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“I’ve been right here, princess.”
“I know. I just…”
“Had to decide if I was worth it?”
“What?” She scrambles up, turning those big blue eyes on me. “Is that what you think I’ve been doing?”
“I wouldn’t blame you if it was, Raven. What I did…” I trail off, shaking my head. “I wouldn’t blame you if you hated me for it.”
“I could never hate you,” she whispers vehemently. “I was hurt, and I was angry. It felt like my soul was being ripped out of my body, but I never hated you, Rhys.”
“I’m sorry, songbird. I’m so fucking sorry for hurting you.”
“Promise me that you’ll never keep something like that from me again,” she demands. “I can’t go through that again, Rhys. It hurt so damn bad.” Tears well in her eyes, residual pain darkening them. “I couldn’t breathe.”
I groan, pulling her close. “Never again,” I vow. “Never again. I was going to tell you everything, but I was a fucking coward. I kept putting it off, terrified you’d hate me once you knew. You should know the only reason I did what I did was to protect you and Brant and the baby,” I murmur. “I know that doesn’t make it right. It doesn’t earn me forgiveness or make me deserving of it. I know that. But when she came to me threatening to tell the world that he was laundering money through the company, the FBI would seize every single one of his assets. You’d lose everything. Including the image of the man you idolized. I couldn’t let that happen.”
“I know,” she whispers and then swallows hard. “Marnie told me that you risked everything for me, that you did what you did because of me. I don’t think she said it to help your case. She kind of hates you. But she hates me more. She told me because she wanted me to know just how much she hates me.”
“She’s a bitch.”
“I thought so too,” she says, frowning sadly. “But the truth is, she’s just someone completely incapable of love. She doesn’t understand that it isn’t selfish or shallow. To her, love is a weapon. That’s all it will ever be.”
“She can rot in prison,” I grunt.
“Promise me that we won’t let the baby go into the system,” she demands.
“If you want to raise the baby, I’ll move heaven and earth to make it happen, songbird.”
“You don’t mind?”
“Brant loved her,” I say simply.
Raven smiles, the first smile she’s given me in days.
“You’re smiling.” I brush my thumb across her lips. “I missed that.”
“I’ve been thinking.”
“I know. I’ve been worried as hell about you,” I admit.
“I’m sorry,” she whispers, guilt in her voice. “I just needed time to put it all together in my mind and make a few decisions.”
“What decisions, songbird?”
“About the baby, for one. And about the company.” She expels a breath. “I’m going to sell it. You were right about why my dad left it to me. He trusted me to make the best decision for the company, and the best decision is to let it go. It brought him joy, but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to look at it the way he did. I’ll never be able to look at it without all of this tainting it in my mind. And if I can’t love it as much as he did, it should go to someone who can.”
“He’d probably agree with you, princess,” I murmur. “He wouldn’t want you tethered to something that brings you pain. If that’s all it is to you, let it go.”
She nods, wiping tears from beneath her eyes. “I also made a decision about school.”
“You’re finishing school,” I growl.
“I am,” she says. “But I’m not doing it at Berklee. At least not in Boston.”
“Explain.”
“I’m going to switch to online classes to complete my degree.” She bites her lip and looks up at me through her lashes. “Hopefully from the island.”
