“Your son hasn’t done anything wrong in this regard,” Zegas said coolly before I could respond.
It was odd having someone take up for me against my father.
Whitley slapped me on the back. “He’s a choir boy. Which makes our jobs a hell of a lot easier.”
“And I want those who’ve wronged him to pay. Dearly.” Father’s gaze was solely on me when he spoke. Was this his way of saying he was going to make me pay? Time would tell. “Come by my office when you’ve wrapped up here.” It appeared I wouldn’t have to wait that long to learn the cost. “Gentlemen.” He nodded at Zegas and Whitley before he strode off.
“You know he follows you.” Zegas cut off a bite of pie.
“I’m aware.”
“Would you care to do something about it?” Whitley asked.
Zegas lifted his hands in a what gives motion. “I thought you were out of the law. Or only defending the helpless.”
“This guy could finance that.” He grinned at me. “Unless they don’t unfreeze his assets.”
“Are we finished here?”
“You’re ready to leave?” Whitley asked incredulously. “But we’re having so much fun.”
“We’ll file suit today against Wolken.” Zegas had a gleam in his eye.
“It’ll be nice to have a client on the opposite end. Mine are the ones always getting sued.” Whitley demolished the rest of his pie.
“You got lucky on this one, Hollingsworth.” Zegas dropped his napkin on his empty plate. “Let’s just hope your luck holds out.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Lexie
“Funny thing happened today.”
It was almost midnight. I’d been waiting up for hours for Lincoln to arrive.
He immediately tensed. “Is everything okay?”
“I called our clients to let them know we wouldn’t be delivering today, and the very first one I spoke to said a nice gentleman had already dropped off Sprocket’s food for the weekend.”
Silence was his response.
“I kept calling and getting the same story. What do you know about that?” I craned my neck, waiting impatiently, although I already knew.
Lincoln had kept up our business when we couldn’t. He’d already been doing it for me all week. But he’d taken the initiative on his own.
“I hope they were satisfied.” There was zero emotion in his tone.
“Thank you.”
He looked toward the windows as if the words pained him to hear.
“For yesterday too.”
That got his attention.
His nostrils flared. “Yesterday, I nearly got Eric killed.”
I shrank back into the sofa. I’d never heard him speak so angrily. I had been so busy worrying over Eric that I hadn’t considered what was going on behind the wall Lincoln had so quickly erected around himself again.
“You got him back safely,” I said quietly.
He let out a sharp laugh that was bitter and hollow. “Safely? I’m afraid our definitions of the word are vastly different. Being held at gunpoint and locked in a closet for hours is not safe.”
Earlier, I’d been quick to blame Lincoln for what had happened, even if I hadn’t expressed that to him. He didn’t need that because he blamed himself enough for both of us.
“We are in complete agreement on that, Mr. Hollingsworth.” I stood, my temper rising.
“Excellent. Then I think you’ll agree it’s best he isn’t in my care anymore.”
Mr. Asshole had returned with a vengeance, making Mr. Stoic look like Mr. Congeniality.
I marched into his space and looked up at him where he towered over me. “He never was in your care. Mine. Always mine.”
His gaze hardened. “I couldn’t protect you either.”
“We don’t need your protection.”
Just his support and time and . . . him.
He lifted his hand as if to touch me, then lowered it. “I care for you both. Very much. But I am not what you need.”
I searched his face. My chest heaved as the words sunk in. He cared for us? He cared for us? Just not enough to stick it out. He’d made me believe we could get through anything.
“You’re the coward.” I shoved my finger into his chest. “Out of everything I think you are, I didn’t expect that.”
He just stared down at me with that unreadable expression I despised.
“I’m not waking Eric up to go back home in the middle of the night. He’s been through enough.” I balled my fist so tight, my nails dug into my palm. “He’s going to be devastated. And I will never forgive you for that.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Lincoln
I will never forgive you for that.
I will never forgive you for that.
That made two of us.
I’d spent a long time hating myself for not being able to save my mother. It never occurred to me that anything could make me despise myself even more.
I was wrong.
Eric wandered sleepily into the kitchen, where I’d been sitting most of the night. The dogs were right beside him.
“Hey, Lincoln.”
I swallowed the thick knot in my throat. He had every reason to hate me, and today, I’d give him one more.
But I’d made a promise to him I would not break.
“Would you still like to have a suit tailored?”
His eyes widened mid-yawn. “Yes! We’re supposed to go on Sunday.” He paused, tilting his head. “It is Sunday!”
“It is. Teague is on his way over.”
I hoped he arrived before Lexie got up. She’d never allow this if my brother wasn’t here as backup. Perhaps I should wake Beau too.
“He’s coming?”
“You’re selecting the style for the wedding. He needs to be fitted too.”
He zeroed in on my tie. “I don’t have a bow tie that color.”
“Select one of yours, and I’ll see if I can find something to match.”
After I’d let him down, he still wanted me to be part of their coordinating wardrobe. From the time we’d met, he’d included me in their lives. Made me feel wanted.
A strange sensation happened in my nose. A tingling that spread to my eyes. They stung a bit.
I blinked rapidly to make it stop and something wet leaked from the corner. I caught it with my finger.
A tear.
I hadn’t cried at Mother’s funeral. Though I had in the privacy of my room afterward. I hadn’t since that day.
And yesterday, when I couldn’t feel a thing was vastly better than the constant pain I’d been in since my last conversation with Lexie.
She was wrong.
I wasn’t a coward.
I had to do what was necessary to protect them. Even if that meant giving them up. Because I’d failed both of them. They had functioned better without me.
I already felt their loss. How would I ever select a tie again without thinking of them?
Eric cocked his head. “Are you okay?”
I cleared my throat. “Something’s in my eye.”