Page 27 of Merger

Dad started to turn red under his skin. "What are you talking about? That's my house."

"Correction, Dad, that is now my house. Now, I'm inclined to let you live there for as long as you choose to do so, but from now on, I'm going to allow Clarissa to do whatever she wants with the house. Morgan too. The two of them shall decide, since they'll be spending the majority of the time there. Not you. You’ll make no more decisions about what can and cannot be changed. No more decisions about who can come and go. No more decisions about staff. All of those will be made by Clarissa from now on."

"How dare you? I raised you. I put a roof over your head."

I lifted a finger and waived it at him. "No, technically, grandfather put a roof over my head. But I will give you this; you maintained it. And for a while there, Mom loved you. And from what I remember, you loved her too. I get that it changed you when she died. But what I don't get is how you could look at us, knowing we needed our mother, knowing we needed you, and yet you refused to help us. You just poured yourself into your job, into the most expensive bottles of scotch you could find, and replaced my mother like you were trading cars. Thank God we got lucky with Clarissa, but you turned yourself off. You stopped caring. And maybe you never loved me as much as you loved Morgan, but I know that you did love me once. You took me riding when I was little. I remember that. I remember you holding me on my first pony. When I fell, you came over and held me, firmly but gently, and told me I needed to get back on so that I wouldn't be afraid. You did care. You were just… absent in so many ways. So you can live there as long as you want. You're my dad, after all. But the fact that you were so eager to sell off your daughters makes me less inclined to help you at all."

"Now wait a damn minute, you cannot do this. That is my house."

Atticus pushed to his feet then. "I think we're done here. Gwen has already told you everything you need to know, and she has the benefit of Pendragon lawyers behind her. You'll find that everything is in order. The house is hers. And she's already told you how it's going to be. So you should probably start getting on good terms with your current wife."

Atticus reached his hand out to me, and I smiled up at him, taking it and getting to my feet. "Dad, I hope that one day you recognize the pain and the heartache you put me through for no good reason, though I know it’s unlikely. But you know, a girl can’t help but dream. And even if you somehow stopped loving me, I do love you. Atticus and I will see you for dinner on Friday."

When I walked out of the conference room, I didn't realize I was shaking until Atticus rubbed gentle circles into my lower back. "How are you doing?" he asked in a quiet voice.

"Um, I feel like I just ran half a mile, flat out."

"Well, that was emotional. So that about covers it."

We nodded at several employees before he pulled me into the stairwell and tucked my face into his chest. He wrapped his arms around me, holding me tight. "You're going to be okay, Gwen."

"I know. I expected that to hurt, to feel something. But all I feel is numb."

"That's probably to be expected. You just did a hard thing. But now it's over, and you only have to see him on your terms from here on out."

"I'm not sure I could have done that without you."

He shrugged. "You didn't really need me."

"Yeah, I did. But I will say it felt damn good. Wait till I tell Clarissa that she can do whatever she wants with the house. She's been itching to redo that study for years."

"Good for her. And that’s really generous of you."

"She's my stepmother. I may not have grown up with her because I was almost out of the house by the time she came to live with us, but she's been good with Morgan. And my father is an asshole to her. She doesn't deserve that."

"I wholeheartedly agree." He pressed a kiss to my temple. "Now, let's just go and verify that he can't find some way to retaliate."

13

Atticus

Gwen had made herself scarce once I told her the boys were coming around. I assumed she was in the library or the bedroom.

When Pierce showed up with Lance in tow, I frowned. "I swear to God, I'll send you back to London, Lakewood."

Lance just grinned and shrugged. "Nope. Apparently, someone tried to kill my best friend, and I should probably stick around until that’s cleared up."

I hated that he was right. While Gwen was in danger, keeping close the people who cared about her and would do their best to protect her was what we needed.

"Are you here for me or for her?"

"Well, I was here to see her. And I will. But Pierce told me that you guys were up to no good, so I figured I should probably check in and make sure you don't blow up her life first."

I ground my teeth. "I still don't like you Lakewood."

"What else is new? But you're currently the guy who's supposed to make sure she doesn't get whacked. I have to check in and make sure you do your job right."

I glowered at Pierce. "Did you have to bring him up?"

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