Page 175 of Mad Love

A ghost of a smile touched his mouth. “I have four younger brothers. I’ve had practice with kids.”

I managed to shake my head a bit. “It’s more than that. Don’t sell yourself short.”

He shrugged one massive shoulder, the fabric of his button-up white shirt pulled taut around his muscles to the point I wondered if the seams would burst. “She’s easy to love.”

I glanced down at her, my chest filling with emotion. “Yeah, she is.”

Someone cleared their throat in the doorway and we both looked over to see Ryan. He’d shed his suit jacket and tie, rolled up his sleeves, and undone the top few buttons of his shirt. His gaze landed on his sister and softened before turning to me. “Can we talk?”

I glanced at Royal, who nodded. “I’ll stay with her.”

Carefully, I extracted myself from where I’d wrapped around Cori, and rolled off the edge of the bed. Ryan drew me into the hall and to our bedroom next door, but left the door cracked before pulling me into his arms. I ran a hand down his back as he shuddered.

“It’s okay,” I assured him, hugging him as tight as I could. “She’s gonna be okay.”

Shaking his head, he pulled away from me and crossed the room to sit on the end of the bed. “I called Ms. Wallace.”

Hope trickled in as I was relieved that he’d reached out to the woman who had been Cori’s caregiver when she lived with Beckett. She was trained in dealing with children who had autism, but more specifically, she knew Cori.

I walked forward to stand in front of him. “Are you planning to hire her back?” When Cori had been enrolled in her private school, Ms. Wallace had retired to spend time with her family. Corinne had round-the-clock care and attention at school, so she no longer needed a daily aide.

He nodded. “I asked her if she’d be willing to come back for a little while.”

“She said yes?”

“Sort of.” He grimaced. “Her daughter just had a new baby, and she can’t leave until after New Year’s.”

“Shit,” I murmured. Not that I wanted to push Cori onto someone else, but Ms. Wallace was trained to help her. She knew her disabilities and triggers. She would have, at the very least, been able to help us navigate the next few weeks to make Cori’s life less chaotic.

“I told her about the thumb sucking, the third person… She said Cori’s regressing.” Ryan looked absolutely gutted, like he’d personally failed his little sister.

I rested my hands on his shoulders. “Okay, but what does that mean?”

He tipped his head back and looked up at me. “She’s struggling. The third person thing…” Fury hardened his features. “She said that my father used to tell her how useless and bad she was. It’s called illeism. Apparently it’s not always a bad thing, but in Cori’s case, she used it as a coping mechanism for when Beckett was cruel.”

Hatred filled my veins. That man… God, he needed to be shot.

Ryan cleared his throat. “Basically her brain separates her personality from her body. She views herself as a fucking object or a thing. The way he did.”

My fingers dug into his shoulders. “Your father is a cunt.”

He snorted. “Zero disagreements from me, babe.”

I blew out a breath. “How do we help Corinne?”

Ryan linked his arms behind my thighs, pulling me closer. “Ms. Wallace said Cori needs to go somewhere familiar, safe. It might help her process things. There’s also a therapist in L.A. we’ve used before who will start working with her again.”

I glanced around the room. “She’s in Brookfield. Isn’t that soothing enough? She loves it here. The horses, the staff, the dogs…”

He nodded. “But without Grandpa, it’s not the same, and she’s acutely aware of that. Everyone here is in mourning. Cori’s a sensitive kid. Even if we all act like it’s normal, she’ll see through it.”

“All right. Then we leave. We can spend the holidays at the beach house—”

“Cori doesn’t know the beach house,” he admitted. “She’s only been there once or twice. Honestly? The best place is to take her back to the home she knows.”

My brows shot up. “Seriously? Even though it’s where Beckett was a dick to her?”

He looked at me helplessly. “Ms. Wallace said it’s the place that Cori knows best. At least Beckett won’t be there to harass her. And most of her stuff is there. She’ll feel safe.”

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