Chapter Twenty-Two
Bella
Firebrook Valley
I stepped away from the helipad at my family’s home in Firebrook Valley and onto the freshly cleared path leading to the needlessly sprawling estate my father had built.
He’d always claimed the house was for my mother and the Friesians were for us, but I doubted the truth in either of those claims. My mother had never been a country person, and Brady was the only one in my family who’d truly enjoyed riding.
History told the real story.
The Burkes had moved here first—newly married, Cody and Celia.
They’d bought a modest farm and a few Paso Finos.
My father moved here later, deliberately buying land across the river, higher and with a better view.
He built a monstrosity of a home for reasons I had long ago given up trying to understand.
Oh, you have Paso Finos? We have Friesians. Oh, you have a two-stall barn? We have endless rows of stalls, some dripping with chandeliers.
As time passed and Cody Burke began to make more money, he acquired more land—also higher from the river—and built a home even larger than my father’s. And then a larger barn.
Every family has something it’s embarrassed about.
Firebrook Valley and the way my family has behaved here is my private shame.
There’s a wholesomeness to this town that was supposed to be flannel and pickup trucks, muddy boots left at the door, and summer evenings that smelled like cut grass and lake water.
It was supposed to be a place where no one locked their doors, and everyone knows everyone. Simple. Authentic. Humble.
It didn’t need a private helipad. Or a pilot with noise-canceling headphones. Or me stepping out into a swirl of icy wind like an executive arriving for a hostile takeover.
And yet, here I was.
I pulled my coat tighter, my hair whipping across my face. I didn’t usually fly in like this; I preferred coming here low-key. But this wasn’t normal. This was the first time Laurent had ever called me to Firebrook Valley.
He was waiting near the landing pad, hands shoved deep in his coat pockets and his hat pulled low against the wind.
He looked like he belonged here in a way none of my family ever could—grounded, immovable, the kind of man who’d weathered a thousand storms without bothering to announce a single one of them.
When he saw me, his mouth tipped into something that wasn’t quite a smile but was close enough. “Bella,” he said, his voice gravelly with the cold.
“I came as soon as I could.” I didn’t waste time with pleasantries. “What the hell is going on?”
Laurent’s eyes softened, but his expression stayed careful. “Your father and Cody are at it again.”
My stomach tightened. “At it again,” I repeated, as if I could make the problem smaller by saying it casually.
Laurent shifted his weight, his gaze flicking toward the house. “This time it’s escalating beyond what this town can handle.”
That landed heavy and wrong. I stared at him for a beat. “Where is he?”
“In the library,” Laurent said. Then, as if he were talking about a man reading quietly by the fire instead of whatever version of Gabe Holliston was currently boiling over, he added, “Coffee?”
I blinked. “Coffee?”
He tipped his head slightly, and a twinkle lit in his eye. “Spiked, if you need it to be.”
It was such a ridiculous thing to offer in the middle of a disaster that my mouth almost did something dangerous—it almost smiled. I needed to remain clear-headed, but a shot of courage wasn’t a bad idea. “No. I’ve got this.”
Laurent’s smile deepened just a fraction. “Yes, ma’am.”
I squared my shoulders, pulled in a breath, and turned toward the house. Then I stopped. Laurent wasn’t just the farm’s caretaker; he was a stabilizing constant. Every summer of my life, he’d been there, making sure we were safe around the horses and brave enough to go into town.
Most people in my circle saw me as someone who didn’t need to be looked after.
I was the one people came to when things went south.
I was the fixer, the peacemaker, the “responsible one.” Especially after my mother divorced my father and the family dynamic shifted, I was the one who held the pieces together.
Laurent was the only one who would simply stand beside me, not asking how I was, but lending his strong presence.
“Laurent,” I said, my voice hoarse. “Thank you everything. Just . . . thank you.”
“Always, Bella.”
My family’s Firebrook Valley estate in winter felt different than it did in summer. It was more isolated, heavier. As I entered through a side door, I inhaled the familiar scent of a house that had never felt like home.
When I reached the library door, I paused.
I wasn’t afraid; I was just tired. This felt like building sandcastles on the edge of the ocean.
It was always just a matter of time until the next wave washed away any sense of peace.
Whatever my father was up to this time, I’d fix it, but I knew it would only be another temporary patch.
But what was the alternative? Let everything fall apart?
I couldn’t do that. I squared my shoulders and stepped inside.
My father stood near the fireplace with one hand braced on the mantel, his jaw tight and his shoulders rigid.
He looked like he was holding himself upright by the sheer force of will.
He turned when he heard me, and for a moment his expression flickered—surprise, relief, something softer—before it snapped back into anger as if it had never dared to be anything else.
“Bella,” he said, his tone defensive.
“Dad.” I kept my voice even and calm, the way I’d learned to do when he was in one of his moods. “What’s going on?”
His eyes sharpened. “Cody Burke assaulted me.”
I blinked once, letting the words settle without reacting. If I let my feelings show, we’d never get anywhere. “I’m going to need details.”
His gaze held mine, defiant. “You don’t. I’m handling it.”
I stared at him. It took every ounce of effort not to sigh. “Dad. What happened?”
His nostrils flared as if I’d insulted him. “The question I’m asking myself is who involved you?”
I stepped closer. “The who doesn’t matter. I’m concerned about the why. There is bruising on your cheek. Cody hit you?”
“Took me by surprise,” my father muttered. “And I would have hit him back, but his housekeeper walked in and started screaming.”
I could only imagine. No, actually, I didn’t want to imagine. “If his housekeeper was there, does that mean you were on his property?”
