Chapter 31
OWEN
I didn’t sleep. All night I paced my room, wondering if I should go check on Thea. She looked so broken last night, and I hate the idea of her working through this alone.
The moment the sun breaks over the horizon, I head to my mom’s room.
I need to calm her down, to appease her for the wedding.
The thought of her getting away with how she acted last night grates, but I know it’s what Thea wants.
And there’s nothing I wouldn’t do to see Thea’s brilliant smile again.
I can hash everything out with Mom after.
Mom’s door swings open mere seconds after I knock, like she’s been up and waiting for me to come by.
“I assume you’re here to apologize?” she asks.
I swallow my pride. “Yes. I’m sorry for lying to you, then and now. I shouldn’t have done it.”
Shockingly, she reaches out and pats my cheek. I was primed for hours of groveling. “It’s not your fault. I’m just glad that toxic relationship is out of your life.”
I smile in relief—everything’s going to be fine—until my brain fully processes her words. “Wait, what do you mean?”
I follow her into her room as she walks to the desk, waving around a few pieces of paper. “Thea dropped this off.”
I snatch the papers out of her hand so quickly she’s lucky she doesn’t get a paper cut. The letter is long, and my mind struggles to focus on the words with the blood pulsing in my veins, but I catch the most important ones.
Please forgive Owen and Addy. This was all my idea.…
… Addy is incredible and shouldn’t be punished for being born into my family …
… manipulated Owen into the lie so I could make some extra money …
… You can accept Addy into your family knowing you’ll never have to see me again.…
“When did she give you this?” I ask, my voice so harsh that Mom jumps.
“Last night.”
“What time?” I yell, and she flinches.
“I don’t know. Around nine?”
When I saw her in the hallway. She already knew she was leaving, and she didn’t tell me. But of course she wouldn’t. She knows I’d never let her walk away, not like this. Not when she’s throwing herself under the bus so Addy and I don’t have to deal with the consequences.
She’s gone. She’s gone, and I can’t breathe. I don’t know where she is or how to get to her. My fierce warrior—who fights for everyone but has been told she’s not worth fighting for—is heartbroken and alone. I brace my hands on my knees, trying to get air into my lungs.
I never should have left last night, should have known she’d do something like this.
If I’d been thinking clearly, I’d have spent the night running my fingers through her curls, telling her every little thing that I love about her.
All the big and little ways she makes the lives of everyone around her better.
That if she weren’t here, these mountains would lose their luster, everything dimming to black and white.
I should have fought for her like she fought for me and Addy.
That’s what I’m going to do now. I don’t care if it disrupts the wedding, if it forever alters the way my family looks at me.
I’m going to get her back, and then I’m going to spend the rest of my goddamn life making sure she knows there’s at least one person who will fight for her, who would burn the fucking world down to make sure she’s safe and happy.
I run for the door, ignoring Mom calling after me. My feet skid on the carpeted hallway when I come to a stop at Addy’s door. My fist comes down so hard on the wood that the whole thing shudders. I only make it five seconds before knocking again.
“Addy, open the goddamn door,” I call out.
Harrison pops his head out of the room next door. “What the fuck, Owen?”
I bang on the door again, barely sparing him a glance.
When I lift my fist again, Harrison grabs my shirt, pushing me against the wall. “You lie to us, fuck up my wedding, and crush my future wife, and then think you can come up here like this?”
My blood is roaring in my veins. “I’m sorry for the lie, and I’m sorry for what happened last night.” I don’t sound sorry, and Harrison raises a brow. “I’ll give you the apology you deserve later, but I can’t do this right now.”
“I don’t care if you can’t. You’re going to.”
“Thea needs me. What would you do if Addy needed you?”
I’m desperate, begging him to understand.
I’ve seen how much he loves Addy, the things he would do for her.
If anyone can get how I’m feeling right now, it’s him.
Harrison’s jaw tightens, but he nods as Addy’s door swings open.
She’s in her robe, fresh-faced and still wiping the sleep out of her eyes.
My mom rushes down the hallway to us, huffing out a breath. “Owen, what is the meaning of this?”
I hold the papers out to Addy. “Read.”
Her eyes skim the paper, going wider with each second while I dig my phone out of my pocket to try Thea. It goes straight to voicemail, and I scream in frustration.
“Where did you get this?” Addy asks, her voice wobbling.
“She dropped it off with my mom last night.” I dial Vaughn next, and he picks up on the first ring. “Where is she?”
