“Hiding?”Telford’s bio dad hadn’t expected that opening.
Good.
He rocked back on his boot heels.“I’m right here.Talking to my son.”
It took a lot of control to not sneer right back, fall to his level, which was maybe what he wanted—to drag him and Cash down to his low level.“Yes, hiding.”Telford had no patience.“Hanging out in a parking lot, waiting for me to return.I saw you near an exit door in the hallway yesterday when my wife and I returned to the hotel.Wondered if you’d make a move—make an appointment.But no, you hide.Ambush.”
“Looked like you were going to get lucky, so I hung back out of respect.Chip off the old block,” he said his voice heavy with satisfaction.
Telford’s stomach curdled.“I’m nothing like you.DNA doesn’t define me or Cash.There is far more to life than casual and serial sex.Ayana is my wife.I will never betray her or abandon her.If we are blessed with children, I will be by her side to raise them.And Cash too is joining his life with a woman.”
“Get off your high horse.”Tarek blew out an impatient breath.“You’re not so superior to me.You haven’t done so badly without your old man.You’re both rolling in it.While I’ve been cut off from my legacy.From what I’m owed.”
“You’re not owed anything.”Telford’s temper flared, but he stomped it down.“Cash and I earned everything that’s ours.We worked.We strategized.We stuck.You lost your legacy because you walked away.”
“You don’t know anything about ranching.”
“Exactly.”Because he’d been cut out; his mother and he had been abandoned.“Doesn’t mean I can’t see the value in the land, in the stewardship of it, in teamwork and family.I can learn and work hard to deserve a chance.”
Every word rang true, shocking him a little.He wasn’t just talking about Cam’s legacy, but one he wanted to build for himself.
“Think you’ll take my share?”He closed the distance, his fist clenched.
Telford read his bio dad like a book.He was used to bullying his way or charming his way depending on what he wanted.Anything but earn it.Contempt filtered through him.But he had to be smart.Cash didn’t deserve their bio dad sauntering in and making a hateful scene at his wedding, especially with the media there covering the ceremony and festivities.
That was his plan all along.
Or part of the plan.Cash and Maddy had done their best to shut down the coverage, but Telford had spotted a few drones and long-range lenses over the past few days.He’d done his best to protect Ayana from any scrutiny as he’d seen how she avoided group shots, offering instead to take the photos of the friends and family enjoying themselves.
“No.I earn what I want.”
“You’re as arrogant as your mother, thinking you’re all that when you’re nothing.”
Telford couldn’t say what word set him off.Probably that this man would utter the sacredMword that should never, ever form in his mouth.Telford went from being in full control to primal rage.He grabbed the collar of his bio dad’s worn barn coat, half carried and backward-marched him away from the hotel’s stairs and people waiting for their cars from the valet and across the parking lot.
“You’re nothing to any of us.You belong far from the comfort of home and family.We don’t need you.We don’t want you.There is nothing for you here.”
“So you’re awenow?Think you’ll stay that way?You won’t.You don’t fit in.My brother won’t let you in his precious family.”
“I’ll make my own family with or without the Telfords.Definitely without you.We all will.”
Telford was done talking.Tarek took a swing at him, and Telford dodged and gloried in the opened door.As he hefted his bio dad up to throw him into the street, he put his power into a right upper cut and released.His father fell at the feet of the Telfords who had to jump back to not get hit by an errant and unwanted relative.
“You’ll regret that.”His bio father struggled to sit up.He spit out some blood, smiled meanly.
“I regret nothing,” Telford said.“It’s my choice to come to Marietta.My choice to meet my half-brother and my half-sisters.”His voice went hard.“And it is most definitely my choice to protect all of them.Always.”
*
Ayana ran blindlyacross the moonlit garden at the back of the Graff Hotel.Soft violin music was piped in, and there were fairy lights strung through some of the trees and a water feature burbled.She found a gate that was woven with ivy like something out of a fairy tale and she pushed it open, bracing for whatever was on the other side.
Freedom.She saw more trees—aspen and oak and lush grass and some benches.
But no, the Family wasn’t all powerful.They weren’t magical.They couldn’t fly to the other side of the hotel.She was no longer a child.
Still, she started to run, cutting across the lawn, over the train tracks and down a side street.As she ran, she listened for footsteps.Nothing.Where was she going?All she had was a small clutch purse.Her wallet.To Main Street.
She heard music coming from a small house where a teen girl sat out on a porch strumming a Jason Isbell song.Heart pounding, Ayana slowed her steps.Sucked in a deep breath trying to calm herself enough so that she could think.
