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He turned to face his stepmother, who looked unsure of being addressed.

“You’ve been married to this man for almost two decades and he still doesn’t have you on any of his paperwork, other than covering you on his health insurance. And I know for a fact that he plans on spending all of his money before he dies, but not on you. He even has a life insurance policy out on you in case you die before he does.”

“What?” Suzy spluttered. “Why would you do that to me, Hale? Do you think it’s a picnic being married to you, you fucking misogynistic dickhead? You spend all your time thinking about revenge against your own son, who wants nothing to do with you, even hiring men to destroy the bakery because you think it’s too, oh, what were the specific words, ‘fucking fruity,’ to be a sound investment.”

“Shut the fuck up, Suzy!” Hale shouted.

“Hey!” All three of us shouted our ire at Hale as Suzy looked as though she would burst into tears at any second.

“Have some respect for the woman you married, you fucking asshat!” Burton growled.

Then Phoenix laughed. “Ignore him, handsome. The gods know the world would be better if everyone did.”

He turned toward Suzy. “Yeah, my bakery is rather gay and fabulous. Thank you for pointing that out. You know what, for confirming what I’ve known all along, which is doing me quite the favor, by the way, I’ll return one of my own.”

The conversation stalled as Phoenix patted his jeans before he pulled out a scrap of envelope and a pen from his back pocket. After he wrote out quite a few details, filling the entire envelope with his tiny handwriting, he put the pen back in his pocket and stepped forward.

Leaning close, he whispered into Suzy’s ear before, with a smile, he handed her the same piece of envelope. She glanced down, and I saw her eyes widen before she blinked up at Phoenix, gave him a genuine smile, kissed him on the cheek, and walked off, calling for a taxi.

“Where are you going?” Hale called after her.

She turned, gave the man a confident smile, before she flipped him off and walked away.

Phoenix chuckled, and the sound relaxed the tension in my chest since our man was smiling.

But I kept my eyes on Hale, waiting for him to do something stupid. I wouldn’t put anything past him at this point.

“What did you tell her?” Hale demanded.

“Oh, are you talking to me? The one man who you consider a waste of space, who you believe couldn’t do anything right since I was in diapers, and who sent goons after me and my business to destroy, one of whom wanted to rape me if he found me anywhere in the bakery. Me?”

Phoenix let the last part sit as both B and I growled out our disgust for the man.

I somehow understood right at that moment, the only person Hale Aalto cared about was himself. There was no reaction in his expression, other than a shimmer in his eyes as he garnered plans to continue his war against his son. Suzy helped his image, but Phoenix wouldn’t fall into line with him, so he made his own son his enemy. The one conflict in his life he couldn’t move past.

“I’ll—” Hale shouted.

“Get you for this, my pretty,” Phoenix cackled the famous line fromThe Wizard of Ozbefore he shook his head and glared at the pathetic waste of space.

“Let me get this out before the stupidity of always having the last word gets to you and you interrupt me again. I… don’t… give… a… fuck about you!”

The shout lingered in the air for a long moment. Phoenix continued.

“You’ve killed any affection I might once have had for you long ago through sheer judgmental ignorance and smug disinterest. Oh, and hatred. I didn’t ask to be born,father, and I sure as shit wasn’t supposed to be your punching bag as achild! What I did for Suzy was to get her out of your toxic world and despite you dying to know what I wrote, I won’t give you the satisfaction. But it was a doozy, and I’d say within a year, your loss will be excruciating.”

He whistled for emphasis, a gigantic smile on his face.

In the next second, I acted because Hale gave me the opening I’d been waiting for. The older man swung for Phoenix, who stood there like he might take the hit. There was no fucking way I’d ever let him lay another finger on Sunshine.

With a darting step forward, I grabbed a hold of Hale’s wrist with my left hand, squeezing the bone and yanking his arm down as my right came up in an uppercut and nailed the older man right square in the jaw, lifting him on his toes before he crumpled in on himself. The snap of bone wasn’t a surprise, but I wasn’t sure whether I snapped his wrist or broke his jaw. I found myself not caring much either way.

“Yes, I need an ambulance and someone to contact Detective Mateo Sandoval to come out to 27 Richfield Street. He’s assigned as lead detective. Hale Aalto was trespassing on our property, tried to assault me, and my partner landed a blow which knocked him unconscious. Yes, we’ll be waiting in the front yard. I can stay on the line until the police arrive.”

Sunshine covered the receiver with his hand and asked, “Are you injured, lover?”

“No, Sunshine. But why did you stand there?”

He shrugged, as unbothered by the entire situation as a bystander who had no stakes in the game.