Then she whispered something that made me realize the threats were only the beginning.
“He also promised me things,” she said quietly. “College. A car. Connections. He said he’d make me part of his brand. He said people would love us.”
She lowered her head.
“I already agreed to go to the team dinner tonight. I thought I had to protect you.”
My heart didn’t just ache—it shattered.
I gently lifted her chin. “Sweetheart… wait. No one is taking you anywhere. Leave this to me. I have a plan for dealing with this bully.”
The next few hours were a blur as I rushed to put my plan together.
When everything was ready, I collapsed into a chair at the kitchen table. What I had planned could either save my family… or destroy everything.
Then a loud pounding shook the front door.
Grace froze.
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“Dad… that’s him.”
I walked to the door and opened it.
There he was—Chase, her biological father.
Everything about him looked like a performance: a designer leather jacket, perfectly styled hair, and—ridiculously—sunglasses at night.
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