“She’s gone,” he says. “Addy told her to leave.”
His words land like a match to gasoline. I’m a living flame, and I’m going to burn everyone down with me. I jab at the phone to put him on speakerphone. “Say that again.”
“Owen, come o—”
“Fucking say it, Vaughn.”
He pauses for a minute, then repeats, “Addy told her to leave.”
Addy’s face goes white. “She’s gone?”
“Yes, she’s gone,” I scream, and Addy flinches. Harrison steps between us, but I have no intention of hurting her with anything but my words. “You told your sister, who has spent her whole life prioritizing you, that you don’t want her here. What the fuck did you think would happen?”
“I didn’t think she’d leave,” Addy whispers, almost like she’s talking to herself.
Harrison slides his arm around her shoulder, murmuring in her ear.
“I said the most horrible things to her, Harrison.” A tear slips from her eyes, and she swats it away with a jerky movement so reminiscent of Thea that I want to cry myself. “I was angry and scared I’d lose you.”
He kisses her forehead. “We’ll sort it out.”
“Driving or flying, Vaughn?” I ask.
He hums, an infuriatingly passive-aggressive sound that has me thankful he’s on the phone and not close enough for me to punch. “Not sure.”
“Bullshit. Her car’s still in the shop, so if she drove, she’d have to take your car. Did you fly or drive here?”
“She doesn’t want anyone to follow her, Owen,” Vaughn says, almost sympathetically. I’ve always liked him and regretted losing touch when he left Hayes, but I’m at the end of my rope.
“You know what? It doesn’t matter. Either I’ll catch her at the airport or I’ll get on the next flight back to Orlando to go after her.” I stab the end call button as a replacement for the fist I want to put through the wall.
“What about the wedding?” Mom asks.
“Like I’m going to the wedding,” I say sarcastically. “Isn’t that what you said yesterday when you were humiliating Thea?”
She gasps like I’ve attacked her. “Well, I don’t—”
I don’t care enough to hear what she has to say, instead turning to Harrison. “You know how much I love you, right?”
His normally jovial face is written in harsh lines right now. For a minute, I think he’s going to lay into me about the lying, but then he walks to me in a couple of long strides and pulls me in, a clinging full-hearted hug. “Go. We’re fine.”
Mom grabs my arm. “Owen, this isn’t like you. I get why you’re so charmed by her—we all were—but she’s not worth throwing away your family for.”
I turn back to her, reading the terror underneath her angry facade.
I think, for the first time in thirty-two years, I may understand her.
She’s been dealt a shitty hand, watching the love of her life waste away.
Seeing Thea eaten away by disease would break something inside me, too.
It’s easy to assume her issues are about wanting control, but maybe it’s something more.
Maybe it’s her fear of what happens if she does let go.
Part of me—a very, very large part after last night—wants to write my mother off. She has manipulated me my entire life. I now realize she’s hurt Harrison with her indifference. And worst of all, she drove Thea away. I’m not sure that’s something I can forgive.
But the truth is none of us have been honest with her. We haven’t given her the chance to change, at best ignoring her behaviors and at worst enabling them. Maybe she won’t hear us—maybe she’s too buried in her own issues to dig herself out—but I have to at least try.
My heart’s pounding, beating out a rhythm that says, Get to Thea, get to Thea, get to Thea, but I force myself to slow down.
I want a future with her. A real future, where we can build our lives together.
And to do that, it needs to start from a place of honesty.
I don’t know how my mother will respond, and I’ve realized I can’t control that.
“Mom, I need to tell you something, and I need you to hear me. I don’t have time to say this more than once, and I’m not going to fight with you.
First, and most important, everything Thea said about me in that letter is a lie.
She was telling the truth about Addy’s involvement—she found out the day before you did—but it wasn’t Thea’s idea.
I didn’t even know her until after I’d come up with the plan, and our mutual friend introduced us so I could ask her to pretend to be my girlfriend.
She didn’t influence or manipulate me. It was all me. ”
My mom’s eyes fill with tears. “I don’t understand why you’d do something like that.”
“I know you don’t, because I’ve never been brave enough to tell you.
I know things were hard before Dad died and only got worse once he was gone, but I’ve always felt responsible for keeping this family together.
Every time I’ve tried to do something off the path of what you’ve decided for me, you shut down. ”
“That’s not true,” she cuts in.
