Chapter 35 #2
Olivia went into a full no-contact relationship with our father when she graduated from college. He was gracious enough to pay for it, but paying for my sister’s tuition came with terms. He was eager to control her. It was a constant war between them.
She had big plans—med school, a career in sports medicine. But the pressure eventually caught up to her, and after earning her bachelor’s, she cut him off for good. I offered to help, begged her to let me pay for her MD, whatever she needed.
Because here’s the thing my sister—and our mom—never quite understood: I wanted to take care of them. After so many years of being useless, not knowing how to protect the two most important women in my life, I wanted to make it right.
But Olivia could be stubborn. I was almost shocked she even let our father pay for her undergraduate degree. When I asked her why, she just shrugged and said, “He should pay for my emotional damage.”
I know what you’re probably thinking, but what can I say? My sister’s humor always turned a little dark when it came to her trauma.
“Did you know he was going to be here?” she asked, barely above a whisper, her voice threaded with something between fear and dread.
I shook my head. “I mean…he showed up at my apartment the other day—”
“I can’t be here,” Olivia murmured, more to herself than to me. Her hands trembled slightly, and her voice wavered.
“We can go back to my place and forget about this night,” I offered quickly, already stepping forward.
Before I could reach her, Hayes slipped off his suit jacket and gently draped it over Olivia’s shaking shoulders.
“I got her,” he said, firm and soft all at once. “This is a big night for Kennedy, you should stay here. I’ll take care of this.”
“No, I’m sure Kennedy will unders—”
“Wes can take me. I’m staying at his place anyway. It’s fine.” Olivia met my eyes. They were swimming with something uncertain. A type of pain I wanted to pull out of her and carry myself. “I’m fine,” she said, though we both knew she wasn’t.
Hayes wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to his chest as they walked toward the back exit, taking the long way so my father wouldn’t see them.
They bickered like an old married couple, but when it mattered the most, I knew Hayes would be there for my sister in a heartbeat. I wholeheartedly trusted him.
I took a deep breath, trying to calm the rage that was quickly bubbling out of me. Without a thought, only all-consuming anger, I strode to him with menacing steps. “Why are you here?
His gaze lingered around the venue, like he was looking for someone. “Where’s your sister? I was told she was going to be attending.”
“She wants nothing to do with you.”
“I’m her father.”
“She hasn’t spoken to you in seven years for a fucking reason,” I snapped, taking a step closer until he was forced to meet my eyes. “I have been stupid enough to keep you in my life, God only knows why, because we both know you don’t deserve it, but you stay away from Olivia. Do you understand?”
“How’s that anger management issue going, son?” His question was laced with sarcasm.
My chest felt like it weighed a thousand pounds.
He was trying to get under my skin. That’s all he wanted out of me.
To show me I was just like him. But fuck him, if he thought I was going to let him trick me into something so shitty.
I wasn’t like him. It was something I had slowly learned how to come to terms with.
Yes, I had my moments when I had to work through my anger, but I would continue to fight against my demons every fucking day to find better ways to deal with them. “Better than you, that’s for sure.”
“It’s only a matter of time,” he replied with a bored tilt.
“Why are you here?”
“Like I said—”
“No,” I hissed. “Why are you really in Chicago? Why did you go to my apartment the other day?” He went to speak, but I raised my hand to stop him.
“Don’t tell me it was because you wanted to see me, because we both know that’s bullshit.
You wanted to see Kennedy alone for a reason.
Why?” The way blood pumped through my veins, I could hear the palpitations as clear as day in my ear, almost too painfully.
“Can we not do this here?” he asked through gritted teeth.
My hand shook as I rubbed it against my mouth.
He was right. In other instances, I wouldn’t have given a single fuck, but I wasn’t about to ruin Kennedy’s night.
She’d worked so hard. I looked over my shoulder to make sure she was distracted.
My eyes found her, and she was animatedly speaking with a few season-ticket holders and Donovan, so I waltzed out of the venue, with my father hot on my trail.
“I’m trying to rectify your mistake,” he said as soon as we stepped outside.
“My mistake?” I let out a disbelieving laugh as I turned around. “This is my career. And I have already paid for said mistake. For the better part of the season, actually.”
