AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It’s all right,” Ella said. “I should get going anyway.”
“No!”
Ella met his blue gaze, dark with too many emotions. “You should talk to your dad,” she said. If she could get her brothers in the same room with their dad it would be a damn miracle. Mr. Prescott did the hard work by coming here, now Lucas just needed to take that tiny step. Maybe at the end, things would be better, or maybe they would be worse, but they would never know if they didn’t try.
“I have nothing to say to him,” Lucas growled.
Ella cupped his cheeks, looking deep into his eyes. “I think you do.”
“Ella?” Mr. Prescott said, and Ella dropped her hands back to her sides, turning to look at him. His eyebrows furrowed as he studied her face. “Ella as in Vinny Jr. and Maria’s daughter?”
“Yes,” she said.
Mr. Prescott let out a loud sadistic laugh. “You’re screwing a Moretti?” he said, turning to Lucas. “That’s low even for you.”
Lucas went at him, fists coming up, and Ella jumped in front of him, grabbing his hand and forcing it down. His jaw tightened, teeth grinding together. “Look at me,” Ella said and with an angry whip of his head, he did. “Stop.”
“He insulted you.”
“It doesn’t matter what he thinks. He doesn’t know me.”
She heard Mr. Prescott scoff behind her, but she ignored him. She didn’t care about what he thought of her, but she did care about Lucas finding the closure she didn’t think he ever really had.
“Talk to him,” she said.
“Why?”
“Because there might not be hope for my family, but there may be some for yours.”
“I doubt that.”
“Please.” She met his intense gaze, a battle of wills playing out when finally, he dropped his head.
“Fine, but if he says one more thing about you.”
Lucas’ eyes shot to his father, and Mr. Prescott held up his hands in understanding.
She lifted on her toes and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “I’ll see you later,” she said before walking away.
“Mr. Prescott,” she said as she got to the first step. “I hope you can look beyond your prejudices and realize your son is a great man, and you’d be an idiot to take that for granted.” She went to leave it at that, walk up the stairs, and hope to never see the man again, but that’s not what she wanted at all. She stopped and turned back, catching his gaze. “Maybe one day we’ll meet again and you won’t judge me because of my last name. I look forward to it.”
With her head held high, she hurried up the stairs, making sure to keep her hands firmly on the hem of her shirt to prevent it from rising higher on her legs than it already was.
Her last name already put a picture in Mr. Prescott’s head, and she didn’t want to live up to that dreadful image.
Chapter 17
Lucas hated that Ella left, and he hated more that the man he could barely stand to look at was standing right in front of him.
“I’m going to ask you one more time. What the hell are you doing here?” Lucas demanded ready to cut through the bullshit and get right to the damn point. He didn’t want to drag this out any longer than they had to.
“When I heard you were in Willow Cove I couldn’t stay away,” he said, moving through the house like it hadn’t been twenty-six years since the last time he stepped foot in it.
“Why not? Haven’t you done enough damage?”
He shrugged. “I had my reasons.”
“And none of them are good enough. Just because you didn’t have a great relationship with Joe doesn’t mean that you could keep him from me. Make me go through life thinking he was dead.” Lucas tried to keep the emotion from his voice, but he was too far past control.
