Page 54 of Love is Angry (Love is Everything #2)

Rhue

Having given Madison and her father a momentary reprieve, I can focus on what’s left of my family.

Not my father; Laura. She’s still in denial about my mother’s suicide.

For as much as an asshole as Julian is, nobody seems to believe that he killed her outright.

Still, he needs to be put away. If Laura spends her time trying to prove a murder he didn’t commit, she’s going to discredit any claims we make regarding his sexual assaults.

I made Madison a promise. Taking my father out of the public eye and into a prison after exposing him for the monster that he truly is lies at the very core of that promise. I don’t think Madison can see a future for the two of us while he’s still walking freely.

Fortunately for my plans, the bastard is out of the mansion for the morning, campaigning hard on the south side.

We’re about two weeks from the city council election, so he’s kicking things up a notch and showing up in person all over Rochester to boost his chances and increase his poll numbers.

After all the money he pumped into other people’s campaigns, it was only a matter of time before he’d do the same for himself.

I find Laura in the breakfast room, working through a plate of waffles.

Steve the Manny wears one of the maids’ aprons, and he’s just about done frying a few strips of bacon on the stove.

It’s an unusual sight, and a little bit funny.

Steve isn’t exactly a home care expert. He’s capable enough to do the job, sure, but we both know he’s basically a glorified bodyguard paid by my father to keep Laura safe.

“Morning, sunshine!” I greet my sister with a grin.

She lights up like a star, forgetting all about breakfast as she steers her wheelchair back from the table so I can hug her.

“I didn’t think I’d see you again this weekend,” Laura says as she settles back at the table.

“I’m not about to let Dad’s foul mood chase me out of my home,” I reply.

Steve gives me a nod of acknowledgment. I return it politely as he places the bacon on a plate in the middle of the table. The table is set for two, so someone knew I was still here.

“How’s Madison?” Laura asks, halfway through her waffles.

“She’s okay. She opened up to her dad—I think it did her worlds of good.”

Laura frowns slightly. “Dad said he sold the main street buildings. Wasn’t Mr. Willis one of the tenants there?”

“Yeah, but it’s taken care of.”

“How so?”

I steal a glance at Steve, who gathers more toast on a plate and brings it over. He seems interested, too. “Remember Mom left each of us with a trust fund?”

“No, don’t tell me!” My sister chuckles. “I can’t touch mine till I’m eighteen, but you?”

“I have gained full access over mine, yes. The first thing I did was purchase certain properties that good ol’ Mr. Echeveria coveted but never got his hands on. I offered Mr. Willis one of the prime locations for his store and workshop. So, as I was saying, it’s taken care of.”

Laura’s gaze softens on me. Sometimes, I forget she’s barely seventeen. “You are such a good man, Rhue. Mom would be so proud.”

“I know she would.”

“And she would also tell you to be straight with Madison,” my sister adds, decidedly more on our mother’s side in terms of emotional intelligence. “You two deserve a chance.”

“Then she’d be double proud,” I tell her with a grin. “Madison and I talked last night.”

“Talked, huh,” Laura says, waggling her eyebrows. “Is that all?”

“Damn it all, she texted you already, didn’t she?”

Laura throws back her head and laughs. “No,” she says. “But you just gave yourself away!”

“You’re a brat,” I tell her as I rip off a piece of toast and chuck it at her. “But I’m not telling you anything else about it, so let it go. Madison can if she wants to.”

“How gentlemanly of you,” Laura says with a grin. She thinks for a minute, and her grin slowly fades. “Rhue—do you think Dad will stop there? Especially since you sort of undid his revenge while he was implementing it? You know how Dad can be.”

I give Steve a quick glance. “You’re making me nervous, man. Sit down or something.”

“I’m not done with breakfast,” he replies, pointing at the toaster.

“It’s not like you won’t hear them pop,” I tell him then nod at a chair. “Please.”

“If you say so,” he says. He fills a plate for himself and sits down, sighing heavily as he digs in.

“I don’t know,” I answer Laura finally. “But that’s kind of what I wanted to talk to you about. Can I see mom’s diary again, please?”

She gives me a curious look but reaches into the inner pocket of her chair and hands me the slender book.

I flip to the page of horror and start reading through the various resolutions.

At last contact, every one of them was alive and well; and every one of them had been given a small fortune or the trip of a lifetime for their trouble and didn’t want to rock the boat.

The only two entries missing resolutions are Sibel’s and Maddie’s.

Dad waited an entire year to bring the topic of compensation up to Maddie; what changed?

