RUSH (Montgomery Men #1) - C.A. Harms Page 0,75

know that no matter what you have to tell him, he will love you the same if not more because you confided in him.

Unconditional love is what I want for you. The way I’ve loved you your entire life.

It’s time to live, my sweet girl.

It is time to let go of all the things you believed were for the best and go after your own happiness.

And once you find it, promise me you’ll hold on tight and treasure every single precious moment of it.

I love you so very much, and I don’t want you to be alone. I can assure you I’ll be watching over you, waiting for that smile of yours. That same smile that has brightened some of my darkest days.

Both your mother and I will be smiling right along with you.

With my love always,

Dad

My entire body shook with deep sobs. The tears rolled along my cheeks and dripped onto the paper below as I continued to stare at my father’s words.

“He knew,” I whispered. “I always thought I hid it so well.”

“He loved you,” Ashton said in a soothing voice and he softly rubbed my back. “You can’t hide anything from someone when they love you that deeply.”

My throat felt raw and my body felt weak, and if I could find a dark place to hide in away from everyone and everything, I would. I’d take my father’s letter with me and cry this whole thing out for days. But crying really wasn’t my thing. I’d learned over the years that it only gave Jase what he wanted, so I refrained from doing it. But now I just wanted to mourn my father, to hold on to this piece of him, because I had nothing else.

“I don’t even know where my father is buried,” I confessed. “Or if he was even given a proper burial.” Ashton continued to rub my back as silence settled over us. “And the worst thought is, what if he wasn’t even buried? What if Jase just disposed of his ashes?”

I’d thought of that possibility often. Jase would be cruel enough to do something unthinkable like that to punish me for whatever I’d done wrong in his warped mind.

My heart literally ached within my chest.

“I’m gonna make a promise to you right now,” Ashton said as he lifted my chin and forced me to look at him. “I’m gonna find out what happened after he passed. I’m gonna make sure you get the closure you should have been given long ago. Trust me when I tell you that I’m doing everything I can to make this heartache and darkness go away.”

I nodded because at this point I couldn’t speak. My throat burned with sadness.

“I want to be that man your father was referring to in his letter,” Ashton confessed. “I want to give you the happiness he wished for you. Because, baby, I love you, and knowing you’ve been hurt and are still hurt from all of this breaks me.”

I closed my eyes to fight off the tears, but they rolled over my cheeks anyway. Yet before they could fall from my face, Ashton swept them away with his thumb. Then he kissed me, and for a brief moment all the pain that lay heavy on my chest faded, only to return when he pulled back and pressed his forehead to mine.

“I’m gonna give you all the things you deserve and more,” he promised. “He’s done hurting you.”

From the way he spoke those words, I knew he meant them. The intensity in his voice gave me the chills as a side of Ashton I was still unfamiliar with showed its face.

ASHTON

EVERY WORD SHE SPOKE AND every move she made showed me Kinsley had been crushed by what I’d shown her. And it gutted me that I’d taken her beauty and turned it into sadness.

And that pissed me off.

I should feel bad for the way I was treating the people around me, but I didn’t. Nothing was coming fast enough or getting done the way I needed it to be.

I wanted results.

I wanted that son of a bitch to be in a fucking cell begging for his freedom. Only he was living in a fancy house in Miami like a goddamn king. And the girl I loved had become a walking zombie, just going through the motions of the day.

I’d never fucking felt this out of control.

The ringing of my cell phone pulled my out of my near panic attack. Knoxville’s name appearing on