He shook his head adamantly. “I’m talking about Kennedy.” He took a few steps closer to me. “She will destroy your career. You need to remain focused. The last thing you need is to lock yourself down to one woman. It will distract you.”
“I am a thirty-year-old man who’s at the prime of his career.
I’m not some eighteen-year-old rookie who just started.
And frankly, my love life has nothing to do with the legacy I’ve been slowly building.
” I pointed a finger at him. “And you have no say in my life either. When are you going to get that?”
It was like he wasn’t even listening. Because that’s who my father was. Self-centered. Careless.
“You’re going to regret it. Just like I did.” His eyes held unspoken fury.
Fuck, I was frustrated. I’d reached my boiling point.
“Stop trying to blame everything on Mom!” I roared.
My throat was scratchy and painful, but I couldn’t hold back any longer.
“She did everything she could to support your fucking career. And what did you do to repay her? Cheat on her. Then, when your career ended, you decided to damage your fucking family all because of your own inflated ego!”
“Lower your voice—”
“No,” I growled. Fuck, I’d never been so frustrated. “I would love nothing more than for the world to find out who you truly are. The kind of monster they adore.”
“You pull that stupid stunt, and I will tell the organization about the little contract you and Kennedy have.” My eyes widened, and his mouth curled into a cruel smile. “Oh, yeah. I saw it. I know everything.”
“You know nothing,” I barely managed to spit out.
My stomach tightened, and my heart was thrashing against my ribcage painfully.
No one knew. No one had a clue how irrevocably, helplessly in love I was with Kennedy.
How loving Kennedy wasn’t a choice—it just happened.
It took over everything. What started as pretend turned into the most real thing I’d ever felt.
She crept into every part of me until there was no part of my life untouched by her.
She wasn’t just the best thing that ever happened to me. No.
She was it.
The one.
“You’re probably right. But that’s the thing about being a man with influence,” he remarked casually. “All I need is to make one phone call, and your precious Kennedy will be on every tabloid for things she didn’t even do.”
My nostrils flared. “If you touch her—if you even breathe in her direction—so help me God, I will go to the media and tell them everything.”
I’d get my mother and sister’s permission first, of course. But I knew them. They supported me through it all. And we were aware of how long this charade had been going on for. I’d taken the higher road my whole goddamn life, and for what? For him to believe he held some sort of power over me?
His eyes darkened. “Your career will be over if you do that. Half—if not all—of your endorsements will drop you if you go forward with your little sob story. No one will believe you. I will make sure of it.”
“I don’t fucking care,” I shouted. “At least I won’t be the coward hiding behind a fake image anymore.”
“Don’t be stupid,” he snarled, jabbing a finger at my chest. “Everything you have, you have because of me.”
I stepped forward until there was barely an inch between us. I remembered in this moment how small he used to make me feel. How part of me always believed I was never going to have the opportunity to stand against the monster that hid behind the shadows.
“No. Everything I have, I built in spite of you.” My eyes met his, without an ounce of fear or shame.
All I felt was bravery. It was cathartic, the way I stood my ground.
“I’m done trying to make this work. Believing that if I kept you around, at least you’d let me live my life.
Believing that maybe you’d change one day.
But you don’t have one good bone in your body, and you think the world owes you everything, but this is not how it works. I’m done.”
Speaking my truth was like finally being able to breathe properly for the first time. Like my head had been underwater my whole life, and I’d finally come up for air.
“Break up with her, or her career is fucking over. I will bury her in the goddamn ground. Do you hear me, boy?!”
I should have known better than to believe he wasn’t going to try to have the last word. “And I’m telling you, if you do that, I will ruin your reputation.”
“It’s my word against yours. Who do you think has more influence?” His laugh was manic. “If you care about her, let her go and focus on making yourself worthy of the Anderson name.”
I couldn’t handle being around him any longer. Without a word, I started walking to get away from him. From everything. I needed time to think. What angered me the most was that he was right. My father had too much influence. It was a risk to go against him.
Only one question remained… Was that going to stop me from protecting the woman I loved with every fiber of my being?