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Nothing.
“It’s Lance, Hayden, and Brent. Brent is Lance’s cousin and Hayden and Lance are also in a relationship.”
I’m not even sure if they’re still there.
“We all met at university…I’ve been in love with them for six years.”
Not a single sound.
“Say something!”
“This is ridiculous,” my father mutters.
“Eleanor,” I can hear Mum’s tears. “What will people think?”
“I don’t give a fuck what people think, Mum.”
“Eleanor,” my father’s voice rises. I expect him to admonish me for swearing but the next words out of his mouth are unexpected. “If you insist on continuing with this farce, it hurts me to say this, but I can no longer claim you as my daughter.”
My mouth drops open and I blink at the carpet. I can hear my mother whispering to him but not the actual words. I can’t speak, I can hardly breathe. I expected their anger, their disappointment, even their ghosting me. But disowning me? And how easily he came to that decision. Twenty-four years’ worth of hurt feels like it’s brimming the surface and despite having been able to hide my tears from my parents for most of my life, they come now uninvited and unincumbered. I let myself cry and I let them hear.
“You’ll end it?” my father asks.
That had never crossed my mind. Was never an option. “No,” I sob.
After a couple of beats, his voices cracks as he says, “Then there is nothing left to say.” The line goes dead and I hold my head in my hands to let the hurt out. A minute or two goes by and I reach for my phone again as only one person can pick me up when my parents let me down.
44
LANCE
Iscrub my hand over my face and roll my head on my neck. I’ve spent the whole day on the phone with the labs, the guys making our product require a bit of hand holding sometimes. My father doesn’t like to involve himself in the day-to-day of Dao business. As long as he sees money coming in and everyone is appropriately scared of him, he doesn’t care how things happen. Little does he know that most of the branches of Dao business works as well as they do because I have been managing things right under his nose. By the time I become leader, I will already be controlling the entire inner workings of The Daos. Every meeting I have with the dickhead makes me think that I may not let him wait for natural causes to pass me the torch.
I check my phone for the thousandth time, waiting for Elle to call to say that she is ready to be picked up even though I know she will be drinking and chatting shit with her roommate for hours. It’s barely six o’clock. Fuck, I’m in for a long night alone. Once Elle had been dropped off, Hayden had given in to the restaurants’ calls and gone to check in with each of his general managers. Brent said he had a lead on Elle’s attacker and left to follow it, refusing to give me more details until he was more certain. I don’t mind being alone, but it does mean that waiting to hear from Elle will be excruciatingly long.
As if sensing my thoughts, the phone rings in my palm and Elle’s beautiful smiling face from the photo I’d taken of her five years ago flashes on my screen. Why is she calling so early? Something must be wrong. My heart hammers as I swipe my thumb across the screen and hold the phone to my ear.
“Sweetheart?”
“Lance…” Her voice breaks over my name and I’m standing immediately, heading to the door.
“What’s happened, Elle? Are you hurt?”
“No,” she takes a deep breath and seems to steady herself. “Can…can you come pick me up?”
“I’m on my way, sweetheart. Stay on the phone with me, okay? Tell me what’s happened.” I’m in the elevator, heading to our underground garage as Elle explains that Gray wasn’t in. I don’t ask her why she hadn’t checked that before insisting on going home. That would be unhelpful in the moment.
“I decided to call my parents,” she says quietly. I can hear the tears in her eyes and my blood boils.Motherfuckers.
“What happened, sweetheart?” I keep my voice gentle despite the fire raging its way through my veins.
“I told them about us, all of us. I don’t know why…I…I kind of felt like I owed it to you guys…”
What? That had me pausing with my finger halfway to the start button of my Maserati. “You don’t owe us anything, Elle.”
“I know,” she says, sadly. “I just, I guess I just wanted to be as official as possible, let you know I’m all in.”
“Sweetheart,” my chest aches at her words.
