CHAPTER50
ZEKE
My adrenaline kicks up,clearing out my mind. Once Nova is behind me, I take in the entire situation. Lisa blocks the doorway with her tall frame. Her eyes burn with a mix of fear and anger, and her straight blonde hair catches my attention.
“You?” I say, the bits all falling to place. “I’ve seen you before.”
Everyone looks at me, and Lisa’s lips curve into a smile. She’s the woman who was driving by my house when I was talking to Jess. She’s the one from Christmas. She’s the woman from the bonfire that asked me if I was alone—the one I thought was Dru when all I had to go on was an accent.
“He’s smarter than he looks,” Lisa quips with a light, nervous laugh.
“Lisa?” Nova mutters, stepping out, and I reach my arm across her. I’m not letting her go a step further. “How?”
Tears begin to stream down Dru’s face as she also moves to put herself between Nova and Lisa. The fear-stricken look in Dru’s eyes from before flashes into my thoughts. Her words from the media room when I arrived.
You have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into. You have no idea who you’re fucking with.
“The picture?” I ask, now watching Dru.
“I was handling it.” Dru is almost incoherent. She squares her jaw, and her nose flares. “I was handling it, and I was going to stop it. She was going too far. She’s going too far.”
“And here I wasn’t aware a Forrester was capable of loyalty,” Lisa says with a casual wave of the gun that makes me flinch, yanking Nova behind me again, but she doesn’t stay there.
“Unless, of course, it was to make sure the money flowed back into their pockets.”
Cooper takes Dru by the shoulders, but Dru shrugs him off. “Lisa put the gun down, and let’s just talk,” Cooper says, glaring at Dru. They all seem to move in opposition to each other, and I suddenly realize why I feel off. This isn’t my family. My family is like a hive of bees or an army of ants. We instinctively know where to go, how to move, what to do when there’s danger.
Nova’s family is completely out of touch with each other, and it sets me on edge. God, I’d love it if Xan were here, or Pris. They’d have everyone organized in seconds with zero words. I can’t do that. I don’t know how to do that.
“This has been going on for a lot longer than you think, Nova.” Dru hisses, and I’m flung from my thoughts to the conversation. “It started with me. It was better than what she was going to do. It was better. I had to.”
Nova’s lip is clenched between her teeth, and her eyes are distant and unfocused. There’s so much more going on here than I realize. A history deeply baked into this family and Lisa’s role in it.
“I thought if you left for a while, it would help. That I could get it under control by playing into her game. Then she went after you, and I knew I needed you home. I couldn’t protect you if you were out there.”
“Lisa,” Ronnie pleads, “How could you? Why?”
“I have reasons. Reasons this family has destroyed my life. And I have every intention of destroying yours. It was working until he came into the picture.” She points the gun at me, and I freeze.
“Me?” I ask. “What did I do?”
“You fucked it all up,” Lisa snaps. “You made her happy.”
I tilt my head, desperately trying to understand these two opposing statements. Fucking things up is my talent, but by making her happy?
Lisa growls at my confusion, her posture agitated and her gaze zooming around the room as if she’s not sure what she’s going to do.
“She was using me to break Nova,” Dru says with a stiff breath and trembling lip. “I sabotaged her business. I started that. I sent the letter, and it was to protect Nova.”
“Protect me from what?” Nova sounds tired. Her shoulders are slumped, and her arms are wrapped around her stomach.
“From getting what you deserve.” Lisa shakes the gun, and I notice that Ronnie has made it to this side of the table. The entire Forrester family is on one side, Lisa blocking the door.
“What did I ever do to you?”
“That’s the thing about this family, Nova. You all are the most selfish, arrogant people I’ve ever met. I dedicated my life to this family. And you all took everything from me.”
“I gave you everything,” Ronnie demands, slipping her hand into Nova’s. “After your mother died, I took you in as my own.”