Chapter Twenty-Five

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Renn

I burst through the door and race into the house. Tate meets me in the hallway.

“ Go ,” I say, jamming my thumb over my shoulder. “Go to my house. Foxx took Blakely there.”

“You got it.”

He slaps my shoulder as he darts behind me.

Adrenaline is coursing through me.

“He called me a little whore and offered me a half a million dollars to let you go.”

Rage snakes through my veins like an old friend.

I jog down the corridor toward Bianca outside Dad’s office. Shouts filter from the room in front of her. Screeches of furniture being dragged against the floor. Voices shouting, growing louder the closer I get to them.

“What’s going on? Where’s Blakely?” Bianca asks, but I can’t hear her.

My heart is racing, my head spinning.

He tried to buy her off?

Called my wife a whore?

I want to be with Blakely … but I have to deal with this piece of shit first.

Ripley has Dad pinned against the wall, his forearm pressed against his neck. He shouts inches from Dad’s face. Despite his unfavorable position, Dad glares at my brother—unwilling to back down.

“I’m going to murder you,” I say, stepping into the room with Bianca at my heels.

Gannon cuts me off, blocking me from going any farther. Jason watches from the side, taking in the scenario before deciding which side to take—which side is right.

“Don’t make me do this, Gannon,” I say, clenching my fists. “This isn’t between us.”

Ripley looks over his shoulder and sees me. Slowly, he lets our father go.

“ Dammit ,” Dad hisses, sitting in his office chair like he didn’t just assault Blakely. Pompous, arrogant asshole . He adjusts his collar. His right eye starts to swell. “Get the hell out of my office. All of you.”

“Fuck you,” I seethe, shoving Gannon out of the way.

He steps in front of me again. “Stay calm, Renn.”

“Stay calm? Fuck that. I’m not staying calm until I kill that son of a bitch.”

Mom marches into the room, her heels clicking against the floor. She takes in the room, letting her gaze settle on my father for a searing moment before switching it to me.

“What happened? Don’t pussyfoot around it,” she says. “Tell me what happened in this room with Blakely.”

Ripley and I look at one another.

Our entire family, minus Tate, is surrounding us. Dad’s actions have changed the landscape between us all forever. Ripley and I know that. And we also know that the news will break our mother’s heart.

“That little bitch came in here and— oof .”

A commotion breaks out again as Ripley grabs our father by the front of his shirt, and I attempt to get by Gannon again.

“Stop it!” Mom shouts. “Renn, what happened?”

I glare at Dad. “You wanna know what happened? Your fucking husband called my wife a whore and offered her a half a million dollars to leave me.”

Bianca gasps. Gannon’s eyes go wide. Jason’s arms drop to his sides. Ripley shivers with anger.

Mom lifts her chin. Her throat bobs as she swallows.

I level my gaze with the man across the desk. “ If that’s not enough , he then tried to grab her and told her he was going to fuck her ass.”

Bianca covers her mouth. Mom’s momentarily blindsided but recovers quickly.

Dad glares at me.

I grin mercilessly. “ Run .”

I push my way through Gannon and lunge at my father. He slips against the leather as he tries to avoid my swing and falls to the floor. Ripley grabs him as I leap across the chair, ready to rip his throat out. Dad’s computer crashes to the floor at Ripley’s feet.

Gannon pulls on the back of my shirt. The fabric rips. He slides an arm around me and hauls me away from Ripley and Dad.

I pant, dragging in a lungful of air—seeing red.

“You can only save him for so long, Gannon,” I say, laughing angrily.

“I’m not saving him. I’m saving you .”

“ Please .” I spit the taste of blood at his feet. “No matter what you do, he’s not getting out of here alive.” I look at the old man over my shoulder. “You went too far. Too far. You’re done . How’s it feel to know you’re a dead man walking?”

Gannon side-eyes me but turns to Dad. “You give Renn hell every day about being an embarrassment to our family. And look at you. It’s you . I’m disgusted to be your son.”

Mom steps toward our father.

“Now, listen, Rory. Before you get all pissed off and jealous—”

Crack !

Her hand connects with the side of his face. He reaches up like he’s going to hit her back, but Ripley is quick to end that.

“How could you do this, Daddy?” Bianca asks.

Dad glares up at Ripley, then at Gannon. “Where is your loyalty, boys?”

“With Renn,” Ripley says, switching his attention to me. “He always has my back.”

I nod his way.

“What do you want to do, Mom?” Jason asks, giving me a look to be patient.

She pauses. “Let your father go, Ripley.”

Ripley releases his arm.

“You little shit,” Dad sneers. “You all get the hell out of my house.”

“Excuse me.” Mom laughs. “I’m not finished.” She looks over her shoulder. “Gannon, Jason, please keep your brother from going to jail. I’d love to see your father writhing in pain, but he’s done enough damage for one evening.”

