Page 57

“Alright, Nancy,” he said, his voice as cold and hard as an iceberg. “How much?”

“Excuse me?” Her nostrils flared with indignation, but that was the only outward sign of discomfort. “I don’t know what she’s told you about us, but we⁠—”

“Actually, she hasn’t told me a single thing, which tells me everything I need to know.” He cut her off with zero apology or remorse, then proved once again that he had Tony Stark level brilliance and powers of deduction when he chose to employ them. “You raised her, but she still almost lost the house and had student loans. Since it was back taxes that nearly cost her the place, the house must’ve been paid off, which means that her parents had to have done alright for themselves before the accident. At least well enough to have left her with some money for school and all that. How am I doing so far?”

I’d frozen against him as soon as he’d started talking, but with the solid presence of him behind me, I felt the mask starting to slip. Tasha was the only person on earth who knew the truth of what these people had done, what they’d stolen from me, and even she didn’t know everything.

“Well?” Holden asked, tightening his grip on me. “Am I wrong, or did they leave her with enough money to set her up for a decent start, anyway? So, what happened to it, Nancy? Why is it that Alicia had to settle back taxes and pay off student loans when all those things should’ve been taken care of?”

Nancy scoffed, but before she could deny it, I felt the ugly truth of my childhood bubbling up from deep inside. I knew she was about to lie again. I’d heard all their excuses before, but I’d never spoken up.

That stopped now. I couldn’t allow Holden to believe the lies, so I laid out the reality of life after my parents had died, looking up at him instead of into the greedy eyes of my aunt.

“You’re right. They did leave money, a small but stable trust fund. If it’d been administered properly, it would’ve been more than enough for my needs and education, but Nancy and John drained it,” I said, my voice shaky, but I kept going. I needed to get this out while I had the strength of him at my back as fuel. “They also took the monthly social security survivor benefits that were legally mandated for my care and used the cash for family vacations, country club memberships, and brand-new vehicles. For themselves, of course. I never saw a dime.”

“Oh, nonsense,” Nancy snapped. “We had six children to take care of. Six! Do you have any idea how expensive that is?”

“Yes, but five of them were your own,” I said quietly, still not looking at her. “Five boisterous, golden children who occupied every ounce of your love and attention. I fell through the cracks, the quiet orphan who slept on a cot in the corner and who was expected to be invisible while you gave me hand-me-downs to wear and bought your own kids designer labels with my parents’ money.”

A hot, mortified flush crept up my neck as I finally shut up, realizing what I’d just said. Holden stood stiff as a board behind me, and when I managed to steal a glance at Nancy, she was staring at me with a vicious sneer on her lips, looking completely unbothered by how utterly exposed I felt right now.

“We gave you a family, Alicia.” She crossed her arms. “You were ungrateful then and you’re ungrateful now, but you owe us for the food we put in your belly and you know it. Perhaps that wasn’t good enough for you, but it was there. We kept you safe. You could’ve ended up in foster care. We’re the only reason you didn’t.”

As I stared back at her, I felt myself starting to fold. Years of being told I was a burden had conditioned me to agree with anything she said just to make the hostility stop. Just to make her love me.

“Fine,” I whispered. “You’re right. Of course, you’re right. I’ll write you a check. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful. Holden asked you how much, so just give me a number and if I can⁠—”

A hand suddenly squeezed my shoulder, the gentle application of pressure reminding me he was still there. Warmth swept through me when I glanced up to see him step out from behind me. He drew himself up to his full height, then jerked his head at the door. “Get out of my house.”

Even though he hadn’t yelled the words, they came out as a low, authoritative command that resonated around the room with such malice that it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

Nancy let out a surprised huff, then scoffed. “Excuse me? I don’t know who you think you are, young man, but you have no right to speak to me⁠—”

“I will speak to you however I damn well please,” he said, stepping into her personal space without any regard for the way she slunk back. “You are a thief, a parasitic white-collar criminal who stole from a grieving child, and if you don’t turn around and march out of that door in the next ten seconds, Thayer’s legal team will spend the next five years turning your life upside down.”

She finally took a step back, her face turning as gray as her hair. I considered defending her, but Holden leveled her with glare that was pure disgust, not breaking eye contact with her as he pointed toward the door.

“If I ever see your vehicle parked on this street again, or if I ever catch your name on a caller ID in this house, I will make you regret it. Do you understand me? Move.”

Nancy scooped up her expensive handbag from the counter, her hands shaking with either rage or fear, but she marched to the foyer and yanked open the door. Before she walked out, however, she turned to throw one final, poisonous dart at me across the room.

“Your parents would be ashamed if they knew this is how you treat family, Alicia,” she shrieked. “You’re a disgrace!”

The front door slammed shut behind her with a deafening bang, and for a second, I just froze, but then I clamped my hands over my face and a ragged sob tore out of me. My past had just been dragged into the light kicking and screaming, all those memories crashing into me at once even as absolute humiliation washed over me.

It felt like I’d been stripped bare in front of a husband who obviously had his own demons, but still. Holden’s heavy footsteps approached. Then his long, warm fingers were gently pulling my hands away from my face. “Look at me, Alicia.”

I desperately didn’t want to, but I lifted my eyes anyway, my vision blurry with tears. Strangely, all the rage from before had left his gaze and it was soft now, as gentle as I’d ever seen it. “Forget about her. Screw your aunt and your uncle. It’s over. They have no power over you anymore.”

“She… she said my parents would be ashamed,” I choked out. “And she’s right, Holden.”

“No,” he said firmly, tenderly wiping away the tears that were starting to fall. “They would be proud of you. They wanted you to have what your aunt and uncle stole and we can’t get that back unless you want to fight and go after them for it, but this house? It’s yours. Ours. You and I will live here forever, and your parents will be here too, watching over us every step of the way. That’s not shame. It’s love.”

Hearing him say forever fixed a crack deep inside me, the uncertainty of the future finally melting away. My aunt and uncle really were gone. The past ten years had proven that. Her appearance today had only been to get more money from me, but Holden was still here.

I wore his ring and he wore mine. No matter how that had come to pass, it was still true. From now on, it was him and me against the world, and as much as I didn’t trust that yet, I wanted to try.

Holden held my gaze for another beat before he extended a hand toward me. “Come on. I want to get the hell out of this city for a minute. Do you want to go somewhere with me?”