feel small. He loved us equally, although we all knew his little girl was the apple of his eye. Still, Rebecca is chipping away at the wall I have built around my heart and I can’t let her. I’m never going to be played again. “She could have told us.”
“To have you guys turn on her like you have today? What good would that have done for you or her?”
“Why did she do it?” Jaxon asks, stepping closer. “If she was estranged from her father, why would she help him?”
Rebecca gives him a twisted smile. “Well, I’m glad you asked because I was just getting to the good part.
“In such a short time, she’s gone from finishing her degree and caring for her mum to putting her mum into a care home. If that wasn’t bad enough, the job she took to keep up with bills… the company fired her from out of nowhere. Can you guess why?”
She’s no longer looking at Jaxon but at me. “Andrew. He made sure she was fired so she had no other option but to turn up to the interview he set up for her at Hayes Removals.”
“We didn’t hire her,” Eli murmurs, listening intently to the story. Because that’s all it is. At least, I think it is. “Not at first anyway.”
“No, you didn’t, and you have no idea how relieved she was when she didn’t get the job. When you called her to offer her the job, she didn’t see the harm because as far as Andrew was concerned, she hadn’t got it. Somehow, he found out.”
“And?” I drawl.
She watches me for a few moments before taking a step back. “You never deserved her, and you aren’t owed an explanation. You’re a fucking dickhead.”
My feet are pushing me forward before I can even think about it. “No, you started something, now finish it. I mean, that’s why you’re here, isn’t it? She’s told you to come tell us some sob story. What, will daddy cut her off if she doesn’t pay up?”
Her lip curls. “She wouldn’t spit on him if he were on fire, so as far as taking something from him, she’d rather jump off a cliff. As for you, you can fuck off.”
I push the car door closed before she can fully open it, getting in her face. “Why the fuck did she do it?” I roar, finally needing those answers.
Her gaze searches mine before she takes in a stuttering breath. “Family means everything to you, right? I mean, you’d die for each and every one of them.”
“Yes,” I bite out, not looking to who she’s pointing at. I know my family are all there. “I’d do anything to protect them, even if it’s from her.”
“You don’t need protection from her,” she scoffs. “She never wanted to hurt you.”
“Then what about the fire?” Jaxon fires off.
“He took her mum,” she blurts out, throwing her hands in the air. “He had power over her care, and when he found out he could use it to get to Evie, he moved her into another home. He threatened to keep her from seeing her mum, and he did. More than once. I’ve witnessed her refuse to help him, but he threatened to have her mum hurt. She loves her mum. Evie doesn’t see how she grew up being second best as wrong. She dotes and adores her mum. She is the only family she has. All she’s known. And he took her. She thought if she could give him useless information and not the material he really wanted, it would keep him happy long enough for her to find a way to take over her mother’s care. She never wanted to hurt any of you and has lost a great deal to make sure nothing happened. She’s the victim, not you.”
“My wife and brothers were nearly burnt to a crisp, one was stabbed,” Jaxon snaps, yet the harshness from before has disappeared.
“She didn’t know she sent that information. It was sent by mistake when he was hassling her. She regretted it as soon as she figured it out.”
“Do you really expect us to believe this?” I ask, thinking the entire thing is ludicrous.
“I don’t care what you believe,” she snidely remarks. “It’s the truth. He’s taken so much from her. So much. And I thought you’d be different since you knew what he was like. But you didn’t even give her a chance, something she was scared would happen. I forced her not