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Kobe hands me a note, handwritten in my father's script. I recognize it right away. It's messy, with loopy cursive, and my hands tremble with fear for what I'm about to read.
At my age, it's not very often I'm taught a new lesson, but when your husband held a mirror up to my face yesterday, I realized who I had become—my own father, the exact person I never wanted to be. I was trying to stop the world from hurting you girls the way it did me when I was growing up. I didn't have a childhood like my daughters got to. I was trained to take over the family business from my father when he died. That time came when you girls were still young, and I swore to myself I would protect you and you would never know the reality of the world you were born into. It was never something I aspired to, but I did what was right by him and tried to continue the legacy he started. I kept it from all of you, even your mother, because I didn't want you caught up in the dark world I couldn't escape.
Heath was willing to die because he loves you so much. He is a better man than me, and I hope you live your happily ever after with him like you deserve, my darling daughter.
The contents of this box are for you and your sisters. You won't hear from me again. You all deserve better than the life I created for you. I won't interfere anymore. The Rivera boys will take care of you. If you ever need anything, go to them. But you already know that. I always thought having four girls meant I would need to find a son to train up to take over the family business, and that's why I found Leo Rivera, but you girls have all proven to be stronger than I ever imagined, taking control of your lives in a way I couldn't have predicted. You are all the most capable women I have ever met, and I'm proud of you all.
Your mother will never forgive me for the things I have done, I already know, but please take care of her for me. She is the love of my life, and I let her down the most.
I'm sorry I couldn't be man enough to face you all and apologize in person, but the choices I have made this week will make me a wanted man for more than one reason. Take what I have left you in here as my deepest apologies for all the wrongs I have done to you and your sisters.
Dad
I swipe away the stray tear that has tumbled down my cheek while I was reading my father's words. I thought I hated him. I do. But I love him too, and hearing his story, it doesn't excuse the things he's done, but it answers so many questions I have had over the last week and makes me so sad for him. He strayed so far from who he was trying to be, who his family wanted him to be, and now he's lost everything that was important in the process. I hand the note to Heath so he can read it. I can't relay what it says without breaking down completely. And right now, I have to be strong. I need to save my business. But Heath needs to know what he did to save us all yesterday. Whatever he said to my dad had such an impact that he gave up what was left of his life for us.
Kobe hands me the box, and I peer in. There are white envelopes marked with different labels. I open the one marked Amelia. It's filled with papers stapled together. From the information I can see on the cover letter, they look like the deeds to my warehouse and design studio building. I hand them to Brandon. "Are these the deeds to the spaces I rent?" I ask him, needing someone to confirm I'm not seeing things.
He looks them over. "Yes, that is exactly what these are, and your name is on them. He hasn't sold them to Julian; he's gifted them to you."
That's what I thought I was reading, but it doesn't line up with what Julian said yesterday, and I already know this is one of the things my father has done that will get him killed. And he did it for me, as some sort of redemption.
Summer knocks at the door again. Her eyes flick to Kobe then guiltily back to me. Oh my God, the girl has it bad for him. "Sorry," she says, "but Julian's here. Where would you like me to put him?"
Heath's eyes flick angrily to me, and he stands, like he's going to go sort him out.
"In the conference room, please, Summer," I say calmly. Until a few minutes ago, I didn't know what I was going to do, but now I have a tiny bit of hope creeping in.
I go to Heath, taking his hands. "Please let me do this. If I need you, I will call out for you right away, but I need to do this myself, okay? It's important to me."
His eyes scan over me like I'm crazy, and I can see the internal battle I'm causing inside of him. He wants to protect me, it's in his DNA to try, but I'm stronger than he knows, and I just know if he comes in there with me it's going to be a bloodbath. I want to try and avoid that. "If he lays a finger on you, scream, and I will be there within seconds."
"We all will," adds Brandon.
"I know." I take a breath. "I've got this," I tell them. Heath drops his lips to mine, kissing me like he is trying to give me extra strength. I squeeze his hand to thank him and walk from the room with my shoulders back and my head held high.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
AMELIA
Juliansitsbackinthe leather office chair at the head of the table, his arms resting comfortably behind his head, looking way too relaxed for a man who is about to get his ass handed to him. I smile politely toward him and take a seat to the side, crossing one long leg over the other. I have the papers from my father in my hand, holding them tightly, like a security blanket. He came through for me in the twelfth hour, and I won't ever forgive him for all the things he has done, but I'm thankful for this little lifeline. Maybe there was some good still in him after all.
"Ma belle, you look resigned to the fact I'm here to take over today. I'm so glad you have made the right choice. This process will be so much more pleasant for all of us if you step down graciously." He grins with a sense of satisfaction I want to slap off his face.
Something inside of me has snapped this past week. Too much has happened that I know I can't go back to who I used to be, a meek little doormat doing as she was told. I'm ready to step into my new life with confidence and a new purpose, probably the most important one I will ever take on. Protecting my family at whatever cost. Now that my father is gone, Julian won't be the only asshole who thinks he can take from me, but I sure as hell won't let him get away with it, and today, I will be making sure he and every other fucker around knows exactly that.
"I'm so glad that after such a short time knowing each other you know me so well." My lips are turned up at the sides, but it’s not for him; right now I’m basking in the satisfaction that he has no fucking idea how badly he is about to be screwed over by little old me. But this man will never own me.
"Things didn't have to be this way. You could have had it all. I would have happily given you the world,ma belle."
"So I could look pretty on your arm and turn a blind eye to what was really going on? I think we both know I'm better than that."
His eyes narrow in on me, like he is scrutinizing every little detail of my face, and he should be. He can't trust me. "What do you have in your hands?"
"Oh, this?" I hold up the papers. "Looks like my father didn't sell me out in the end." I slide the papers across to him and wait for the second when he registers today isn't going to go the way he wants it to. The lines on his forehead appear, crinkling in too-deep creases, and his eyes flick angrily to me.
"This isn't real," he says, sounding about as desperate as I would have expected him to be.
I shrug, still smiling.
