“It’s not your mother,” he says. “But here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to let her get on a plane. We’re going to let her come here. You’re going to do what you said and get her to talk, really talk.”
“What if she really blames you? What if she tries to—”
“She’ll fail,” Grayson says. “Eric’s strong. He can handle accusations. So can we. I had my share at one point when an enemy came at me. Eric stood by me. I’m standing by him.”
The cellphone in my hand rings with Blake’s number. Eric takes the phone from me and talks to Blake. I listen as they make arrangements to follow my mother, even on the flight she booked, but not let her know they’re watching. He disconnects and focuses on me. “You’re right. She’s how we end this. I feel that. Every instinct I own says your mother is the path to the end.”
“I don’t like what I’m thinking.”
“I know, baby. I know.” He strokes my hair and eyes Grayson. “Harper and I need—”
“To get the hell out of here,” Grayson supplies. “We’re done here.” He glances at Harper. “I’m looking forward to you showing up here on Monday, and claiming an office for your own. I’ll let HR know you’ll be stopping by.”
I don’t decline the offer. “I’ll be a good investment,” I promise. “You’ll never feel like I’m inherited luggage.”
“I’ve already seen enough to know that to be a fact,” Grayson assures me.
“As have I,” Davis concurs.
“Me three on that one,” Mia chimes in, and rushes over to hug me, whispering, “You’re good for him. Hang on tight.”
I nod, and I swear I could tear up again because it feels like I need to hang on. It feels like everyone is trying to rip us apart. We hurry out of the office and Eric leads me down the hallway into his office, where he shuts the door, and in a blink, I’m against the hard surface and he’s in front of me, his hands on my waist.
“You didn’t doubt me at all.” It’s not a question. It’s a statement.
“Of course I didn’t doubt you.”
“But you doubted your mother, who you came to me to save?”
“Yes. I—I think—Eric—” My eyes burn all over again, a hollow spot I’ve denied inside me opening wider, refusing to be ignored. “I think I lost her when I lost my father. I just didn’t want to admit it.”
He cups my cheeks and steps into me, tilting my face to his. “I know you need her.”
“I need the woman I used to know. She’s not herself anymore.”
“You need her. Just like I needed my fucking father, despite the fact that I hated him. We’ll try to save her. We won’t give up.”
“What I need,” I say, emotion welling in my chest, my hands gripping his wrists, “is you and us. I can’t—”
“You will not lose me,” he says, reading my mind in that way he does, in a way no one else can. “And I will not lose you. Say it.”
“I will not lose you and you will not lose me.”
“That’s right, baby. Don’t forget that. No matter what comes next, don’t forget that.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Harper
A sea of sharks.
A sea of emotions with shark fins, and sharper teeth.
That’s what it’s like to find out that my mother is a part of this hell we?
?re living inside. “Let’s go pick out your office,” Eric says, stroking my cheek. “That way, come Monday you’ll feel like you have your own place here. You’ll feel like you have feet on the ground.”
“I’d rather go home, and have you line up your cubes, and then give me a brilliant, insightful plan to deal with my mother being a complete bitch.” I can’t help it. This is eating me alive. “She was why I stayed.”