he said by way of hello. “Seems she was mistaken.”
“I have been doing well.” I lightly closed the door. “Haven’t touched a drop in weeks, but I’m surprised to hear you were concerned. I didn’t get that impression since you didn’t bother to encourage therapy, rehab, or even talk about my issues at all except to highlight why they prove I’m a failure.”
The colonel’s blank expression didn’t twitch. “I was not concerned. It was your problem and yours alone to deal with. When will you learn no one is responsible for you but yourself?”
“I learned that at twelve. You made sure of it.” Stuffing my hands in my pockets, I leaned on the door. “What are you doing here?”
He sniffed. “Rosalie insisted I come. Preston shot. Carter shot. And that girl abducted and beaten. She felt you needed my support, and was most insistent.”
“She really is a force of nature, isn’t she?” I laughed. “Getting you to come here to check on me? I’m tempted to ask if blackmail or bribery was involved.”
Orion’s lips curled. “Don’t you dare use that tone with me.”
“Oh look, the grandpa-grandson bonding is over. Shame.” I cracked open the door. “You can go now.”
He reddened like I told him to leave by the balcony instead of the door.
“Ungrateful, spoiled brat. I flew all the way here to call on your friends and bring you home, and this is the welcome I get? You have no respect. No discipline. And no common sense. You three were fools chasing after that man with nothing but a flare gun,” he spat. “Your idea, I’m sure. Carter and Preston are good sons from good families, and you almost got them killed. Is it any wonder I treat you as I do?”
I listened impassively, and answered the same.
“You treat me as you do because you’re a racist.”
“Excuse me?!” he sputtered. “How dare you?! I am no such—”
“Save it,” I sliced in. “Didn’t think Mom would tell me, did you? Maybe she wouldn’t have if things had been different, but we’ve always talked, and Alzheimer’s hasn’t changed that. One night, she told me the full story of the day she brought the love of her life home. How her father took one look at him and said a ‘nappy-headed thug would marry my daughter over my dead body.’ She didn’t forget to mention you sending the police after them.”
Orion’s face went slack—jowls bleached of color. He hadn’t thought I knew about that day.
He opened his mouth. “Things are said in the heat of the moment—”
“What moment?” I cocked my head. “The moment you send your daughter to an island to find a wealthy husband and she comes back with one? That’s what you wanted, wasn’t it? So, why wasn’t it a happy moment?”
His chest heaved. The colonel always had something to say. He was always larger in the face of me. Not today.
“Vanessa did not recall that night in its entirety,” he finally said. “She has dementia, Nathaniel. You should know better than to take everything she says at face value.”
I quirked a brow. “That’s what you’re going with? Seriously?”
“I am not a racist,” he snapped. “A racist wouldn’t have taken you in. Provided for you. Given you the best education money could buy. I have been there for you.”
“You abused me.” The sentence fell from my lips, taking a great, heavy burden with it. “Emotionally and verbally. You’d bellow for hours that I was an embarrassment. A waste of blood and oxygen, and I should have been on that boat with my father. You’ve fired anyone that stood between you and me, and you’ve been tirelessly fighting to cut me out of my mother’s life, so I’d finally be gone for good.”
“Nathan—”
“No. No!” I shouted. “I talk now, you bastard! For once, you’re going to listen!”
Orion fell silent.
“I’ve seen what a real family is,” I said. “Families who give up everything for each other. Who are supportive even when they don’t agree with their choices. Who love each other unconditionally. Belle’s father watched his life fall apart and his first thought was to protect her. Her mother got herself kicked out of a wedding, defending an outfit she didn’t even like. While you have never said a kind word about me to anyone. Ever.”
I shrugged. “That’s sad. It was for me and every kid that wanted a family and got an abuser instead. But you know what? It’s you I feel sorry for. You wanted a family molded, cut, and