"It's exactly the same! I used to listen to him worry about you and your startups. He just wanted you to spend your time on something secure, like the business he'd built. But that wasn't what you wanted."
Her words sank in, weighing on my heart. Shit. She was right. "I'm not trying to control you. I just want to keep you safe." I didn't know how to put it more plainly than that.
Parker's eyes softened, but she crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't like the situation either, but I'm not leaving Heartstone Manor. I'm not forfeiting my inheritance." I opened my mouth to protest, and she held up a hand. "It's not the money, Nash. I don't care about the trust or what's in it. I don't think there's much, and it doesn't matter. I have a roof over my head, and food in my stomach. I'll figure out the rest."
"Then what is it, Parker? It's not safe here. If you'd been hit with that device on the door, or been stuck in that dumbwaiter any longer, you could have died. That's twice already. And I know you hate feeling like a prisoner." I threw my arm out at the door to the suite. On the other side was an armed guard, courtesy of Sinclair Security. "Make me understand why you're risking your life to stay here if it isn't about the inheritance."
"It's about my family," Parker shouted back, her hands clenching into fists. "It's my family! This is the first time in my entire life that I feel like I have a real family. Before it was always little moments, what we could steal together without Prentice seeing. I couldn't just love any of them. He was always trying to come between us. He sent Griffen away. He ran Finn off. If he sensed my sisters and I were growing close, he'd orchestrate some betrayal and set us against each other. But now he's gone, and we're all here together. We're a family for the first time. I can love them, and laugh with them, and no one is going to take that away from me. Not Tyler, and not you!" Her words cut off in a sob.
I moved for her, but she threw her hand up and stepped back, blocking me.
"You can still see them, Parker," I promised. "I'm not asking you to cut off your family, just to leave Heartstone Manor. For a while. Until it's safe." I shifted toward her and she took another step back.
"It's the same thing, Nash. Don't you understand? If I violate the terms of the will, I don't just lose my inheritance. I'm barred from all family properties. That's the entire Heartstone Manor estate, The Inn at Sawyers Bend, your new offices, Quinn's guide shop, Avery's brewery, and most of the shops on main street. Hell, if I violate the terms of the will, West can practically throw me out of town. I'll be exiled. For five years."
A tear rolled down her cheek. I felt like a real asshole. I understood, I did, but all of that didn't change the fact that she was not safe at Heartstone Manor. "Parker," I began. She shook her head.
"I'll wait for you," she said, her voice small and tight with pain. "I understand if you want to leave. You could have died last week. If you want to go, I'll wait for you. I love you, Nash. You're it for me. But I won't be driven from my home. I can't do it."
My heart cracked right through the center. I was across the room in a second, pulling her into my arms. Parker sank into me, holding on, her shoulders jerking in a sob.
"I'm not going anywhere without you, Parker."
Her arms squeezed my waist, holding on tight, her face buried in my shirt. "I don't understand why he's doing this," she said, her voice muffled. "What's the point? To scare us? To be a jerk? It doesn't make sense. I can't figure out how to stop him if I don't understand what he's doing."
"I don't know, sweetheart. It doesn't make sense to me either. Hawk thinks it could be whoever killed your father."
Parker pulled away, shaking her head. "It's Tyler. I know it's Tyler. He put Bryce up to pushing me in the dumbwaiter. And all week Bryce has been weird with him."
I didn't argue. What was the point when I agreed with her? Bryce was still hanging out with Tyler, but there was a distance between them that hadn't been there before Hawk and Griffen confronted Bryce about the dumbwaiter.
At the end of the day, none of it mattered. We knew Tyler was responsible, knew Bryce was helping him, but until we could prove it, until West could make an arrest, we couldn't get Tyler out of Heartstone Manor.
"Parker, I'm not going anywhere without you," I said again. "But I can't keep you safe. I'm not sure Hawk's team can keep you safe. I don't want you to lose your family or your home, but I can't live with the thought of losing you."
Looking down at her, my throat tight, I tried to force the words out. "We've had two close calls already. I can't stop thinking about what would have happened if we'd found you too late in the dumbwaiter. I've waited for you for six years. No, I've waited for you my entire life. It's only the last six years that I knew who I was waiting for. Nothing I have is worth anything if you're gone, Parker."
She stared up at me, silent, thoughts turning over behind her wary eyes. "I need to think about it. Please? Can I think about it?"
All I could do was nod, my heart in my throat, threatening to shatter in a million pieces. I loved this woman more than my own life, and she was willing to think about giving up what she loved the most, for me. Now, knowing what this place meant to her, I wasn't sure I wanted her to agree to my plan.
How could I live with being the reason she lost five years with her family? How could I go on if we stayed, and I lost her?
She slipped away, saying something about fixing her face, and I stood there, staring after her, rolling the puzzle around in my mind, trying to come up with a way to keep her safe and let her stay at Heartstone Manor. I didn't have an answer by the time she returned. Probably because there wasn't one.
"Are you angry with me?" she asked, her head tilted back to look up at me, worry clouding her hazel eyes.
Cupping her cheek in one hand, I pressed a long kiss to her lips. "No, Parker. Never. I'm just frustrated."
She let out a sigh. "Me too."
"Are you sure you want to do this?" I asked, holding out my arm.
Parker took it, following me to the door. "It's Sunday dinner. All he can do at dinner is get drunk and be annoying. I was married to him for six years. I have plenty of practice handling Tyler when he's drunk and annoying. We're not hiding anymore. If he wants to live here, he'll have to get used to us. I can be annoying, too."
Famous last words. Tyler could do a lot more at dinner than be drunk and annoying, but it turned out, dinner wasn't the problem. The problem was what came later.
ChapterThirty-Seven