“No. I’m not leaving here until he pays for what he did,” I say, clenching my fists.

Mom turns to me. “You need to take care of your wife. Let me take out the trash.” She looks at Bianca. “Will you help your father, please?”

“Do what?” she asks.

Mom turns toward the door. “Help him pack his shit.”

“Oh, Rory,” Dad says, blowing her off. “Stop it.”

Mom stops in the doorway and spins around. She takes in her family. Then she nods.

“I want you out of my house in twenty minutes. Take your car and clothes. The rest is mine.”

“Rory—”

“You will not disrespect my children. You will not talk to another woman like you spoke to Blakely, and you will not threaten anyone and expect me to sit back quietly. Did you forget who I am, Reid?”

He trembles with anger.

She smirks. “You came into this marriage with nothing. You’ll leave with nothing. I’ve let you slide by with your bullshit too long. Tonight, you crossed a line you won’t return from.”

“Where are you going?” he asks, as if he has the right to know. Bastard.

“I have a lot of calls to make.” She points at me. “Go home. I know you sent Tate, but …”

Blakely’s face flashes through my mind.

The tears rushing down her cheeks.

Her swollen wrist.

The pure destruction in her beautiful eyes.

“Make sure he leaves,” I say to Gannon. “Keep him away from Mom.”

“He won’t get near her. Don’t worry about that.”

“This isn’t over,” I say, looking at my father. “Mark my words.”

With that, I run to my car.

***

Blakely

“Yeah, Troy,” Foxx says softly on the other side of the door. “I need a medic to meet us at the airport to look at her hand. Pretty sure it’s broken.”

I glance down. I’m pretty sure it’s broken, too.

The side of my hand down to my wrist is swollen. The skin is tight and hot, and the pain is intense. When we got back to Renn’s, Foxx gave me a pain reliever, but it hasn’t kicked in yet.

Foxx helped me throw my clothes and toiletries into my suitcase. I made him take the llama, which irritated him. Many things irritate him, I’ve learned . And he tried to talk me out of leaving, but I refused to listen. That also went over well .

I can’t think clearly. I know my thoughts are jumbled, and I’m terrified I’ll say or do something I’ll regret later. I waffle back and forth between wanting to puke, needing Renn, and being swamped with embarrassment. How will I face his family?

“You will never fit in here. You are not a Brewer. You will never be a Brewer.”

Out of everything Reid spewed at me, that bothers me the most.

My eyes cloud with unshed tears.

Renn is a good man— a nice man . The kind of man I’ve been looking for all along. But maybe there’s some truth to what his father said. Maybe our worlds are too different for me to fit into his.

Maybe that’s why he didn’t tell me about his contract.

Maybe that’s why he’s been acting so differently today.

Maybe he realized I’m not worth the hassle. I’m not worth the fight.

“He might be weak—deluded from fucking you—but he has Brewer blood in his veins.”

Maybe he got swept up in the sex and novelty … and remembered this isn’t real. And, if he did, my heart will shatter beyond recognition.

“If either of us start to develop real feelings for each other … Then we walk away immediately. No questions asked.”

I look at myself in the mirror. “There’s a reason you made that rule. Trust yourself, Blakely.”

I take a final look around his bathroom and his bedroom. Then I step into the hall.

Foxx looks at me with his brows pulled together. Tate stands next to him.

“Stay, Blakely,” Tate says. “Renn will fix this. You gotta stay.”

“Tate … I can’t.”

“Yes, you can.” He steps closer. “We’re family. Families work their shit out. Come back with me and let us … well, we’ll probably have to clean up Dad’s blood first. Then we can talk.”

“We’re family. Families work their shit out.”

I wish that were true. I wish I really was a member of their family. But this whole marriage is a farce. And they don’t know. If they did, they’d want me gone as well.

Renn and I never chose to be husband and wife. Not really.

My shoulders fall.

At the end of the day, when it’s all boiled down—that’s the truth.

This marriage was built on a lie.

Lies always fall apart.

“Foxx, I’m ready,” I say. “Tate, thank you for coming here. I’m … sorry for tonight.”

He pulls me into a hug. “No, don’t be sorry. This isn’t on you.” He pulls back and looks me in the eye. “If you need to go think, go think. But take Foxx because I can’t deal with Renn if I tell him you left alone.” He grins. “But think and then come back. Come home. I need someone to team up with me. You seem cool. It can be us against Renn and Bianca.”

My cheeks are damp again, and my heart burns.

I just want to go home.

Except … I don’t have one.

“Let’s go,” I say, heading for the garage. “Goodbye, Tate.”

“No.”

I stop and look at him.

He smiles. “I’ll see you soon.”

My tears fall harder as I enter the garage, climb into Foxx’s SUV, and am whisked to the airport.