Insatiable (Steel Brothers Saga #12) - Helen Hardt Page 0,80
telling me to believe Colin and Booker. To give them the benefit of the doubt. They’d both been victims of the man who’d fathered me, and though I wasn’t guilty of anything, I felt some responsibility. I wanted to see them heal. They might see my father when they looked at me, but I wasn’t my father. I knew that now, and I could prove it to his last victims.
Booker would never again be the innocent little boy he once was, but maybe he could live a good life. Maybe he and Colin both could.
Marj took my hand, entwining our fingers together. “I agree with Bryce.”
Joe seethed, his jaw tight and tense.
“Please,” I said. “I can’t erase what my father did to them, but I can let them go in peace.”
Joe raked his fingers through his dark hair. He didn’t speak, but finally, he gave a slight nod.
“I just want to see Jade,” Colin said once more. “Only for a minute. To say goodbye.”
Marj sent a quick text. “She says to go on in. She’s in the bedroom.”
True to his words, Colin didn’t stay inside for long. Within ten minutes, he’d returned.
Marj hugged Colin.
Booker didn’t hold out his hand. Neither did Joe or I.
Some things were just too hard.
As they walked to their car and then drove away, I kissed the top of Marjorie’s head and whispered, “Vaya con Dios.”
Then my phone buzzed.
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Marjorie
Bryce pulled his phone out of his pocket. He showed his phone to Joe.
“Damn.” Joe shoved his hands into his pocket.
“What is it?” I asked.
“We need to get the whole family together. Except for Melanie and the baby. I’ll talk to her myself.”
I gulped. “You guys are scaring me. What is it?”
Bryce pulled me into his embrace. “It’s okay, honey. It’s not bad news.”
I blinked.
Then I blinked again.
No. No. Couldn’t be.
“Motherfucker,” Ryan said slowly.
The boys were outside with the new housekeeper and nanny Talon and Jade had hired. Only the adults sat in the formal living room of the main house.
The adults.
And a ghost.
The ghost of my father.
Sounds buzzed around me. Talon yelling. Ryan yelling. Joe yelling. Bryce trying to calm everyone down.
Then only two words emerged from the cacophony of chaos.
“Baby girl.”
The voice. The voice that had comforted me as a little girl. That had scolded me, told me to work harder. That had apologized for leaving me only months ago. That had uttered its last words in this very house…
Not one word escaped my throat.
Because this wasn’t happening. It just wasn’t.
I couldn’t deal with this. My scar itched and sizzled. Itched and sizzled. Itched and—
Then blackness descended around me.
“I think she’s coming around.”
Gentle hands wiped a cool cloth over my forehead.
“Marj? Honey?”
Bryce. I reached for him.
My rock.
My heart.
My everything.
Bryce would help me. Bryce would tell me I was seeing a ghost and nothing more.
“It’s okay,” he said in a soothing deep voice. “Everything is okay, sweetheart. Can you sit up?”
I nodded and attempted to pull myself up. Where was I? I quickly recognized my bedroom. I’d been in the dining room, hadn’t I? No, the living room. How had I gotten here?
“What happened?”
“You fainted, baby.”
Fainted? I’d never fainted in my life. Fainting was for girls.
“Where is everyone? Tal? Joe? Ryan? Jade?”
“They’re all fine. They’re still here. I told them I’d take care of you.” He smiled. “In fact, I want to take care of you for the rest of your life.”
A proposal? My mind was muddled. Was Bryce proposing to me in my bedroom when I couldn’t yet think straight?
“I…”
“You don’t have to say anything.”
“I thought…”
My father.
My father’s body. My father’s face. My father’s voice.
But that was impossible. He was dead.
I’d watched him die in this very house months ago.
“Easy, baby. You okay?”
My head spun a little as I gazed into Bryce’s sparkling blue eyes. Such love was reflected there. Love for me.
I was the luckiest woman in the world.
“My fa… I saw him. I heard his voice.”
“Yes, honey. You did.”
No. Couldn’t be. Couldn’t be.
“I didn’t. I didn’t. He’s dead.”
Bryce cupped my cheek. “He’s alive. And he has a story to tell. But he’s not staying long.”
I melted into Bryce’s arms, tears welling in my eyes.
Should I be angry? Happy? Surprised?
I didn’t know. Myriad emotions bubbled through me, weakening me.
I didn’t like to feel weak.
Weakness was for girls.
Not for a Steel.
“Do you want to see him?”
“Bryce, why? Why would he…?”
“He had his reasons. Again. But the reasons no longer exist. He’ll tell you everything.”