Reaching Answers (Artemis University #8) - Erin R Flynn Page 0,73

come the night I’d been abducted like that. To me, that was bigger than any fight or issue we’d had.

He didn’t have much of an answer besides he was trapped in darkness, and he’d heard White say there had been a blowup with the Moore family, and Zack and Ray had lost me. He had thought when he wasn’t in the headspace to hear much that they didn’t like me and I’d taken off. He’d thought he was the last person to try and chase after me and he couldn’t even help himself then.

How could he help me?

I understood but I didn’t, so it was best to leave it alone and try to forgive him for the mistake. It wasn’t malice or him being a dick, but a bad mistake because he’d been buried in his own shit.

Who hadn’t been there?

“But my mum sat me down and gave me my da’s stationary set and told me to write letters to him. I got mad that it was stupid and he wouldn’t see them, and I think that was the first time she was a 100% pissed at me and at her limit. She said, ‘If you don’t think he would find a way to check in on us and see what you’re writing him, then you didn’t ever deserve his love because we were everything to him.’”

“What did you do?”

“I started crying and writing, blubbering that I was sorry she was mad at me,” he admitted with a chuckle. “I did it because she wanted me to, but then I kept doing it for me. I didn’t show her at first, but once I got past some of the anger, that energy out, I realized I had real questions and issues I wanted to talk about. That was the point she wanted me to reach.

“Unfortunately, the answers didn’t make things better and scared the shite out of me, but I wasn’t angry at my da anymore. I was angry with the rest of the Craftsman family and the universe for taking my da from us.” He rubbed his hand over his neck when I gave him a confused glance. “My da set up a lot to protect us should he die.

“That lovely git you’ve met now walked right into the attorney’s office and said he would bury the man if he did any of what my da wanted, and the man’s family right next to him. He cheated and broke so many laws, I lost count. All to fuck my mum and keep me within reach. Even after I gave up my trust to break free, it was only in name, and he laughed later I was an idiot who gave up the money for nothing as he owned us.”

I snorted. “That’s not being an idiot. Taking the money was allowing yourself to be whored out for what he wanted, how he wanted. You drew a line in the sand that he broke the rules to keep coming at you. You weren’t complicit in any of the games or bullshit the moment you gave back the money.”

“This is why I love you so much,” he whispered, that love thick in his eyes when I looked at him. It shocked me, and he seemed to comprehend I didn’t understand. “Most wouldn’t see it that way, Tamsin. Most would think I was an idiot for not taking the money if I was going to get fucked anyways. I might as well have gotten the money and comfort instead of scholarships and traps with the previous headmaster.”

I shrugged. “They were in it together, and their punishment wasn’t enough for all they did. It will be one day.”

His eyes went wide. “One day?”

I nodded. “One day.” I shrugged when he tried to push. He wouldn’t have a problem with what I had planned, but there was no reason to talk about it since it wouldn’t be anytime soon.

But one day, I was taking that man and the whole Craftsman family down for what they had done to Julian alone. That was the one good thing I felt about learning of my lineage.

I had the power to punish a lot of bad people. Legally.

And I fucking would.

With a big, fat, glorious smile.

16

“Um, can I use your bathroom?” I asked when I was done eating and everything was cleaned up.

“Of course.” He stopped what he was doing and moved to show me the way. It was sweet, but there weren’t a lot of options of where