Chapter 36
THIRTY-SIX
“This is weird.”
The words escaped me as I stared out at David’s former office, the one that originally belonged to my father. But there was no trace of my father in this room. All my childhood, the bookshelves were stuffed to their limits with legal tomes and classic literature. It felt warm, worn, like it was just as vibrant as the man who stood behind the desk. I loved coming in here, hiding behind the desk whenever I’d play hide and seek with my sisters. The aroma of antique papers and aged scotch was comforting, and I wished more than anything I could smell it now.
It was long gone, though, traded out for books on business and other enterprises, ones no one ever read but stayed to give the illusion of intelligence. In fact, everything in this room served that purpose, to make anyone who entered this space cower under the weight of David’s presence. I glanced over my shoulder, looking at the space where my face had once collided. Phantom pains raked over me, as if I was still that scared little girl.
“You don’t have to do this,” Laurel said. “If it’s too much, Gray can take you home. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”
“That would be a first,” I muttered, running my finger along the shelves. “At least you’re giving me an option this time, not just running to Gray behind my back.”
“You’re right,” she said. I paused, turning slowly to face my older sister as she continued to speak. “When I found out you married Gray, I was scared, Devyn. David had already made a lot of comments about you, and I was able to keep him at bay because you were doing so well at the law firm. He liked that, liked that Collin could keep you in line. You’d done a great job playing the role he wanted, so he was willing to back off.” She paused, inhaling and exhaling slowly. “But there was always going to be a moment when the levee broke. When I could no longer keep him from interfering with your life. For some reason, he really hates Gray, so when I found out that you’d married him?—”
“You thought he’d come after me.”
“Or worse: use Calla to get to you,” she sighed. “David knows she’s your weakness, just like Gray. That’s his real power—knowing what matters most and warping it until he has you in the palm of his hand.”
Her eyes turned glassy as she whipped around, facing away from me. Sudden understanding made my stomach drop. “What did he take from you?”
“My sisters.”
My stomach dropped, hating that it was true. At least, it had been for years. But the course that had been carved out for us didn’t have to be the one we continued to travel. I moved closer to Laurel and put my hand on her shoulder. She turned around, her eyes widening in surprise. I smiled softly at her. “You haven’t lost us, Laurel.”
“Yes, I have,” she said quietly. “We don’t have a relationship, and the fault lies on my shoulders. After he figured out I would do anything to keep the two of you out of his world, he twisted it, making sure I was still on his side.”
“I hate that you’ve been stuck with him all this time. I really thought you wanted to work with him.”
Laurel chuckled, “Not even a little, but I’d do it all over again. It’s given me better insight into his world.” Calla laughed from the other room. Laurel sighed. “At least she’s made it out unscathed. I just wish I could have done more to keep you out of it too.”
“I don’t,” I answered. Laurel’s brow furrowed as I continued. “David’s done some unforgivable things to all of us, and he’s going to pay the price. I want to know I played a part in his downfall. I need justice after everything he’s done. I’m never going to be okay sitting on the sidelines. If you ever want us to have a real relationship, you need to accept that.”
Laurel stayed quiet for a few moments, studying me for any hesitance, but it wouldn’t come. I wanted this. I wanted to be there when David realized the girls he’d tried to stomp all over had beaten him, that we never let him break us.
“Fine,” she eventually relented.
“And I have two more things to add to the addendum.” Laurel arched a perfectly manicured brow and motioned for me to continue. “If you ever try to come between Gray and me again, I will cut you out of my life for good. He is my everything, and if you make me choose, it will be him, every single time.”
“Done,” she said. Her eyes dropped down to her hands. “I never should have said anything in the first place. I should have trusted you more.”
“Yes, you should have. Which brings me to point number two—we need to tell Calla. ”
“Absolutely not.”
“Laurel…” I groaned, rubbing my hand over my brows. “If we keep her in the dark, we’re just repeating the same mistakes we’ve made with each other.” When she started to protest, I held up my hand. “Calla is a lot stronger than you give her credit for. Not only can she handle this, but we need her if we’re going to figure out what’s going on.” I stepped forward. “And think about how much it’ll piss David off when he sees the three of us standing together, knowing that, in the end, he never broke us.”
The corner of Laurel’s mouth quirked up. “I do like the sound of that.”
“Then it’s settled. We’re telling Calla.”
“Telling me what?” Calla asked as she walked into the room with our mother, carrying more garbage bags and empty boxes. Laurel met my eye and shook her head. Not the time. I couldn’t blame her for that, not when my mother was standing in the same room. In my heart, I wanted to trust she wouldn’t betray our confidence, but she’d been married to David for years. Even if they barely spent any time together under the same roof, they had a relationship. I didn’t know if her loyalties would completely lie with us—or worse, she’d fall on his sword to get us out of trouble.
“We want to throw you a baby shower,” I said, the only thing I could think of on the spot. “But we weren’t sure if Alex wanted to host, so we figured we’d talk to you and see what you wanted to do first.” I motioned over my shoulder to Laurel. “She was planning to keep it a surprise, but I thought we should see how you felt.”
“Okay…” Calla said, giving me a look as if she knew I was hiding something from her. “Doesn’t matter to me; I just want everyone I love to be there. Everything else is just extra. ”
“On it,” I said as I grabbed a box and moved over to the shelves. Running my fingers over the titles, I couldn’t hold back a question that had plagued me for years. “Mom, what happened to all of Dad’s old files and stuff? If it’s still around, I might want some of it for my office.”
If I ever had an office again . I’d reluctantly told my family I was out of a job, and they all surprised me, jumping to my defense. With their confidence, my own started to build. Maybe it was time to put myself back out there, to find my legal footing in a world without corruption and greed. I’d gotten into law to protect people, to continue the fight my dad had started, but the waters had gotten so muddled along the way, and I forgot about that goal. Now that I’d had some time to clear my head, it felt like the right course, time to correct the ship to its original destination. No, I wouldn’t be making as much money, but I could live a life I was proud of, one that allowed me to spend it with the people I cared about most.
“Oh…” my mom said, shifting behind the desk. “Well, any client files got signed over to another attorney in town, and his open cases were also reassigned. But his personal records I kept, anything that didn’t pertain to one of his clients. Any notes, books, whatever he had stored here.”
“You did?” Laurel asked, sitting up in interest.
“Of course,” she answered. “After your father died, I couldn’t bring myself to throw it all away. When David started coming around, he was insistent I get rid of his stuff, but I still couldn’t, even though he’d been gone for years. So, I took his old office space downtown and used it as storage.”
“What about now?”
“It should still be there,” she said as she stood up straighter. She used the backs of her hands to push her dark red hair away from her face. “Before he died, your grandfather bought the building, and it was transferred into my name after he passed. I thought about selling it, but…” She sighed, smiling softly at us. “I didn’t have the heart.” As her voice trailed off, she turned back to the desk, opening the drawers methodically. “If you want anything, you’re welcome to it. I have the keys in my office downstairs somewhere. Your father would have wanted you girls to have that stuff instead of it sitting there, waiting for someone else to find it.”
Laurel met my eye, and I gave her a subtle nod, knowing we were both thinking the same thing.
It had been waiting for us.