Anything for Her - By Janice Kay Johnson Page 0,81

before all this happened. But Mom’s decision ended it, although it dragged on for another year.

“Dad was the third generation to run his family’s company. Of course it had to be sold. He had to find something different to do with his life. I think he felt so much resentment, whatever love he’d had left for Mom died.

“Jason...well, he’s two years older than I am. He was really angry, giving up his friends and having no say in what happened to us. He blamed Mom. When Dad and she split up, he went to live with Dad.” She swallowed. “He was the only person...” It was too much. She couldn’t finish.

“The only person?”

“Who I could be myself with. Chloe.”

“And he moved out.”

“Yes.” Heaven help her, this was hard. She felt naked in a way she’d never been. No, worse—raw. “Then we got word that someone might have found us or at least was getting close. It freaked the U.S. Marshals Service and they decided to move us and give us new identities again.

“They would have done the same for Dad and Jason, even though Mom and Dad weren’t married anymore. In fact, I don’t think they liked it when Dad said no, he was done. And then...and then Jason, too.”

“Did you ever consider staying behind with your father, too? Finishing out your senior year where you were?”

She shook her head. “No. By then, Mom was all I had. And it wasn’t as if I was happy there. I don’t even know who Laura Nelson was. And I know it wasn’t fair, but I felt as if Dad had already abandoned me.” Jason, too. That might have been even more devastating.

“So you became Allie Wright.”

“Yes. Of course, we were given an entirely new background we were supposed to memorize. I didn’t do a very good job with that. I’d already decided when I was Laura that I just wouldn’t answer when people asked questions.”

“Then I started interrogating you.”

She met his eyes for the first time in several minutes. Allie was surprised to find she was smiling, although it felt...not quite right. A distant part of her wondered what that smile looked like. “I kept getting muddled. I guess you noticed. Or I’d go blank and I could see you thinking, ‘What’s that about?’”

“Did you ever consider just telling me the truth? Or—” his tone was pained “—weren’t you serious enough about me to think I was entitled?”

A part of her wanted to protect her mother, not admit to their painful conflict and her own realization that Mom’s decisions all along had been about her. Not her husband, not her son, not her daughter.

“Mom was...scared,” she said carefully. “I told her I wanted to tell you everything. That I had to. She said I couldn’t. That we’d all committed to never looking back. She said I am Allie Wright and the past doesn’t matter.” She was very close to breaking down. “But it does. It does,” Allie finished in a whisper.

“God.” Nolan moved then, as if he couldn’t wait another minute. He scooped her out of her chair and returned to his, sitting with her on his lap, wrapped securely in his powerful arms. “Oh, damn, Allie. I wish I’d known.”

Her cheeks were wet when she pushed back enough to see his face. She had to ask. “Have I ruined everything?”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“RUINED EVERYTHING?” NOLAN cupped her face with one hand, wiping at the tears with his thumb. “Of course you haven’t. I’m the one who should be asking you that. I’ve been such a jackass. Demanding everything from you, not letting myself see what stress you were under.”

Her eyes shimmered, the dampness making them even more beautiful, like a pebble that came to life in the water. Droplets glittered on her dark lashes. For a long time, she searched his face as if she couldn’t understand—or believe—a word he’d said. And then she crumpled. She grabbed his shirt in both hands to anchor herself, buried her face in the crook of his neck and sobbed.

Nolan’s eyes stung, too. He’d done this to her. No, he thought on a burst of anger, not only him. The father and brother who had let her go as if she didn’t matter, the mother who by most standards had made the noble choice but who, in doing so, had unalterably damaged her daughter’s life.

He rocked Allie, his cheek pressed to the top of her head, and murmured nonsense meant to comfort. “It’s all right. Oh, sweetheart.