Page 164 of The Exit Strategy

I can’t speak.

“Look at me,” he growls.

When I do, Hudson’s eyes are red.

As though he’s been crying.

“You didn’t ask me for help until it was nearly too late,” he says. His voice is unsteady in a way the great Hudson Tenney never allows. “Do you understand what that is, Cole?”

“Hud—”

“It’s a fucking insult, Cole. When my world was falling apart, you were the first to show up, banging on my door and refusing to let me go it alone. When Nolan wasdrowning in the company he inherited, you’re the one who came up with the fix to shift gears. When Fen questioned his ability to take over his father’s firm, you’re the one who put together a fifty-five-page PowerPoint presentation with all the ways he would succeed.”

I swallow hard.

“You show up, even when you’re drowning in your secrets and lies. Yet you don’t trust any of us to help you.” He doesn’t raise his voice, and that makes it worse.

“I’m sorry.”

“That’s not enough, Cole.”

“I know.”

“So try a-fucking-gain.”

My fingers wrap around the paper cup, and I stare across the way at her dark windows. “I should’ve told you years ago, Hud. I should’ve told you when she stole the memorial, and I should’ve told you when she came to me with her…arrangement?—”

“Blackmail,” he seethes. “Don’t sugarcoat what actually happened.”

I nod. “I didn’t tell you because I convinced myself I was protecting you from what I had to do to get Junie out of debt, and then I didn’t know how to get out of it without putting us all on Natalie’s radar. Especially because I suspected that the way Anna and Tommy obtained the original loan wasn’t exactly legal. I didn’t know how to admit to you, or anyone, that I’d failed.”

“Jesus Christ, Cole.”

“We all would’ve protected Junie from that video, Hud, and you know it. If Natalie realized that, she would’ve gone after all of you too. Can you honestly say you wouldn’t have at least thought about agreeing to her terms?”

The morning is very quiet, and Hudson barely moves. “Idon’t know, Cole. And I never will because we weren’t given that choice. We’ve been giving you our all while you’ve been creating layers to keep yourself safe since you were five. But never, not once since the day you walked into that classroom, have you been on your own.”

“I—I’m starting to see that.”

“Are you?” He stares at me with such intensity I can finally understand why everyone crumbles under his pressure in the courtroom.

“Yeah.”

Hudson’s hand finds my shoulder the same way Nana Mae’s did earlier. In the small, displaced corner of my brain still capable of registering anything, I finally understand what it is my family does—they fill in the cracks. They’re the screws that hold my walls up and the hammers that knock them down when they’re no longer needed.

And I’ve missed out on so much by keeping them at arm’s length.

“The check from Meridian last night won’t clear because of Junie’s email,” Hudson says, fully into lawyer mode now. “As your attorney, I was sent a copy of the…claim.”

“Junie chose spite.” My lips curl at the corners.

“Junie chose justice.”

It’s a distinction I needed to hear.

“I’ve already filed for an injunction to release it. The prize cannot legally be withheld as you haven’t done anything wrong. Also, she probably hasn’t told you, but The Haven passed the county assessment—Junie was thorough. With the award money, the books will be balanced by the end of the week.” When Hud took the bar for both Massachusetts and South Carolina, I thought he was just an overachiever. Now I understand it’s how he protects those heloves. “My PI found Devin. As soon as you give the word, I’ll file the paperwork to bring him in.”

I nod. “I have to tell Nana Mae first, then…do it.”