The jet engines roar to life, and we start moving down the runway. I watch Hope disappear beneath us through the window—the campus, the town, everything I've built in the past few weeks getting smaller and smaller.
Somewhere down there, Tiff is probably pacing Zach's living room, reading those papers over and over. Ella's probably asking why I left without saying goodbye.
“I left them,” I say, more to myself than anyone else. “Tiff texted me asking where I was, and I just… left.”
“To fix this,” Honey points out. “Not to run away. There's a difference.”
“Is there? What if this doesn't work? What if my father refuses to back off and I just make everything worse?”
“Then we go to war.” Honey pulls out her laptop, flipping it open. “I've been working at Sanderson and Nicks for months now, Jamie. I have access to everything. Every shady deal, every near-blackmail attempt, every string they’ve pulled.” Her fingers fly across the keyboard. “If they don't drop this custody case, we bury them in their own shit.”
Asher whistles low. “Remind me never to piss you off.”
“Too late.” She doesn't look up from her screen. “You've been on my shit list since sophomore year, Hastings.”
“Fair enough.” He takes a sip of his whiskey, an amused smile covering his face.
As the jet levels out above the clouds, Honey is back on her laptop, pulling up files and documents that she plans on showing me.
Asher, on the other hand is watching her in awe as he pours himself another whiskey.
I sit there, holding my phone, willing myself not to text Tiff until I have actual good news to share.
“I’ll fix this,” I whisper to the photo of her and Ella on my lock screen. “I promise everything will be better when I get back.”
Asher must hear me because he raises his glass. “To terrible plans and the idiots who make them.”
“Hear, hear,” Honey mutters without looking up.
I don't have a drink to toast with, but I nod anyway.
Because in a few hours, I'll be standing in my father's study, offering him a deal that will either save my family or destroy any chance I have of a future with them.
And for the first time in my life, I'm ready for whatever comes next.
Chapter 27
Tiff:Will you come over soon?
I stare at the message I sent to Jamie four hours ago, swallowing down all my pride because I have no idea what he’s doing. It’s been two days since we’ve seen him, and I’m trying my best not to freak out.
He promised we were in this together. Give him time. You owe him that.
I try to rationalize it all in my head, but nothing is making me feel any better.
“Yes, I understand the timeline,” Zach growls, pacing between the living room and kitchen. The guy hasn’t sat down since he got home three days ago and found me barely holding it together surrounded by legal papers.
Unsafe living conditions…
Unfit mother…
Charles Bright will testify…
I’ve read them so many times I’ve practically memorized them at this point. It’s a stupid move. One that hasn’t helped my anxiety at all, but a part of me just hopes that if I go over it enough times, I’ll suddenly find a loophole.
“There has to be something we can do,” Zach continues, pushing his lawyers. He’s so much stronger than me. I can barely move, barely speak, and here he is fighting. Always fighting for me and Ella. “Can we file an injunction? A motion to dismiss? Anything?”
I set my phone on the couch beside me and clutch Mr. Squishy to my chest while I try to watch Ella and Reese stacking blocks on the coffee table in front of me.