“Is Dad having some kind of financial trouble?” I ask, looking from Laura to Steve and back.

Laura frowns. “Not that I know of, unless he’s moving money around under the table. The campaign is still well within budget and I haven’t noticed any big lifestyle changes.”

“Stock market’s steady,” Steve adds. “And real estate value’s going up again.”

“So it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense for him to avoid throwing money at a problem when he has consistently solved that problem that way.”

“You’re going to need some more nouns if you want me to follow that logic,” Laura says. “Maybe toss a verb or two in there, too.”

I hand the book back to her and steeple my fingers in front of me. “Up until now, he’s paid them all off. Every one of them—I suspect—except Madison.”

“Sibel doesn’t have a resolution written in here,” Laura points out.

“Yeah—but I went to see her yesterday. There’s no way she could afford the place she’s living in if she only had the pay she got from mom to spend on it.”

Laura gapes. “You went to see her? Why?”

“I had questions,” I tell her. “When you suggested that dad might have—well, it bothered me. I couldn’t leave it alone. I thought if anyone would know, it would be her.”

Laura leans forward, her eyes wide. “What did she say?”

I scowl down at my plate. “Same thing everybody else says,” I said.

“That mom was hurting and hiding it from us. That she put up with it for so long and was blocked at every turn when she tried to address his behavior. That he knew how to push her buttons, he’s cruel, he drove her to it.

Everybody thinks he pushed her over the edge—just not literally. ”

Steve and Laura exchange knowing glances. “What?” I ask.

Laura hesitates for a long moment. Steve watches her face tensely. There’s something going on here, and I don’t like it at all.

“What do you two know that I don’t?” I ask, getting frustrated.

“Nothing,” Laura says. Steve relaxes and goes back to eating his breakfast. It occurs to me that he’s on Dad’s payroll, and if there’s something Laura knows that Dad wouldn’t want me finding out, the best way to ensure it would be to have Steve babysit her.

“Hey Steve, you think you can give us a minute? I’d like to talk to my sister in private.”

“No can do, Rhue. Sorry. Boss’s orders.”

“He’s not here,” I point out irritably. “You’re telling me he ordered you not to leave her alone with her own brother?”

Steve gives me a long look. “Especially with her own brother,” he says.

“Laura, what the hell?”

She shrugs. “It’s true. As of yesterday, I’m not allowed to speak to anyone without Steve present—including, and especially, you.”

“Don’t know what you said to him,” Steve adds. “But you really pissed him off. And now he’s punishing her for it.” He cuts into his breakfast savagely. “Maybe you should leave it alone.”

“What the fuck are you trying to tell me, Steve?”

He gives me another of those long, serious looks. “I’m trying to tell you that you’re doing more harm than good, despite your intentions. You need to drop it. All of it. Now.”

I look at Laura, who won’t meet my gaze. “Really?” I ask her.

“I don’t think you should be badgering her like that,” Steve says mildly.

“And I do not give even one single shit about your unsolicited opinion.”

I get up and collect my phone and keys, not interested in having a heart-to-heart with him, but Steve—now with his suit jacket on––decides to cut me off before I leave the breakfast room.

“Hold on,” he says. “I’m serious. I’ve been watching over this girl for months now.

She’s not just my job, okay? She’s someone I care about.

Her wellbeing matters to me, and believe me, I’d rather be working in other parts of Mr. Echeveria’s business, not here, in the middle of this hot mess you people call a family. ”

I stare at him. “The fuck is your point?”

“Point is, I see you. Even when I’m supposed to be invisible, I see you.

I know you care about Laura, and you’re both still grieving for your mother.

Mr. Echeveria can be remarkably difficult, I know that, too.

But my point is, take it easy, Rhue. The more you push the old man, the tighter his grip is gonna be. ”

I shake my head. “You don’t know him as well as you think you do.”

“I guess I could say the same thing about you. You don’t think he’s going to take the conflict between you two out on your sister?

You think because she’s physically fragile, he’s going to give her any more grace?

Every move you make against him is a move against her until the day she turns eighteen. Remember that.”

I’m ashamed to admit that I never realized any of this. I need time to process it—time to work out a better plan. One that won’t put Laura in danger, but will still end with Julian behind bars.

“Love you, Laura,” I tell her. “Be good.”

I don’t bother bidding Steve farewell. No, I just give him a faint nod and move past him. Leaving them both behind, I head out. Time to drive back to Ithaca. I’ve had enough of home for this weekend. I’ve caused enough pain—and I’ve stirred enough shit.