“Seems that Reese found you and your father through the obituaries. She has told police that she attended the burial ceremony and followed you back to your brownstone. Over several months, she was able to pin down your schedule and discovered you were due to attend The Persephone Stage School. Once she did, she managed to get a place for Hayley, too, and, well…I think you can garner the rest.”
A single tear streaks one cheek as I fill in the blanks.
“She manipulated her way into my life. My home. Mymother’shome.” I inhale a sob that almost makes me choke as I whisper, “My mother’sbed….”
I lift wild eyes, pinning Ford in place.
“Has anyone spoken to my dad yet? Where is he?—”
“He’s on a flight back to the US from Brussels. I’ll have a car bring him to you. Don’t worry about that, baby.”
My heart feels battered inside my chest as I think back on all the things Reese has done for me over the years. And how every single one of them was a manipulation to assuage the guilt she felt over my mother’s death. How her actions have colored every step I’ve taken since the day my mother died. How the love and attention she showered on me was a lie.
“Was any of it real?”
I don’t realize I’ve spoken until Ford grips the mug from my fingers and places it on the coffee table before crouching before me. “You can’t change what’s happened, Tink. You can only adjust the way you see it.”
My eyes narrow as I shake my head, fresh tears spilling down my face and landing on Hayley’s mussed hair. “I don’t know how I can see it any way other than how it is. She killed my mother and stole her life. She helped Beck to tamper with my career. To have me poisoned. Potentiallykidnapped?—”
“She brought Hayley into your life.”
Those six words make me frown, and I drop my gaze from him, down to the sleeping form of my sister. My best friend. My rock through good times and bad.
“And, like you once told me, the universe has a plan. For all of us, even Reese. You’ve trusted her this far when others would have thrown in the towel.”
He rises slightly to press a kiss to my forehead, and I can feel the simple act lessening the tension in my shoulders as he whispers, “Focus on that, and I’ll take care of the rest, Tink.”
Low voices, as though from a distance, rouse me from my half-sleep. My eyes open slowly, and the apartment around me comes into focus.
The first thing I register is that Hayley is still fast asleep with her head in my lap, followed by the sound of Ford’s voice in the hallway leading to the elevator.
“They’re sleeping in here.”
“Wait.” My heart jumps at hearing my father’s deep voice, but I sit quietly when both men halt just out of my line of sight.
“Is everything alright, Mr. Hart?”
“Please, Ford. Call me Tristan.”
Ford huffs a low laugh, muttering something about old habits before rewording his question. “Are you okay, Tristan?”
Silence follows for a beat until my father answers, his voice now fraught with concern.
And something else. Something like…guilt?
“What do I say to them? I—I don’t know what to… I can’t wrap my head around…”
He trails off, his weary sigh making my heart clench painfully. “I never stopped loving Norah. After the…accident, I made Emerson my whole world, but…fuck?—”
Stopping suddenly, he clears his throat before blowing out a breath.
“I tried my best. I truly,trulydid, but she needed her mother. And when the opportunity presented itself, I thought Reese was the answer. Our marriage was almost transactional, and that was enough for me. It was enough because I was able to continue to carry Norah in my heart, and Reese never questioned it. Not once. And maybeIshould have…questioned it, I mean. But…butChrist, I never saw this coming. I trusted her with the most valuable part of my life, and in doing so, I invited my wife’s killer into our home. It makes me so fuckingangry?—”
There’s a loud bang, and Hayley jerks into awareness as I hear my father hiss in pain. Ford murmurs quietly, “Let me get some ice for that hand, Tristan. I—I understand your frustration. The pain. The deception and the conflict, but punching walls, while cathartic in the moment, is nothing but a guaranteed knuckle cruncher.”
Both men step into view as they quickly cross the space leading into the kitchen, and as Hayley lifts her head from my lap, I don’t make her any the wiser about my father’s presence. Instead, I brush her curly hair back from her face and greet her with a soft smile.
“Feeling better?”
