Chapter 59 Asher
CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
ASHER
She’s pulling away.
Hannah may be sitting between us on the couch watching the movie I insisted on making us watch, but she’s quiet. Too fucking quiet.
I should have known Marianne’s reappearance in her life would spook her, but I had hoped that after everything we’ve been through, she would believe in us.
Perhaps it was a stupid pipe dream, knowing what I do about Hannah’s upbringing. Maybe I should have been preparing myself for this eventuality, but I wanted to believe that because we’d worked so hard to put all the pieces into place, everything would work out.
Rowan watches her more than he does the movie, constantly checking in to make sure she doesn’t need anything, but every time he looks at me, I see the same worry in my chest staring back at me.
He can see it too, but the question is, what are we going to do about it?
The credits roll, but none of us move. The pizza sits mostly untouched on the table beside the statue we were so excited to see out of its box just a few hours ago.
How quickly things can change.
Hannah is the first to move, pushing herself up. “I’m going to turn in. I’ll see you guys in the morning.” She doesn’t pause to kiss us. Instead, she grabs that damned file and heads for the stairs.
But it’s her unspoken words that ring loudest.
Every night since she arrived, she’s slept between us, but not tonight.
Tonight, she wants to be alone.
It’s not until the door closes upstairs that I finally move, dropping my head into my hands.
“That fucking asshole,” I growl. “Why can’t he just leave her alone?”
“Because men like him don’t let go of their possessions.”
“She’s a human being, not a fucking piece of property.”
“I know that, and you know that, but he doesn’t. He uses people to get what he wants, and right now, he’ll stop at nothing to bring her back into the fold and marry her off to whoever he sees fit.”
I press my eyes closed as Jeffrey’s words filter through my mind for what feels like the hundredth time since he uttered them.
“If you let her go now, I’ll ensure she marries someone who will treat her right, who will come to love her. But if you resist, Trent will look like Prince Charming compared to who I choose.”
What if all of this was for nothing? The plotting and scheming. Quitting fighting instead of rehabbing my ACL because I couldn’t wait any longer. Everything we’ve done to ensure we can give her the life she deserves.
None of it matters if she leaves.
None of it means a goddamn thing if she’s not here with us.
“What do we do?” He’s had far more experience with this family than I have. Maybe he has the answers I’m grappling for.
“I don’t know,” he admits.
I tilt my head to the side, my brows raised as I stare at the man who raised me.
He always knows what to do, always knows how to solve our problems.
“I’m beginning to favor the idea of leaving the city, just to cut off his direct access to her, but I don’t want to run. I don’t want her to have to leave everything she knows just so her family will stop harassing her.”
“But if we stay, he’s just going to escalate.”
He nods. “That’s what I’m afraid of. Calling in Marianne was just about the last thing I expected him to do. She hasn’t been back here in years. The fact that he tracked her down and brought her home proves he’s getting desperate, and desperate men have no limits.”
“What do you think is in that file?”
He shrugs. “Who fucking knows. If I had to guess based on what I know of his usual tactics, I’d imagine it’s a bunch of different things that make us look bad.
Probably your sealed juvie records, proof of some of the shady shit we’ve done over the years.
And then there’s likely some fabricated bullshit that will look true based on everything else. ”
I glance toward the stairs. Everything in me is desperate to check on her, to make sure she’s okay, but if she needs space, that’s what I want to give her.
“I need to ask you something, and I want you to give me an honest answer.”
I nod slowly, my stomach churning with anticipation.
“If Hannah wants to leave, do you think we should let her go?”
I open my mouth to say, “Of course we will,” but then I snap it shut.
Can I let her walk away just like that? After everything we’ve been through, everything we’ve built, will I survive watching her walk away?
“What choice do we have?”
Rowan shrugs. “We kidnapped her once. I don’t know why we’d hesitate to do it again.”
“We did not kidnap her,” I snap.
“Didn’t we? Because the way I remember it, I drove her here and locked the place up like Fort Knox, while you brought her things here and organized movers. That sounds a lot like kidnapping to me.”
Okay, so maybe he has me there.
“Let’s see how she is in the morning, but I’m telling you now, I’m not going to let her run from us.”