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A soft hand rested against his arm. “Mason—”
“I asked you one thing—to tell me if my daughter shared anything with you that put her in danger.”
“I told her to tell you they were pushing her around. I should have made sure she did it. I’m sorry.”
“She’s my kid.” He whipped around, pointing towards the closed door.
“I know that.” Pippa’s voice was soft as she hugged her arms around her middle.
“I don’t think you get it. She’s my little girl. My responsibility. My priority. Everything I do is for her. It’s my job to protect her. No one else. Me!”
Pippa flinched. “I’m sorry, Mason. I had no idea it would turn into this. When she told me what was going on, it was just—”
“I don’t want to hear your excuses. My daughter was in danger. You knew and you did nothing after you promised me you would tell me.”
“Mason—”
“My dad will take you home.” He pushed past her, his heart tearing to shreds as he opened the front door.
“Wait. Please.” Her voice sounded so broken, like she’d swallowed shards of glass.
He froze, taking one long inhale before letting it out along with any hope that this was all just one bad dream. He’d been so concerned with Pippa in that red bathing suit, he’d never even thought about checking his phone in the car. Then to find out all this could have been prevented if he’d known the depths of the problem was the cherry on this fucked-up sundae.
He turned towards her once more. “I can’t afford any more distractions. Certainly not ones that lie to me.”
Her eyes glittered with unshed tears, hurt and anger pouring from her gaze. Her back stiffened. Lifting her chin, she nodded. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry. I never would have intentionally put her at risk. But you have no right to put this all on me.”
Mason couldn’t look away as the woman who’d managed to jump-start his heart and make him fall in love with her in a couple of short months walked away.
He was doing the right thing for Aspen. So why did it feel like his chest was being eviscerated from the inside out?
