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When my name rings through the air, it feels like someone punched me in the stomach.
I can barely breathe.
Shards of glass have broken off in my lungs.
Maybe I’m dead.
Yeah. That’s it.
I’m hallucinating . . .
Or maybe when I was walking to the lawyer’s building, I got hit by a car. I’m having an out-of-body experience, and none of this is real.
That would make more sense than what the lawyer just said.
Because there is no way he’s right.
It can’t be right.
No way did Ronald, aka Ronnie, aka the only man who has ever been a father figure to me . . . No way did he leave me his entire estate when he had a family.
As I struggle to breathe, taking deep inhales of oxygen, I remember I’m not the only person in this room.
Surrounding me is not just my sister, but his family, and as they glower at me, hate filling their eyes, I know this isn’t a dream.
My gaze pulls to where my sister sits. There is an odd look in her eyes.
One that says, although she is smiling, she’s anything but happy. I know her too well. I know she is pretending—putting on a good show, the actress she is—but her eyes are slightly narrowed, meaning she did not expect this, and she is about to snap.
I move closer to Erin, ready to calm her when she grabs my arm forcibly. Instead, her sharp nails grasp my skin. “What did you do?” she hisses, and here it comes.
I have become accustomed to her accusations.
What’ll it be this time? Cheating? Blackmail? Sex?
I don’t know, but I do know my sister’s flair for the dramatic will rear its ugly head. When she’s hurting, she doesn’t know how to do anything but transmit it to others. Something I’m not looking forward to at all.
“I knew you were a slut. I should have dropped you off at Social Services.”
These are the words of someone lost. Someone beat down by the world and lashing out. I know this; it hurts. I clench every muscle inside me, forcing myself to exhale.
I will not let her words hurt me. It’s time to stop letting her get to me. I tolerate her because of the past. What she did for me. Not just in raising me, but in truth, she saved me, but at some point, enough is enough.
There is a line, and right now, she just crossed it.
I will deal with this later because Erin is the least of my problems right now. After the bomb that just went off in this office, I have bigger problems to deal with.
Namely, the blue-eyed stranger whose glower sends a chill running up my spine.
Pure venom.
He hates me.
It’s a weird feeling to see such hatred in someone’s eyes, especially when they don’t even know you.
I haven’t felt this way in a long time. Not since my life became more stable. He stares at me, and I refuse to break the contact. I won’t cower.
No matter how I feel at this moment, I won’t allow this man to see my feelings.
