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“I don’t want to hear anything you have to say. There is no excuse for what you did. There is no apologizing for what you did. You cannot heal it or erase it. It will never go away. My feelings will never change. I hate you.”
Those words hit home. Kyle actually took a step back, but he narrowed his eyes like he wanted her to see he wasn’t giving up.
Well, she would make him see that he would never get anywhere with her. “You are not my father.”
Kyle stepped close again. “I am. Whether you like it or not.”
“Not,” she spat back. “I am not your family. Chase and Eliza are my family. Because of you, I have no one else. You made me the gossip of this town, the one people stare at and whisper about. You made me believe there was something wrong with me, that I didn’t deserve to be loved or treated like any normal person. Everything bad that’s happened in my life is because of you. Why the hell would I want you in my life? So people can talk and point and stare even more? I will not put Eliza through what I went through growing up. I’m done being associated with you. I’m building a life with Chase and Eliza, and it doesn’t include you. At all.”
“If you’d just give me a chance.”
“Do you really think I would let a rapist near my daughter? Are you crazy? I’ve given you my answer over and over again. No. No, I do not want you in my life. No. Never. Don’t make me say it again.”
Kyle looked to Chase.
“Don’t look at him,” she snapped, standing up for herself. “I’m talking. I’m telling you no. I will not change my mind. And if you think Chase would let you near his daughter . . .” She shook her head like he really was crazy if he thought that.
“You heard her. Leave,” Chase ordered, stepping close, his body right next to hers. Remmy let out a warning growl.
She appreciated that Chase had let her handle Kyle, that he knew she needed to stand up to him the way her mother never got a chance to.
She had years of pent-up anger and things she’d wanted to say to the monster who ruined her life by simply creating her. She’d lived too long in his shadow and with his existence making hers so difficult. Not anymore.
She wasn’t going to be Kyle Hodges’s daughter anymore.
She was going to be Shelby, Eliza’s mom, and hopefully soon, Chase’s wife, a woman who stood up for herself, loved her family, and lived the life she wanted, not the one people projected onto her.
She had people who loved her now.
Kyle sighed like she’d done something wrong and he’d make her see that. “I served my time, Shelby. I am a free citizen again. And I have rights. Those rights include seeing my granddaughter. And if you won’t give your permission, then I’ll fight for her in court.” He made the threat, and she wanted to rage at him for daring to try to force her hand, but she kept her head.
“And how will you do that? Do you have a job? How will you pay for an attorney?”
“There are a lot of hours in the day when you have nothing to do in prison but read. I made sure I knew thelaw when it came to facing the charges against me and my appeals.”
No one could accuse Kyle of being stupid. He’d been exceptionally smart, a straight-A student in school without really trying. And cunning when it came to his plan to take her mother and hold her hostage.
In the end, he’d been found because a man hunting out of season spotted smoke at the abandoned cabin, investigated, saw her naked mother tied up in bed, and called the cops.
Without that man’s help, who knows how long Kyle would have kept her mother tied up in the woods?
“So this is how you want to be a father and grandfather, by going to court and trying to force me to do what you want.”
“You’re the one forcing me to do this.”
“Is that how you justify it? I say no, so you make me. Is that what you said to my mother, too? Did you tell her you wouldn’t have had to force her to be with you if she’d just done what you wanted?”
She saw the guilt in his eyes. “Right,” she said. “Now tell me again how you’ve changed.”
Kyle shook his head. “We could have done this the easy way. You could have been reasonable.”
“You could have accepted that my mother wanted nothing to do with you and left her alone. You created this. You ruined us.”
“Give me a chance to fix it.” It wasn’t a plea but a demand.
“You can’t. What you’ve done is unforgiveable. And I will fight to my last breath to make sure you never go anywhere near my daughter.”
For some crazy reason, that made her think of hermother and how she’d tried to end both their lives. So Kyle never got his hands on either of them again?
