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ALLIE
“We’re grabbing the files on my dad, and then we’re out of here,” Jace said, tugging me through the eerily quiet and empty house.
My stomach tightened at the thought of Harlan being back in town and the house being this ominous. Something didn’t feel right to me.
Harlan wasn’t home, but we still had to be quick. He could be back at any fucking moment and could trap us here. Between Vaughn and the police chief, God only knew what Harlan had found out since he had gotten back from his trip.
Jace jogged up to his room and shut the door, tearing out a floorboard and plucking a file from it. He opened the manila envelope, flipped through the stack of papers inside, and blew out a relieved breath. “They’re all here.”
I sat on his bed and rubbed my sweaty palms against my jeans. Today had turned out to be complete shit for both of us. I was glad that we had a win and that Harlan hadn’t found and stolen this back. If he did, we’d both be screwed over to no end. Harlan might even try to kill Jace too.
My heart raced at the thought of finding Jace with a bullet straight through his head, all his blood seeping out of the hole, his eyes a dull and lifeless brown. I shivered at the thought and pushed away the tears. I couldn’t cry now. We had to get out of here.
Just as Jace grabbed my hand, someone rattled the doorknob.
“Jace. Open the fucking door,” Harlan said, his words slurring toward the end. It wasn’t even five at night yet, and Harlan was … drunk.
Jace cursed under his breath, pushed the file into my hands, and shoved me into his closet. “Don’t come out and don’t watch, Allie. You don’t want to see him like this,” Jace said, grasping my face. He stroked my cheeks, pushing the tears off them. “Promise me that you won’t.”
“If you don’t open this door now, Jace, I fucking swear I’ll kill you.”
I gulped and looked back at the door, which was nearly coming off the hinges. “Go open the door, please,” I whispered, more tears racing down my cheeks. My chest tightened, and I pressed my lips together to not make a sound.
Jace couldn’t die.
I fucking loved him.
He couldn’t fucking die.
“I love you,” he whispered, then slid the closet door closed.
But I could still see out of the small crack in the door. As soon as Jace opened the door, Harlan barreled into the room. I had never seen Harlan wasted until tonight. He must’ve thought that I wasn’t home or wasn’t coming home, that I was out with Mom or something because Mom would never stand for this shit.
At least, I thought she wouldn’t.
Standing behind the door, I curled my hands into fists and jumped when a bottle shattered against the closet door.
“You’re a fucking brat.” Harlan seethed, words slurred, as if he had had one too many and didn’t give a fuck. “You’re the fucking reason your mother left us. Don’t you dare blame it on me. I gave her the fucking world, and you destroyed it.”
“It’s not my fault she cheated on you,” Jace said.
There was silence, and then a smack … but it sounded harder than a palm on the cheek. It sounded like a fist right to the face, like a jaw cracking, like Jace had just gotten hit hard.
“Don’t talk back to me. I told you to quit football. I told you to fucking quit it, and you fucking didn’t. And you still won’t after what she did with your coach. You fucking look up to your coach like he’s your father.”
I bit my lip, so I wouldn’t let out a cry. There I was again, stupid Allie crying for stupid reasons … but … but I felt it. I heard the hurt in Harlan’s voice, but I saw the pain in Jace’s eyes every time I looked into them.
“He’s a better father than you ever were,” I heard Jace mutter under his breath.
Something banged against the wall, and I heard Jace suppress a groan. But why wasn’t he fighting back? He was strong enough to do it. Why stay here? Why endure this pain? Why not report his father to someone?
He once told me that I didn’t know what money could do, who it could pay off. And I thought I finally understood him. But I wouldn’t truly understand those words for a long time. I wouldn’t understand that a billion dollars could do more than buy fancy things.
Jace continued to groan, and I couldn’t take it any longer. I burst right through the door to his bedroom, grabbed Harlan’s wrist, and tried to pull him off of Jace, who was getting the shit kicked out of him by a man half his size. Harlan’s hand flew back, knocking me off him and onto the ground. My head hit against Jace’s dresser, and I saw tiny black stars in my vision.
As I cradled my head, blood seeped into my hair and made it stick together. I sucked in a raspy, ragged breath and tried hard to catch the breath that had suddenly left my lungs at the sheer force of Harlan.
“Allie,” Jace said, scrambling to his feet and rushing over to me. He grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet, ushering me out of the room and away from a shocked Harlan. “Are you fucking crazy?” Jace asked, gripping my upper arm, pulling me down the stairs and to his car, and pushing me inside of it. He slid into the driver’s side, started the car, and sped down the road, going about a hundred miles an hour.
