Page 14 of One Pucking Heart

He shakes his head, his brows furrowed. “No, you asked me to respect your boundaries, so I did. I got your address from the office. Told them I was sending you a welcome to the Cranes basket.”

“Oh, well…”

“I’m so sorry about your dad, Elena. I truly am.”

I huff out a bitter laugh. “I couldn’t care less about that part. I haven’t spoken to my father in twenty-two years, and he was never a dad. He disowned me when I got pregnant with Ari even though he had been the one to push his friend’s asshole son, Alex, onto me in the first place. Well, he didn’t disown me at first. He wanted me to marry Ari’s father, but Alex didn’t love me, and I didn’t want a miserable life stuck in a loveless marriage. You know?” My entire life story falls from my lips as Beckett listens. Things I’ve worked so hard to conceal, privacy I fought for decades for has gone to the wayside. It feels as if my body has split open, and I have to get all this toxic stuff out.

“And I was right. After Alex dodged a bullet and the wedding of his nightmares, I never heard from him again. He’s never even wanted to meet his daughter. I lost my father and a life of money and security, but I gained Ariana, and she’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me. But we struggled. When my father said he was going to cut me off, he meant it. I worked full time, raised my daughter, and went to school when I could. It took me twenty-two years to get here, Beckett. Twenty-two fucking years. So, yeah, the letter is letting me know that my father’s estate and the millions of dollars that go along with it will go to someone else when he passes. I don’t care about the money. It’s never been the most important thing to me. People have. The lawyers could shred his hundreds of millions and shoot it all out of confetti cannons at his funeral for all I care. It’s not the money…it’s…”

Panic rises in my chest once more, and tears reappear, cascading down my face.

“What is it, Elena?” Beckett kneels before me, taking my hands in his. “You can tell me.”

My voice cracks, along with my heart. “It’s the person he’s leaving it all to.”

Beckett dips his chin and reads the name from the paper. Hearing it causes me to physically shudder. “Who is it?”

I release a breath. “He’s my older cousin, seventeen years older. He works for my father. I don’t want to talk about it, but let’s just say he hurt me more than any person has ever hurt me. He stole something from me when I was ten. He was twenty-seven, drunk, and disgusting. He’s vile. The worst of the worst. I told my father, and he didn’t believe me. He kept that disgusting pig on his payroll. My cousin…he’s pure evil. You can see it in his eyes. I can’t be the only one he’s hurt, either. He deserves a life behind bars. He doesn’t deserve to inherit a billion-dollar estate.” My tears fall freely. “I’ve tried so hard to do everything right and be a good person. I’ve struggled for so long, and it’s been so hard,” I sob. “But my father wants to stick it to me one final time by crushing me the only way he can. He knows I don’t care about his money. But he also knows how much I hate my cousin.” I shake my head. “I don’t know why he is the way he is. I don’t know why he can’t just love his only daughter. I don’t know why that, even on his deathbed, he’s trying to hurt me still.”

“God, Elena, I’m so sorry. For all of it. I had no idea you’d gone through so much. That’s…heavy…”

Beckett’s at a loss for words, and it’s a first. My chest heaves with a small chuckle. “Well, you wanted to know me. Now you know me.”

He shakes his head and frowns. “That’s not you. You are more than the shitty hand you’ve been dealt. Sure, everything you’ve gone through has had a role in who you’ve become, but don’t think for a second any of the ugly defines you, Elena. Your choices make you who you are. I know that you’re a hard worker. You’re a great mother, a good person, and a skilled doctor. You’re beautiful inside and out. You’re amazing, even if you like shitty TV.”

“Hey,” I protest, slapping his hand. “I do not like shitty TV.”

“The Gilmore Girls?” He smirks, quirking a brow. “Really?” he teases, and it brings a genuine smile to my face.

I point a finger toward him. “You cannot judge a show you have not seen. Got it?”

“Fine, I take back the last part until I’ve verified the statement by watching for myself, but the rest is true.”

“Well, thank you.”

He scans the paperwork in his hands, reading it again while I wipe my eyes with a tissue. I don’t ever want to read it again. It hurts too much.

“Elena?” Beckett lifts his blue-eyed stare from the paper and holds me in his gaze. A small smile crosses his face.

“Yeah?”

“Marry me.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

BECKETT

She gasps. “What?”

It’s the reaction I thought I’d get. She was too upset to read all the legal jargon at the end of this paperwork. “Did you read the last two paragraphs?”

“I don’t remember.”

“Well, it says that if you are legally married by the time your father passes, the estate and all its holdings will be transferred to you.”

“What?” She stands and pulls the papers from my hand, scanning the fine print. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“It sounds like your father is a controlling man. He wanted you married when you were eighteen, and you refused. Maybe he sees this as one last chance to get his way,” I suggest.

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