Page 96 of Born to Scar

“Her VCH isn’t in.”

Indy tenses, sucking in a sharp breath before letting it out. “The hospital wouldn’t have it.” She squirms between us, making us pull out. She gets off the bed, opens her jewelry box, pulling out another one. Her fingers fumble with the jewelry, shaking, trying to put it in. She squeezes her eyes shut, and tears slip through.

Her breath is heavy, and she looks like she’s about to throw the jewelry. I expect her to ask for help, but she doesn’t. I suppose she’s not quite there yet. “Do you want help? I can put it in for you,” I offer.

She squeezes her eyes again and holds it out. “Please.” I take it. Then, I carefully put it in and close it for her. I kiss her stomach before standing, dropping another to her head. “Thank you,” she whispers.

Jay’s eyes study her. “What did you remember?”

She makes a disgusted face. “I hate him,” she grits through a clenched jaw.

“What was it?” he gently asks again.

“He took it out, saying it was repulsive.” Her eyes glaze over. “Same thing with these,” she points to her nipples, “but I put a new pair in before I got in the shower.”

Now I’m wondering if that’s why she got them at all, because she knew he would hate them. The same with her tattoos and hair color. “Did you get them all as an act of defiance?”

She smiles and nods. “I think so, partly anyway. I knew it’d piss him off, but I like it, so it was for me, too.”

Jay gets up, pulling her into a kiss. “Let’s get ready, yeah? You have a lot of people waiting for you.”

She nods, and we’re out the door within the hour.

The place is packed. Even Ken is here. Everyone’s happy to see her. Almost everyone here knows she was kidnapped by her crazy father, but none of the other specifics. We sit, laugh, and party with our girl. She has a long road ahead of her. I hope that tonight she sees just how much the people around her care.

A fresh start for her.

Bik steps out from the back with a manila folder and sets it on the table in front of her. “This is what I have been working on, what I wasn’t able to tell you at the bridge that night.” She flips the folder open and stares, but I know what this is immediately.

“Bik, are you serious?” I all but shout in his face. He laughs and nods. Jared and Indy are looking at the paperwork in front of her. Her eyes widen, slapping her hand over her mouth before turning to him.

“I can’t—” He stops her, placing two fingers up at her lips without touching them.

“Don’t, because you are.” She shakes her head, but Bik doesn’t let her get another word in. “Ray and I have decided to travel. I can’t be here to run it. It’s yours.”

He gets the attention of the bar and pulls out an entire speech on how much he loves this place, the people here, and how good Indy will be running things. Then he pulls Felipe up. “And here is the new face of Cheshire racing.” She jumps up, hugging Felipe. It makes sense that Bik and Ray would pass these things down to them. They’re like their children in the ways that matter.

“This is fucking crazy,” Indy whispers.

“You more than deserve this, Indy,” Jay whispers back. He’s always thought she’d make a good manager here. I’m not sure he ever thought she’d be the owner, but here she is, the newest owner of The Cheshire Cat.

I pull Bik aside after the excitement wears off. “When are you leaving?”

He shakes his head. “Not until after.”

In a rush, I exhale the breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding. “Okay, because she needs you both here still.”

“We’d never leave her alone.” I hug him, and his arms wrap around me. “Thank you for doing what you did for her. Now, maybe she can move forward.”

I nod. “I just hope this holds in court.” I’ve looked through everything; I can’t see a way around most of the charges, but you never know how it goes with public service providers.”

His brows shoot to the top of his head. “You don’t think—” I put my hand up.

“No. I think it will, but you never really know, in cases like this, what kind of bull shit they’ll try to pull.”

CHAPTER 41

INDY