Chapter 13 #2
Would she want to live in a new place? Something clean and finished and easy, where everything worked the way it was supposed to from day one? A place where there were no surprises hiding behind walls or under the floorboards?
Or would she love the character and charm of an old house like mine, the kind where every creak told a story and every repair felt earned?
A place that still carried the fingerprints of everyone who’d lived there before me.
Where there was no doubt there would be more repairs in the future, more late nights, more problem-solving. More making it ours.
The thought took me back without warning.
Missy and I had been maybe ten or eleven.
We were sprawled out on the thick rug in her parents’ Manhattan townhouse, staring up at the ceiling while snow fell outside the tall windows.
Both of us had grown up in houses that had been too big for just our small families.
Grand, old, expensive places with staff and schedules and rooms we weren’t supposed to go into and furniture we weren’t supposed to sit on.
They were places that looked perfect but never really felt lived-in.
“I don’t want a house with echoes,” she’d said back then, kicking her socked feet against the air.
“What?”
“You know. Where your voice sounds lonely when you talk to yourself.”
I hadn’t known what to say at the time, but I’d understood exactly what she meant. My own childhood home echoed when I climbed the massive spiral staircase.
I swallowed and remembered running my hand over the smooth banister of my new place just that morning.
The banister that I’d restored myself. The wood had been warm under my palm.
No, my staircase didn’t echo. It was the spine of my home.
My house wasn’t perfect. It would never be magazine-ready.
But it felt solid. Honest. Like something you could grow into instead of just occupy.
Then I stilled.
Why was I thinking about building a home with her?
The question hit hard enough that I stopped moving altogether, the quiet of the nearly finished house pressing in around me.
I let that question sit there at the front of my mind instead of pushing it away. Letting myself actually answer it.
Because I wanted to be with her. Forever.
Did that scare me?
I waited for the truth. Listened past the noise, past the years of telling myself I didn’t want complications, didn’t want to risk the one relationship that mattered most.
The answer was no, it didn’t.
The realization settled deep and steady in my chest. It didn’t scare me at all. Not even a little. If anything, it felt… right. Like something clicking into place that I hadn’t realized was out of alignment.
I finished locking up the house and tucked the keys back into the lockbox.
That was when I heard a car pull in behind me.
I turned just as Levi stepped out of his SUV.
Great.
He didn’t bother with pleasantries. Didn’t even pretend this was an accidental meeting.
“So this is where you’re hiding now?” he said, his voice sharp as gravel.
I stayed where I was, calm on the surface even as irritation coiled tight in my chest. “This is private property and a construction site. You shouldn’t be here.”
He scoffed. “Funny, I was about to say the same thing. You shouldn’t be here.”
He stepped closer, invading my space, trying to get a rise out of me. I didn’t give it to him.
“You think you’re some kind of big shot now?” he went on. “I heard about you and this place.” He glanced around. “No doubt you’re hoping to score some of Missy’s inheritance to build all this.”
“That’s enough,” I said quietly. I was not going to explain anything to this idiot. He didn’t deserve it.
He laughed. The sound had always been ugly. “You really think her parents are going to be okay with this? With you?” His eyes gleamed. “Gerald Sharpe barely tolerates you. And Elizabeth? She always thought Missy should aim higher.”
My jaw tightened.
Levi took another step forward and shoved my shoulder. Not hard. Just enough to test me. I wasn’t falling for it. There is no way in hell I was going to let this loser bait me.
“I’m only going to say this once, back the fuck off from Melissa. I know you two are friends”—the way he said the word sounded vulgar—“but I need a chance to make things right with her, and I can’t do that with you breathing down her neck.”
“Trust me, the time for you to make things right with her is long over,” I said smoothly. “I think it’s best if you run on back to her dad and suck on his tit for a while longer, while you can.”
Levi’s face turned red with anger.
“You think this is a joke?” he said more quietly, shoving my shoulder again.
Technically, at this point, if I wanted to, I could get him for assault. I wasn’t going to stoop that low. Yet.
“There’s a lot riding on Melissa’s future here. She stands to lose everything without me.”
“She doesn’t need anything from anyone, especially from you,” I said, feeling my anger stir for the first time. “She’s never needed anything from her parents.”
I didn’t know all the details of her parents’ separation of their business during their messy divorce, but I knew what Max and Missy had told me.
He and Missy had been given ten percent each of Sharper Image Dance Company, the family business, at birth. A while back, Missy had sold her portion of the family business to Max to fund Sweet Expectations. Which, in my opinion, was well worth it.
“She is nothing without me.” Levi moved closer to me and lowered his tone. “I know people. Powerful people.” He glanced around quickly. “I’d hate for you to be sued for one reason or another up here. I’d wager there are at least a dozen code violations on any of your sites.”
And suddenly something that he was able to keep hidden from most people became very clear to me. The man was a controlling sociopath.
Before I could react or respond, Mark appeared suddenly at my side. The man’s phone was already out and in hand.
“Is there a problem, boss?” Mark asked evenly. “Should I call the cops?”
Levi’s gaze flicked toward Mark and a look of annoyance crossed his eyes before his control slipped back into place. Then he turned back toward me. His smile was tight, angry.
“This isn’t over. Remember my warnings, Cade.” He said my name like it was a curse word. “She’s mine and always will be.” He whispered the last so that only I could hear.
Then he turned and stalked back to his car. When he drove off, his tires kicked up gravel on the side of the road as he sped off.
I stood there long after he was gone with my fists clenched at my sides, trying to breathe through the rush of anger and something darker beneath.
“You okay, boss?” Mark asked.
“Yeah.” I turned to walk toward my truck. “Mark, do me a favor, for the next couple weeks, double-check everything. Make sure we are one-hundred-percent locked down.”
“You got it boss.” Mark nodded.
I turned and climbed into my truck. Instead of driving off, however, I sat there, counting my heartbeats until I felt back in control.
He was wrong.
About her. About me. About everything.
And as I headed out, one thought anchored me, solid and unshakable.
Whatever this was with Missy, whatever it became, I wasn’t walking away or screwing it up like Levi had.
Not now. Not ever.