Chapter 63 Asher
CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE
ASHER
The number of times I’ve seen my father rattled wouldn’t even take up one hand. He’s always been the calm in the storm, steady as the world burns around us.
But this has him shaken, and I don’t know how to hold both of them together.
Hannah is being faced with losing everything she’s built from the ground up, while also being bullied on the internet by strangers who have nothing better to do with their time than judge someone’s relationship and choices, all because her grandfather hasn’t been able to sell her off like a commodity.
Meanwhile, Rowan is dealing with the fact that he’s partially to blame for her pain. He could have let her go. He could have talked me out of pursuing her. He could have shut down this whole plan and allowed her to live a normal life with some fucker that Jeffrey saw fit.
But it’s just as much my fault as it is his. The difference is that I refuse to feel bad for being happy, for making Hannah happy. I’m never going to regret that, and I have no plans to back down from this fight.
I’m not usually the strategic one in the family. I can kill a man with my bare hands. I can negotiate with the best of them. But I don’t make plans. I’m usually too much of a hothead to think clearly enough for any kind of strategy, but apparently, I’m the calm one right now.
I reposition Hannah so she’s in my lap with my body holding hers in place as she heaves over the toilet bowl.
I fucking hate seeing her sick or in pain. The first time she had cramps around me, I was ready to burn the fucking city to the ground, and this is no different, but at least this time I have someone to blame.
Jeffrey fucking Malone’s days are numbered.
Rowan stands in the doorway, his eyes flicking between his phone and our girl, like he doesn’t know what to deal with first.
“I’ve got her,” I reassure him, and that’s all the permission he needs to slip out of the room, his voice low as he gets straight on a call with someone to deal with this.
Hannah’s sobs rack through her body almost as violently as her heaves, hot tears falling against her cheeks and splashing onto my arm around her middle.
“You’re okay,” I murmur. “You’re safe.”
“I’m going to lose everything,” she chokes out.
I drop my forehead to her shoulder. I don’t want to lie to her or give her false hope, because realistically, I can’t force her clients to keep working with her, and I can’t change anyone’s opinion about our relationship, but I also don’t want her to lose hope.
“Maybe,” I murmur. “But you also might not. We’re not the only ones in the city in this kind of relationship, and we’re not even the most noteworthy.
There’s a chance the stories will circulate for a day or two and then some socialite will get black out drunk at a charity gala, or a finance bro will lose someone’s entire fortune because he’s still coked up from the night before, and this will be a distant memory. ”
“He won’t stop.” Hannah drops her head back against my chest. “He won’t stop until he ruins me or I come crawling back to him. Either way, he’s going to get what he wants.”
Rowan appears in the doorway, dressed in a fresh suit and his phone still clutched in his hand. “The plane will be ready in an hour.”
“The plane?” Hannah croaks, her voice hoarse from throwing up.
“We’re leaving the city. That motherfucker is escalating, and I’m not going to give him any more chances to hurt you.” His tone leaves no room for argument, but that’s never stopped our girl before, and it certainly won’t today.
“Where are we going?”
“I have some property in Spain. Once we’re there, we’ll make a more permanent plan of attack.”
“What if I don’t want to leave? My whole life is here. My career is here!” Fresh tears track down her cheeks, but this is the right decision, even if it’s just in the short term.
“It won’t be forever,” I placate. “Just until it’s safe.”
She can fight us on this—spit and kick and claw—but the result is going to be the same.
Hannah will get on that plane, and we will be leaving New York, because that’s what’s going to keep her safe. I’ll take her being safe and hating me over the alternative any day.