He turned back toward the fire, unable to look at me. “Yes. There was an issue I needed to address with him.”
I waited.
“A rumor,” he repeated, louder now, as if volume made it truer. “That Brady and Nora Burke were . . . involved.”
My stomach tightened. The video? “What did you hear?”
His jaw clenched. “That they’re a couple. Even snuck away to Vermont together.”
I stared at him. “And?”
“I put a stop to it.”
“By doing what?” I asked carefully, as if I were talking to a very smart man with a very short fuse.
His eyes flashed. “By protecting my son.”
“Dad,” I said, slower now. “What did you do?”
He finally turned, and the look on his face made it clear he didn’t like being questioned in his own kingdom. “I reminded Cody that we don’t mix.”
I felt my spine stiffen. “By going to his home?”
“I went to warn him.”
Warn.
“Dad, even if Brady and Nora—”
His eyes narrowed to slits. “Don’t take that tone with me.”
“Don’t you take that tone with me,” I shot back. Then I caught myself and forced my voice back down. “Tell me what you said to Cody.”
He stared at me for a beat, deciding how much to give me. Finally, he said, “I told him to keep his daughter away from my son.”
I went still. “That’s what you said?”
“Yes,” he said, as if it were the most reasonable thing in the world.
“That’s not a conversation,” I said, my voice rising. “That’s a threat.”
“It’s a boundary.”
“Brady is an adult,” I snapped. “So is Nora. You don’t get to storm onto someone’s property and—”
“I didn’t storm.”
I stared at him. He stared back. The stubbornness was almost impressive, if it wasn’t ruining everyone’s lives.
“Fine,” I said, my voice razor-sharp. “You visited. And said something you shouldn’t have. Then what?”
His jaw worked. “Cody overreacted,” he said.
“Dad.”
“He did,” my father insisted, stepping forward. “He got loud. He got defensive. He started twisting my words like I was insulting his daughter.”
“Were you?” I asked.
His gaze flicked away for a split second. “Cody knows this has nothing to do with Nora and everything to do with him.”
“You’re making it about Nora,” I said, my voice shaking.
My father’s eyes flashed. “You don’t understand.”
“Then help me understand,” I shot back. “Because right now it looks like you went there to pick a fight over something that is none of your business.”
His voice sharpened. “My family will always be my business.” His eyes darkened as he touched his cheek. “Cody did me a favor this time. So did his housekeeper. When my lawyers are done with him, I’ll own that sorry little ranch of his.”
“Dad,” I said, stepping closer. “Whatever you think you’re doing, you’re not just embarrassing the family. You’re endangering our business. Elena is rescheduling your meetings. You missed calls. For this. You’re making yourself look unstable.”
His jaw clenched. “I’m not unstable.”
“You’re in Firebrook Valley in January, physically fighting someone.”
“It’s only a fight if I punched back, and I didn’t.”
Give me strength. “You went to his house.”
“He doesn’t have a restraining order against me,” my father said, his voice steely. “But I’ll have one against him. He won’t be able to even visit Firebrook Valley. And if things go well, he’ll spend a few nights in jail. I might even get his mug shot framed.”
I felt my stomach twist. “You’re pressing charges?”
“Of course I am,” he said, and the satisfaction in his voice made my skin crawl. “He hit me.”
“Dad, don’t do this,” I whispered.
“It’s necessary.”
“It’s vindictive.”
“It’s justice,” he snapped.
“It’s not rational,” I snapped back. “And you know it.”
His eyes went cold. “Go back to New York. I didn’t ask you to come here. I don’t need your help in this matter.”
“I should,” I said, my voice shaking. “I should let you make a fool of yourself publicly.”
His jaw flexed, and some of the fire left his eyes. “If you knew the truth about Cody, you’d be on my side.”
“Does there have to be a side?” I asked. “Whatever happened between the two of you, isn’t it time to let it go?”
He stared at me for a long beat. And then, like he was proud of it, like it was a flag he’d planted in the dirt, he said, “I’ll tell you what I told him. There is no world where a Holliston would ever choose to be with a Burke.”
The words hit me so hard I felt them in my lungs. Not because of Brady. Because of my mother. Because she’d been shown that same cold rejection by the people in my circle.
Not good enough. Not one of us. Not welcome.
I went still, my skin turning cold. “You said that to Cody?”
My father didn’t hesitate. “Something like that.”
Anger rose in me so fast it scared me. My voice came out low. “I don’t blame him for punching you at all.”
My father’s head jerked back as if I’d slapped him.
“In fact,” I added, my hands curling into fists, “I’m tempted to do it myself.”
His face darkened. “Bella—”
“No,” I said, the word ripping out of me. “You don’t get to decide who is or isn’t good enough.”
His mouth opened, but I didn’t let him speak.
“All I hear,” I said, my voice shaking with fury, “is the same thing you let people say about Mom. The same thing you ignored. The same thing you pretended wasn’t happening while she stood in rooms where everyone treated her like she was lucky you married her.”
My father’s face went rigid. For a second, I saw it—rage, shame, or perhaps a toxic mix of both.
But I didn’t care. Not right then.
I turned and walked out of the library before I did something I couldn’t take back. I wanted out. Out of Firebrook Valley, out of my family, out of all of this. I loved them, but I was done.
I told myself that leaving Firebrook Valley wasn’t an option yet, and that I’d feel calmer once I gave myself some distance from my father. If it still existed, I would have gone to the candy store. I needed something to hold on to. Something normal. Something that made sense.
Mabel’s.