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Cope’s brows furrow. “Jason can’t touch me.”
Unease stirs in my gut. “What do you mean with Cope? How?”
“He said since I was knocked up with your baby, that if I embarrassed the McAlister name by leaving Penn for Cope, then he’d destroy Cope. And while he was there, he made a call to the police commissioner.” She lets out a choked sob and Cope hugs her tight.
Our eyes meet over her head.
“What the fuck?” I mutter.
Cope’s jaw clenches and a vein throbs in his forehead. “Dad already cut me off and kicked me out. I don’t want to go to college. What the hell else can he do to me?”
She flinches and looks at him again. “Remember when that senator went to jail for sleeping with his teenage intern?”
It was all over the news last year. The guy was a sick fuck sleeping with a sixteen-year old.
“Do you remember two years ago when that huge supercenter was coming to town and then suddenly the property was uninsurable because of being in a massive flood zone?” she asks, her voice small.
“Vaguely,” Cope bites out. “What’s the connection?”
She sighs. “Remember when that rich guy Mr. Evans’s wife tried to burn down the country club when we were like fifteen?”
“There was no proof, but everyone knew it was her. They left town to avoid the shame of her being a crazy ass,” I say, remembering how much my mom yammered on about that gossip at the time.
Leah stands and walks over to the trashcan to dump her empty bag of grapes. She turns and regards us with a wobbly chin. “According to my eavesdropping, that was all your dad, Penn. They were people who got in the middle of his business dealings or pissed him off in some way. He paid a teenager for a fake scandal, a surveyor to misreport flood findings, and an alleged arson against a huge business rival.”
Her words sink in and my stomach clenches in disgust.
“He makes people go away. He ruins them. My dad has played well with him throughout the years, but they’re on shaky ground right now.” She swipes away a tear. “And now he’s threatening you, Cope. That is why Max can’t step up. That is why Penn and I have to continue on our merry little way. For you.”
I scrub my palm down my face. I’ve always hated my father, but that hate grows exponentially each day. If he even tries to touch one hair on Cope’s head, I’ll kill him. “Why would your dad care if my dad threatened Cope?” I ask Leah, trying to make sense of all this.
“Because,” she says, “Jason told my dad he’d ruin Cope and make sure Bryan knew it was my dad who’d orchestrated it all. And since Bryan funds a lot of my dad’s business ventures, things would get messy really fast for my dad, which he absolutely does not want.”
“Fuck your dad,” I grumble to her.
She sighs. “I’m not worried about my dad’s business problems. I’m worried about Cope getting caught in the middle. Which is why I marched in and told them both that Penn and I were going to stay together. I was trying to protect you, Cope.”
“I can handle myself,” Cope tells us boldly as he rises from the bench. “If he finds out, so fucking be it.”
Leah hugs him and tilts her chin up to look at him. “Don’t. Whatever is running through your head, just don’t. Promise me.”
“Sure,” he says coldly.
His answer is a truth. Because even though this is about him, he’s still protecting me. How this will impact me. My heart aches inside my chest.
“Same goes for you,” Leah says to me. “Now’s not the time to be rebellious. Okay?”
I smile at her. “Sure.”
My answer is a lie.
I’ll go head to head with my father before I let him destroy the love of my life.
I will bring a war to his doorstep.
Copeland
Fuck.
When Penn McAlister gets that evil glint in his eyes, I know he’s about to do something stupid. Like fight. Quickly, I glance around to make sure no one is nearby. When my eyes lock with Ivy, I cringe. Her face is bright red as she storms toward us, Jett hot on her heels.
“Incoming,” I growl, instinctively hugging Leah closer to me.
Penn swivels around, squaring his shoulders, readying himself against an attack by my ex-girlfriend. Does she know? Did she see us in the parking lot?
“You little whore,” Ivy screeches, pushing past Penn to grab at Leah’s hair. She wrenches her out of my grasp before I have time to react.
“Ahh!” Leah cries out as her glasses fall to the grass.
Penn and I launch into action. He grabs Ivy around the waist while I tug Leah back toward me. Jett wrenches Leah’s hair loose.
“What the fuck is your problem?” I demand.
