Page 78 of 2204 Hunter Lane
“Just do it, Killian. I’ll explain later.”
I hung up and shoved the cell in my back pocket, stepping up to her frail stature with intimidation.
“You lied to me, Mom. You told me Marley wanted nothing to do with this family, that she was living out on the streets by choice. You lied to me, and you didn’t bat an eyelash doing it.”
I turned my attention to my dad and held out a pointed finger. “And you, Dad, you should be ashamed of yourself. You don’t prioritize anything but your work and your money, never us. Never once did I see a piece of your kindness.”
He glared at me with hostility, his nostrils flaring as he contorted with rage. “You’re cut from your inheritance.”
And in that moment, I let out a laugh of sheer and utter madness as I flipped off my own father and stepped out of the manor.
I settled behind the wheel of my Mercedes as my dad bolted out of the house in a state of delirium, breathless and savage. “You aren’t getting a penny out of me! You garbage, waste of a son!You are the –”
But I pressed on the gas and drove. I veered out of the gated garden with a pang in my chest, a feeling of despondency but most of all… peaceful anticipation. Anticipation that my baby sister would somehow feel at ease after I mentioned the news, because I sure did.
I burned the final bridge between me and my parents, something I should’ve done from the second they put me on that godforsaken paleo diet.
Took me long enough.
Chapter Thirty
Marley
“And just to finalize, you would like to add a fifteen percent discount to any customers driving more than one hour to their nearest P&D location?”
I wonder what Hunter’s doing with all his spare time. Payton told me he got his license taken away for the next two months so at least he isn’t driving drunk anymore. But she wouldn’t tell me anything else. Probably for the best. His new favourite hobby most definitely included throwing darts at a picture of my face.
“Ms. Matthews?”
My head raised in attention as I focused on our client supervisor in charge of several P&D branches across the state. “Finalize… um, yeah. Fifteen percent off regular price and ten off sale, Mr. Dexond.”
His lips pressed into a thin line as he signed off on a paper and pushed another towards me.
“Ms. Matthews, I’m an old friend of Mr. Lane and I would highly appreciate that next time you agree to a meeting, should you appear as their representative, to come lesspreoccupied.”
I forced out a sugary smile and slid the agreement papers into my orange file folder, stepping out of Garett Dexond’s home office and retreated to my car.
He definitely wasn’t my favourite person to work with, but he did the job right. Everything was kept in line; he handled payment transfers, returns, inventory, all of the daunting tasks none of us really wanted to do ourselves.
Plus, him and Dex used to be neighbours growing up and they’d stayed in touch all throughout their lives. Dex was a hard cookie to crack so if he trusted someone, I did too.
I pulled out of the freshly paved driveway and started for my place, ruminating on the last two months of my life; all the moments I’d shared with Hunter that were tainted by my decision.
Three days ago I decided to call the police on him. Three days ago I wept in my room about it, worried for him, for others driving on that road. I sat by my bed all night until Payton gave me an update that he was okay, and the charges weren’t as severe as they could have been.
When the cops questioned me about Todd and Hunter’s violent outburst, I blatantly explained the situation from the start of our relationship to the end.
My own mother was stalking me through a private investigator I had no idea about, which alone was an infringement of my rights and privacy so that was noted down. I defended Hunter not just for his sake, but for mine as well. Had he not intervened when he did, I most likely would’ve slapped the shit out of Todd and I admitted that to the authorities. He was harassing me when he shouldn’t have even known my whereabouts, and that alone was enough for Todd to run scared back to Lincoln without pressing charges.
As I pulled into my parking spot at The Atlas Aurora, I settled on the fact that all intentions were pure that night. At least on my part. What Hunter did was wrong, and maybe even Todd deserved to be taught a lesson, but not by Hunter’s fist.
Todd showing up at Cid’s was completely uncalled for, and the things that were spewing out of his mouth were demeaning and horrible, but Hunter didn’t have the cleanest track record with me either.
I could’ve handled Todd, once I snapped out of my paralysis and actually regained my composure. But Hunter didn’t even give me a chance. To him, violence was the answer, and quite honestly, the last place I wanted to be that night was beside either of them.
But when I looked into Hunter’s eyes, there was nothing. It’s like a demon possessed his soul or something and I knew by the way he looked at me that he didn’t care. Not about me, or anyone, especially himself.
So when he got into that truck and drove off after six glasses of whisky, I knew what I had to do. Punching in those three little numbers scarred me, turning in someone I cared for… God, he had every reason to be upset at me. But he couldn’t hate me for this, he couldn’t.
