Page 55 of Homecoming Heartbreaker

Vivi, her hand to her throat, nodded.

Mack joined Molly on the path and placed a hand on her lower back and urged her forward. As they walked to their cars, Beth stepped onto the path, looking vaguely amused.

“Ooh, drama. And damn, it looks like I missed it,” she said. Then she caught sight of Vincent and Grant on the floor of the small porch, Grant’s shirt splattered with blood.

“What the hell happened?” she demanded.

Mack kept moving Molly forward. “You can get the story from them. Oh, and, Beth?”

“What?” Beth asked, glaring at him.

“You’re fired.”

Despite being furious with Mack and feeling sick and sad from her encounter with her family, Molly silently cheered his blunt declaration.

Beth sneered at him. “You can’t fire me because I am sleeping with your girlfriend’s brother.”

“I’m not. I’m firing you because you are a piss-poor bookkeeper. Don’t bother to collect your final check. I’ll have it delivered.”

“But...but...you can’t!” Beth wailed.

“I just did.” Mack’s mouth lifted at the edges in the tiniest of smiles. “Jameson always used to tell us that if you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas. My advice to you? Disinfect.”

Mack didn’t bother to follow Molly home. He knew exactly where she was going and when he saw her car parked in the space next to the road leading to the steel bridge, he drove his car to the villa and parked it in the garage.

He slowly made his way down the road toward the steel bridge and, ultimately, to the pond and the treehouse where he knew Molly would be.

It was her thinking place, their special place. But as much as he wanted to be with her, he also knew she needed a little time to calm down, to pull herself together.

He’d give her some time but before the sun set, they’d have an understanding between them.

He wasn’t leaving her life again; he’d never underestimate her or try to control her again. And he was prepared to spend the rest of his life proving that to her.

Mack heard his ringing phone and pulled the device out of the back pocket of his khakis, knowing he couldn’t ignore his father’s call. He swiped the green button and his father’s face filled his screen.

“How did it go? Have you two kissed and made up yet?” Jameson demanded.

“Stop bugging me or I’ll tell Giada that you keep a secret stash of cigars in the inside pocket of your winter coat,” Mack retorted.

Mack heard Giada’s triumphant shout and Jameson scowled. “Dammit, Mack! You have a very big mouth.”

Jameson turned the phone and Mack saw that his dad wasn’t alone in his hospital room. Travis and Grey, trying hard to ignore each other, stood on either side of Jameson, while Giada sat in the visitor’s chair, glee on her face.

“You shouldn’t be smoking anyway,” Mack told Jameson.

“Yada yada,” Jameson said. “Did she confront her family?”

Mack nodded. “Yeah, she did. It was pretty ugly.”

“They are ugly people,” Jameson agreed.

“How many Haskell brothers did you deck, Mack?” Grey asked.

“Both of them.” Mack looked down at his swollen knuckles, suddenly conscious of the insistent throbbing in his hand. Worth it, he decided.

Silence fell between them and Mack sighed, over it. This couldn’t go on. Molly, obviously, was his top priority, but getting his family back ran a close second.

Stopping, he stared down at the screen, noticing that Travis had turned away to look out the window and that Grey was staring at his own phone. Nobody was talking to each other and he was over it.

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