A bitter laugh explodes out of me. “You have always found me to be lacking, but I have something you never will have.”
“A heart?” His mocking smirk deserves to be punched.
“A life worth living.” I walk away. The heaviness pressing against my chest lessens with each step in the opposite direction.
“I have a life worth living,” he calls out with an air of desperation bleeding into his voice.
“Then enjoy it while it lasts.”
Once Declan becomes CEO and we all earn our shares of the company, my father will become the one thing he spent his entire life making sure I felt.
Insignificant.
I wait until I get in my car to call Lana. I’m not optimistic about her answering, but I hold my breath.
The pit in my stomach only stretches with each ring. My finger hovers over the red end call button, but I stop myself at the sound of her voice.
“Cal?” Lana’s slight rasp tugs at my chest.
God. I missed the sound of her voice.
“Lana.”
“You’re out,” she says before a door shuts on her end of the call.
“Yeah. Just left this morning.”
“How was it?”
“The closest I ever hope to get to jail.”
Her laugh is soft yet eases the tension in my shoulders better than any massage.
“How are you?” I ask before thinking against it.
“Fine.”
“And how’s our girl?”
The silence following my question is unbearable, but I refrain from filling it. There is nothing I won’t do to show her that I want her and Cami, even if it means reminding her every chance I get.
Lana releases a heavy breath. “She misses you.”
My chest tightens. “How about you?” It’s a stupid question, yet I can’t stop myself from asking it.
“I’ve missed you too.” She whispers it like a dirty confession.
I didn’t realize how much I needed to hear those words from her until she said them.
“I plan on coming home.”
“When?” Her voice has a certain edge to it.
“I’m not sure.” I bite down on my tongue. Until I have my shit sorted out, I don’t want to return because Lana deserves better than that. She deserves the best I have to offer, and a twenty-four-hour sobriety chip isn’t going to cut it.
“Then why call?”
“Because I wanted to let you know that I’m going to find a way to make everything right.” Post-rehab me is motivated by a single goal: show Lana and Cami that I will spend the rest of my life proving how much I love them.