
“Princess,” I whisper, closing the distance between us once more.
This time, she doesn’t step away, and I bring our bodies toe-to-toe. Gently, I reach up and put my finger under her chin, tipping her face up to mine. Then I slide my hand to the back of her neck and rest my fingers on her pulse point.
Her heart is thrumming rapidly, pumping warm blood through a human body, with weaknesses just like everyone else. Warm and real and breakable.
“None of it is your fault, princess,” I say again.
She shakes her head slowly.