“Mom,” I say, leveling her with a stare. “I mentioned I want to start a side business for something I love, and you went to bed for a day. You almost missed Harrison’s rehearsal.”
“Would have been better if she had,” Harrison mutters, and I shoot him a glare. She doesn’t need us ganging up on her.
I continue. “I don’t want the life I’m living.
I’ve never enjoyed the work, but I’ve done it because I felt obligated to do what was best for this family, to maintain Dad’s legacy.
I wasn’t willing to sacrifice my relationship with you.
But I can’t keep living like this—giving up what I want because I’m walking on eggshells.
And I won’t lose Thea because I’m too scared of the fallout with you. ”
She sniffles. “You think I’m that bad of a mother?”
I rub my hands down my face. “If this is how you’re going to respond, then I’m going to go. I’m not missing the chance to catch Thea because you refuse to hear what I’m saying.”
I head down the hallway, disappointed with her reaction but not terribly surprised. I feel lighter. It’s a relief to have it all out there.
I only make it a few feet before a small hand closes around my bicep. Addy stares up at me, her chin thrust high.
“I’m going to get her,” she says.
I scoff. “Like hell you are.”
“I’m the one who did this,” she says, her voice breaking on the words. “She’s done everything for me, and I drove her away. I need to fix this, not you.”
My fists clench. She’s not wrong, but the thought of leaving this to anyone else grates at my soul. Thea’s mine, and I want to be the one to protect her, to help her when she’s hurting.
“I’m not staying here,” I say.
Addy’s posture goes even straighter. “Together, then.”
I nod, and she sprints back to her room to get dressed.
Harrison walks to me, slipping his hands in his pockets. “You never told me you don’t like our work.”
I shrug. “Didn’t see the point.”
“Of course there’s a point. We’re co-owners. You’ve always been in charge, but you don’t have to take it all on. If you don’t want it, I do.”
“Come on,” I say, crossing my arms over my chest. “You don’t want Hayes.”
“Yes, I do,” he says. “I know you don’t take me seriously, but I’ve been working my ass off to get to know the company.”
After the last twenty-four hours, I don’t have the emotional energy to hold back my thoughts anymore. “Harrison, you bounce around from department to department. That’s not the behavior of someone who enjoys their job.”
His lips pinch. “Is that what you think? I’ve been trying to get to know what each department does. I can’t lead the company with you if I don’t understand it.”
My mouth drops open. “What?”
“How else am I supposed to learn? No one cared enough to teach the spare, so I had to figure it out myself. But I love my work. I love Hayes, not because it was Dad’s, but because it’s mine.”
For a moment, I’m stunned into speechlessness.
There are better ways to learn, but how could he know that when I never took the time to teach him?
I created my own idea of who Harrison is and pushed him into that box, never stopping to ask why he wanted to move around the company so much.
I’m not too different from Mom, telling Harrison who he is instead of letting him tell me.
And selfishly, I can’t help but think about what this means for me if he’s serious. No, not if. I’m done questioning him. If he says he’s serious, I believe him.
I clap him on the shoulder as Addy comes back out. “Okay. Let’s talk.”
The three of us take the stairs at a run, stumbling into the lobby.
It’s packed full with dozens of family members.
Camila and Mira, still in their pajamas.
The twins and their partners. Lynne and Jourdan arguing about god knows what.
And right in the middle of them all is Vaughn, grinning like the Cheshire cat.
“Figured you could use some backup,” he says.
I walk over, pulling him into a back-slapping hug. “Thanks, man. It’s great to see you.”
“You can fawn over me after you get Thea back.”
Gabriel flies through the front door, swinging the bright yellow key chain around his finger. “Bus is out front.”
“I brought breakfast for everyone,” Camila calls out, lifting two giant bags of pastries that Mira rips from her hands.
“And I’ve got crafting supplies,” Lynne yells, lifting poster boards and a bag of markers.
“Why the hell do we need crafting supplies?” Johnny asks.
“To win her back, obviously,” Lynne says with an epic eye roll.
I smile at my wild, overwhelming, supportive, perfect family. “If you’re coming, get on the damn bus and let’s go.”
I’m the last one on, taking the seat Harrison saved for me up front.
I rub a hand over Gabriel’s hair. “Drive like a maniac, kid.”
For once, he doesn’t make a comment about not being a kid. He just grins a slightly terrifying smile and turns the key.
And I settle in to figure out what I’m going to say when we reach the airport. Assuming she isn’t already gone.