you, her family is fucking crazy. I wouldn’t be surprised if your dad is found dead in the woods soon. I heard Hayden, one of the Carter triplets, murdered a cop in the woods not that long ago.”
I scoff. “She didn’t.” I met her. She seemed… “Did she?”
Lifting her hands, she shrugs. “Who knows, but it’s her dad I wouldn’t trust.”
“Oh God, they’re going to kill me by association. It’s all my fault, and although I didn’t light the petrol bombs, I’m still involved. They could have died. Reid was stabbed,” I tell her, feeling hysterical.
“You haven’t done anything wrong. You weren’t to know.”
“I knew my biological father is an asshole. I knew that.”
“Everyone knows that; so are his son and daughter. You got lucky and followed your mum in personality. They had evil from both parents.”
“What am I going to do?” I whine. “I’ve lied to them too much. How do I get out of this?”
“When you’re ready to. If they don’t see what a good person you are, or hear you out when the time comes, they’re just arseholes. But we don’t care what they think. As for your dad, forge the information he wants. It will fuck his business up. He wants clients or whatever taken from the Hayes family, then why not take his clients from him.”
“And how am I meant to do that?”
“Well, you have an amazing best friend whose dad just so happens to own the golf club Andrew attends. We can go to his office, pretend to be dropping something off so his receptionist doesn’t question us, and then we can search his office. Maybe if we can do more damage to his business, he will focus all his attention on that and not on you and the Hayes family.”
“You don’t think it’s too risky? What about Mum? He could take her away from me.”
“I’m going to look into it. There’s always a loophole. Don’t let him ruin your life or happiness, Evie. You were forced to take shit off his kids most of your life, without him even acknowledging you. He can’t come in now and give orders.”
She’s right. If it wasn’t for Rebecca getting transferred during year ten, I’d never have survived. Sebastian and Katherine made my life hell, especially since they knew who I was. I was the daughter of an affair their dad had with my mum, which meant they instantly hated me for it. Didn’t matter that my mum hadn’t known Dad was married at the time or that he strung her along. My mum was in love with him. How? That’s something I’ll never understand. She’s naïve and kind, loving and generous, but whenever it came to Andrew Black, she was selfish because she always put him before others. Including her own daughter, who I know she loved and adored. He took years of my childhood the day he left. My mum spent six years hoping he would leave his wife, which he never did. The day his wife found out about Mum and me, he ended things with my mum. From there, my mum became a shell of a person. He broke her and didn’t care a single bit.
“I know,” I whisper.
“Which is why you can’t let him win. I want you to be happy, Evie. If you like this guy, go for it. Don’t let Andrew keep holding you back.” She pauses, taking a breath. “You’re a good person, Evie. Too good. Which is why I say this with as much love as possible: your mum is a bitch for putting you in this position.”
“Becca,” I exhale sharply.
“No, I’m not saying she was a bad mum, or that she deserves to be ill—she doesn’t—but she spent years loving a man who didn’t love her back. She knew he wouldn’t leave his wife; she had to. She let him walk all over her, but worse, she let him treat you like you were nothing. Don’t let him string you along like he did your mum.”
“I’m not,” I snap defensively, because it hurts that she’s right. “I’m going to do what you said: give out fake information or lie and say there’s nothing new or I can’t access it.”
“I’ll help you in any way I can. Now, with a plan in place, do you feel better?”
“Yeah,” I admit, sagging against my chair.
“Good. Now that’s sorted, let’s get fucked up, because guess who just walked in looking sexy as sin.”
“What?” I ask, turning to the door. My jaw