My hands balled at my sides, fingernails digging into my palms. “You won’t get away with this shit,” I said in a low voice. “We all know you did it.”
“No, Jax. You were right from the start. Kinsey Holland is a damaged young lady who decided to avenge her father after being fed a diet of lies by him during her childhood.” Dad stepped closer and lowered his voice so that no one in the foyer could hear him except me. “Sheseducedme. I was weak and couldn’t resist. She told me she wanted me to come and see her at night while she slept. She said it was what she liked, and I think she must have drugged herself so that those awful substances would be in her bloodstream when you took her to get tested.” He paused for a beat, slowly shaking his head. “The whole thing was a setup designed to destroy my life. That girl is just like her traitorous father. A carbon copy.”
“Bullshit,” I snarled. “You’re a sick fuck, and you’ll be back in prison soon. I’ll make sure of it.”
Dad lifted a palm. “Jax, I’m very hurt by what you’ve done to me, but I’m willing to talk it out and work on our relationship. I’m even willing to forgive you.”
My eyes bulged. “You’rewilling to forgiveme?”
“Yes. You were sucked in by that girl’s malicious lies. I know it’s not your fault.” He lay a hand on my shoulder and smiled. “I’m willing to forgive your naivety and move on.”
I clenched my teeth and shook his hand off. “Go fuck yourself.”
Dad sighed deeply. “I’ve raised you for eighteen years, Jax. Eleven of them on my own after your mother left. Youknowme. You know I’m not a monster.”
“I don’t know that at all,” I said. “In fact, I’d say I know the complete opposite.”
He rubbed his forehead and let out another wounded sigh. “How can you choose to believe some girl you’ve only known for a few months over me?” he asked. “A girl who is most likely mentally unstable, I might add, to the point where she’s the prime suspect in the savage murder of an old friend of yours.”
“Kinsey is innocent,” I said stiffly.
Dad rolled his eyes upward and shook his head. “You’re making a big mistake in choosing to believe her. You’ll come to realize that one day.”
“I doubt that,” I said thinly. I turned to look over my shoulder at Anna. “I’m going with her when she leaves. I’m not staying here with you.”
On the other side of the foyer, Anna finished zipping up a suitcase and pulled the handle out of the top. She hooked her other arm through a duffel bag handle and took three steps toward me and Dad. “You’re very welcome to join me and Kinsey, Jax,” she said in a tremulous tone, giving me a watery smile.
Dad lifted his palm again. “Now, hold on. Anna doesn’t have to leave. Neither do you, Jax.”
Anna’s eyes widened. “You can’t be serious. Of course I’m leaving!”
“But I’m saying you don’t have to,” Dad replied. “And you certainly don’t have to pack up and leave in the middle of the night.”
Anna dropped the duffel bag and suitcase handle, nostrils flaring. “I don’t have a choice,” she said, crossing her arms. “I’m not letting my daughter stay in this house with you. Not even for a second.”
“Calm down, Anna. We can sit down and—”
“Donottell me to calm down!” she shouted. “And don’t try to stop me from leaving, either!”
Dad exhaled deeply and took a step backward. “All right,” he said. “You can do whatever you want. I’m not going to take you prisoner.”
Anna drew herself up to her full height. “I hope the revenge you got against my dead ex-husband was worth ruining my daughter’s life over,” she said in a low voice. “Mine too.”
“Anna, please listen to me. This is all a big misunderstanding.”
“A misunderstanding?” she shrieked. Her right hand whipped through the air. “You mother—”
Before she could finish the sentence or land the slap on Dad’s face, Maeve stepped between the two of them and grabbed her wrist. “We’ll have none of that, thank you very much,” she said, giving Anna a stern look. “Just take your things and put them in the car, please.”
Anna lowered her arm and picked up the suitcase handle. “Goodbye, George. I’ll see you in court,” she said, voice laced with venom. “Soon, I hope.”
With that, she stalked out the front door, wheeling the case behind her.
Erin and I stepped over to the other side of the foyer and picked up two of the other cases. Maeve joined us. I glared at her. “What the hell?” I hissed. “You’re defending Dad now?”
“Of course not,” she whispered. “But I’ve worked for him for over twenty years, and I know how petty he can be. I didn’t want Anna to wind up with an assault charge.”
“That’s a good point,” Erin said. “She has enough on her plate right now.”