Page 47

AVERY

I wake early the next morning, wanting to get a jump-start on packing my bags before I meet Damon for breakfast. The girls and I have a flight out this afternoon, and while our time here was incredible, I’m more than a little excited to return to AAU where I can experience campus life on Damon’s arm.

That is, if he still wants me after his night out with his father.

By now, Vinny must know we’re back together.

Even if he hadn’t known about my transfer to AAU, I have no doubt Damon mentioned me at dinner, and if my mother was telling the truth, what will he think when he finds out we’re back together?

Will he try and convince Damon he’s better off without me?

Will he go to the press with everything he knows?

I shake my head, not wanting to get ahead of myself. Chances are my mother is exaggerating the truth. This is a power play— just another way to control me, to get what they want. And what they want is for me to return to Harvard.

But what if she’s not lying? What if she’s telling the truth?

The niggling thought picks at my brain. After I got off the phone with my mother, I’d researched the collapse, cross-referencing the list of victims with the NFL commissioner’s last name, but I couldn’t find a match.

The only way she was among the dead is if she’d taken another surname name?something which is not entirely out of the realm of possibility.

I lift the pajamas I changed out of just this morning and press them to my nose, remembering my night with Damon. The silk still smells like him—like cedar and spice—and it makes my heart clench.

Placing them inside with the rest of my clothes, I zip my carry-on shut, then head out into the living room, keeping quiet so as not to wake the girls. They got in late last night, and I expect they won’t wake for another couple of hours.

Sliding my phone from my pocket, I check for any texts from Damon, but it’s still early, and I’m disappointed, only to hear a knock on the door a minute later.

With a giant smile, I cross the room and swing the door open, sure it must be him. “Look who’s up—” The words die on my lips, and my mouth clamps shut at the sight of Vinny Huhn hovering in the doorway to my suite.

“I’m guessing I’m not who you were expecting,” he says, a dark glint in his eyes that chills my bones.

A prickle of unease creeps up my spine. Stepping closer, I search the hallway for signs of Damon but find none. He’d told me his father was staying at a different hotel nearby. “How did you get up here?”

Vinny raises his hand, a key card clenched tight in his grip. “Some people are really careless with these things.”

Did he take Damon’s or find someone else’s?

Pushing the thought aside, I cross my arms over my chest. “Damon’s room is on the first floor,” I say, hoping this is some kind of mistake, even though I know it’s not. It’s no coincidence he’s wound up at my door.

“I didn’t come to talk to Damon.”

My stomach clenches like a fist as alarm bells ring in my head. Suddenly, everything my parents said comes rushing back to me.

I fidget nervously in the entryway, heart racing with the possibilities. What if he makes a scene? What if Damon finds him here?

I can slam the door in his face. Shut him out. Call security.

But what if this is my only chance to find out the truth of what happened two and a half years ago?

I hesitate, my hand gripping the doorframe as I weigh up my options. My mind wants him to go, but my heart wants him to stay so I can get answers.

I step aside, motioning for him to follow. “Damon and I are supposed to meet for breakfast soon and my roommates are sleeping. If this isn’t something you want others to hear, I suggest you make it quick.”

Vinny ignores me and saunters past, his eyes widening as he takes in the spacious living area, plush furniture, and floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city before he lets out a low whistle.

“Well, well,” he drawls, turning in a slow circle. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, should I? An Astor can’t possibly stay in a regular room like the rest of us common folk. Must be nice having Daddy’s credit card to fall back on.”

I bristle at his words, uncomfortable with the truth in them. “I tried to book a regular room,” I say, my tone defensive, “but it’s an Astor Group Hotel, and they were fully booked. As soon as they knew who I was, they insisted on upgrading me.”

“Of course they did. Bet you didn’t fight them too hard, either,” he says with a dismissive wave. “Special accommodations for a special girl, I guess.”

He’s baiting me. I always sensed Vinny had a problem with my family’s money, but now he’s just confirmed it.

Or maybe it’s just me he has a problem with.

“What do you want, Vinny?” I ask, too tired for games.

He looks at me for a moment, those blue eyes staring into mine with unmatched intensity. “I want you to break up with my son.”

I flinch as the air leaves my lungs. “I can’t do that,” I say with a shake of my head.

“You can.” Vinny shoves his hands in his pockets. “And you will.”

The blood drains from my face as I search for words, something to say to the father of the man I love. “Why?” I finally ask, even though I already know why. I just don’t want to admit it.

“It’s quite simple,” he says, picking a brass clock off the counter and examining it before putting it back down. “I love my son, and I’ll do anything, and I mean anything, to ensure he reaches his dreams.” He lifts his gaze, eyes meeting mine.

“And he can’t reach them while he’s with me?”

He shrugs, letting his silence speak for him.

“I won’t do it, not again. It would break his heart.”

“Heartbreak is temporary,” he says with the flap of his hand.

I stare at him for a moment, wondering how he can be so cruel. Wondering if he truly believes that, if his heartbreak when Damon’s mother left him with a baby to raise on his own was temporary.

I shake my head, not wanting to hear any more. “If Damon knew you were here, if he knew what you were asking me—”

“He doesn’t and he won’t.” Vinny cocks his head, assessing. “Because you won’t tell him.”

“I will.” My jaw hardens along with my resolve.

“If you do, I’ll destroy you, and your family.”

I take a step back, my chest tight. “You won’t.”

“Oh, I will, and I’ll enjoy every second of going to the authorities with the proof I have that your father caused the Astor walkway collapse.”

I suck in a breath, heart pumping wildly in my chest as he procures a USB drive from his pocket and waves it out in front of me.

I snatch it from his hands, fingers curling around the stick, but he just laughs. “Do you really think that’s my only copy.”

My mother was right. About all of it.

Vinny Huhn blackmailed my parents.

He’s the reason they pressured me into breaking Damon’s heart.

And he’s trying to do it again.

“So, it’s true?” I breathe, the little plastic device digging into my palm. “You were blackmailing my parents?”

“Does it matter?”

Yes.

My hands ball as panic races through my chest. “Why are you doing this?” I hiss. “I’m not my father. I had nothing to do with this.”

“Maybe,” he says with a shrug. “But that’s not my problem. My son, on the other hand, is my problem, and being associated with an Astor, with a family as vile and immoral as yours, is bound to come back to bite him in the ass. Better to end it now before any damage is done.”

“Damage? What are you talking about?” I ask, heart beating wildly.

“What kind of damage could our being together possibly cause? He’s already accomplished everything he wanted.

He got a full ride to a division one college.

He won the National Championship, and he’s on the NFL’s radar. He’s made it.”

“Not yet.” Vinny shakes his head, his expression hard as stone. “But he’s close, and I’m going to ensure he gets there. Me, ” he says, pointing a finger at his chest. “The one who raised him, who’s been with him every step of the way.”

“You’re crazy,” I say, eyes wide.

“And you’re a fool,” he snaps.

“My family is zero threat to him.”

He chuckles darkly. “Does the name Angel Hall ring any bells? No?” he says when I say nothing. “What about Colby Williams?”

The NFL commissioner.

I shake my head as Vinny’s lips curl into a snarl, not wanting to listen to what he’s about to say. “Colby Williams is the NFL commissioner, and Angel Hall was his daughter, a newlywed when she died in the collapse.”

I gasp and take a step back. “No,” I breathe.

“Yes,” he hisses. “Do you know what it would feel like to be crushed under the rubble of a fallen walkway? To hear the initial crack of the foundation the moment before the floor buckles. The walls crumble and the ceiling falls.”

He stalks toward me, his tone venomous, and his eyes narrowed to slits. “To be thrown to the ground with a thousand tons crushing your bones. Your organs rupturing. Your skull fracturing.”

“Stop!” I shield my ears.

“Even if you don’t die instantly, you’re pinned under rubble with your body parts compressed.

Dust and debris fill your nose, settling into your lungs while your circulation cuts off and the panic sets in.

Then, the second you’re freed, blood flow returns to all the places where circulation had been cut off, followed by excruciating pain and a delayed death.

After losing a daughter like that, just how do you think Williams will react if he discovers Damon is dating the daughter of the man responsible for the reason his daughter is buried six feet under?

Or worse, if years from now, you’re married? ”

I swallow the sob threatening to rip through my throat. “It was an accident,” I whisper. “And I’m not my father. Damon had nothing to do with it.”

“It was no accident,” Vinny says with a sneer. “I know who’s responsible. Just like I know it will ruin Damon’s career if the truth comes out and you’re together.”

“If I do as you ask a second time, it will crush him every bit as hard as the collapse crushed those people,” I say, trying to make him see reason.

“Only his heart, and unlike those people, he’ll have a chance to recover.”

“He loves me.”

“He loved football first, long before you ever entered the picture.”

My heart aches as his words take purchase, hitting their target.

I want to say it’s not true, to insist his love for me?our love for each other?surpasses everything and anything else, but I can’t.

The niggling seed of doubt in the back of my mind won’t let me.

Because what if his father’s right? What if the truth came out and it killed his career?

Would Damon come to resent me? How would he handle a life without football?

Of knowing his dreams were ripped away from him because of something horrible my father did?

Was I naive to think love conquers all?

“He deserves to know,” I say, thinking back to the conversation I had with Damon after I told him the truth. “He deserves to make a choice for himself about what he wants. At least let me tell him. Let him choose.”

“That’s not an option.” Vinny shakes his head, his expression thunderous. “Because the one thing I’ve learned is that he’s a fool when it comes to you. His judgment is clouded. He’s not thinking clearly, and I won’t allow him to make this mistake.”

“He’s twenty-one, not twelve,” I snap, hating the man standing before me.

Vinny heads for the door, brushing past me while my heart threatens to pound out of my chest.

Panic claws up my spine as I follow behind him, knowing I’ve lost. One way or the other, I’ll suffer the consequences of my father’s actions. “Don’t do this.”

“Keep this little meeting between us, and end it for good by the time he steps foot back on campus, and I won’t do anything. Your father’s secrets die with me.”

“And what if he chooses to stay?” I arch a brow, forcing my shoulders back and my voice steady. “What if you go to the authorities and Damon still chooses me?”

Something dark and ominous flickers through his eyes as he turns, his hand on the door.

“Once the news breaks and he sees the writing on the wall, he’ll want to be as far away from you as possible.

” A cruel smile coasts over his lips as he adds, “But if you care about him, if you really love him like you say you do, you’ll make the decision for him.

You won’t let him risk everything he’s ever worked for. ”

He’s manipulating you, trying to play the upper hand. When you decided to win Damon back, you knew this was a possibility. You knew the risks.

But not at his expense . . .

“You’ll do the right thing,” Vinny says, breaking through my thoughts. “Just like you did two and half years ago.”