Page 51 of Overruled

Twenty-Eight

Ezra

Four days after walking away from Dani, and mostly, I’m just numb.

There isn’t a moment that passes that I don’t want to go to her, to beg her to see reason, to shake some sense into her if I have to—but I know it won’t do any good.

I know that someone like Dani can’t be forced into making a decision.

She has to come to the conclusion on her own.

I just hope that conclusion involves me, somehow.

I meant it when I said that she was worth staying for, but I never anticipated that she would actively push me away.

In hindsight, maybe I should have seen it coming.

She’s so convinced that anyone she gets close to will hurt her, will lie to her or leave her behind, that she runs from any opportunity that might give them the chance.

But I don’t have time to dwell on that right now.

Lorenzo’s office is the last place I want to be, but given that he’s apparently “too busy” today to stop by mine and sign the documents I need from him, he left me with no other choice.

I ride the sleek elevator up to his floor in doleful silence, trying to ignore the heavy weight of my silent phone in my pocket.

There is so much more I wanted to say to her last night, but it was the truth when I said I can’t chase her if she doesn’t want to be chased.

That bullshit platitude about setting something free if you love it flits through my mind, and I snort out a laugh.

Dani’s more likely to run for the hills without looking back.

The elevator doors open to spill out onto Lorenzo’s floor, and I steel myself for what will surely be an unpleasant visit as I traipse through the hall toward his office.

It rests at the corner of the building, and I take a deep breath when I reach it, knocking on his door and readying myself to play nice.

When he doesn’t answer, I knock again, pressing my ear to the door and catching two raised male voices on the other side.

“—said that no one would find out,” one of them says.

Lorenzo, I recognize. Not surprising. The other one, however, is.

“And they won’t,” the voice of Alexander answers tersely. “Not if you keep your mouth shut. There’s no proof that anyone would be able to piece together. I’ve buried the records so deep in Bianca’s financials that not even the world’s greatest accountant could piece it together.”

I press closer to the door. What are they talking about?

“If Bianca finds out what we did,” Lorenzo stresses, “she will ruin us both.”

“She won’t ,” Alexander hisses. “Not if you—”

They both go quiet, and I manage to pull away and compose myself as if I hadn’t just been listening at the door when it swings open.

Alexander’s icy blue eyes meet mine. “What are you doing out here?”

“My job?” I keep my tone casual as I hold up the packet of documents. “I need Lorenzo’s signature on these. Apparently, he was too busy to come to me.”

Alexander lingers in the doorway for a moment, studying my features as if trying to determine whether it’s possible I heard anything. I school them to remain completely neutral.

“You wanna let him sign them so I can get back to work?”

“Fine,” Alexander concedes. “Hurry up.”

Lorenzo looks out of sorts when I step into the room, his already-lined face wearier, a flush creeping up his neck. “You said you would be later,” he accuses.

“Didn’t realize I’d be interrupting,” I answer coolly.

Lorenzo sneers as he snatches the documents from me, leaning over his desk as he begins to sign each one. I turn to Alexander, eyeing him. “What are you doing here, anyway?”

“None of your business,” he says flatly.

“A lot of things about my case seem to be none of my business,” I chuckle. “But that’s nothing new, I guess.”

“You are such an unruly child,” Lorenzo snorts, straightening and handing the documents back to me. “I would never let a son of mine speak to me this way.”

“It’s a good thing I’m not Alexander’s son then, isn’t it.”

Lorenzo scoffs. “It is good for him, I think. Nothing but a disappointment, your whole life. So ungrateful when he raised you as his own. And your whore mother—”

I crowd him, fisting his tie roughly in the blink of an eye. “Don’t you say another fucking word about my mother.”

“He isn’t saying anything that isn’t true.” Alexander laughs cruelly from behind me.

I turn on him, curling my lip. “You’re just pissed that she finally found the good sense to try to get away from you. She realized what a piece of shit you are.”

“Careful, boy.” Alexander’s expression darkens. “You don’t want to say anything that you might regret.”

I hear his warning, and I know exactly what it means.

I know that it’s not me who will regret my outburst, and the thought turns my stomach.

I can’t say why today is different, why I can’t brush off the casual threat, but my heart is hammering now.

But my skin feels too tight and my blood feels too hot, and my vision blurs until I can hardly see anymore.

It’s Lorenzo’s callous insults. It’s Alexander’s blasé tone in regard to holding me under his thumb. It’s Dani’s voice in my head, telling me that even if I had good reasons to follow him, I still do it. Even knowing how evil he is. It’s all of it.

And I realize all at once that I’ve had enough.

“And what are you going to do, Alexander?” I release Lorenzo’s tie, stepping closer to the other man. “Are you going to threaten me? My mother? Are you going to push her so hard she wants to die again?”

Alexander looks unruffled, and that only makes me angrier. But not nearly as much as what he says next.

“It would have probably been easier on everyone if she had,” he says coldly, his face devoid of emotion. “At least then I wouldn’t still be putting up with the pair of you.”

I hear a roaring in my head, my body moving before I even recognize what’s happening.

One second I’m standing a foot away from the man who has made my life a living hell, made my mother’s life a living hell, and the next, he’s crumpling to the floor, blood streaming from his nose. That same blood covering my knuckles.

“You worthless piece of shit,” Alexander snarls, clutching his bloody nose. “I’ll fucking end you. I’ll lock your mother up in a hole and make sure she never sees—”

I crouch, grabbing him by the lapel of his jacket and forcing his head up. “Try it,” I warn. “I think you’ll find that when you push someone to the point where they have nothing to lose, you won’t like what they’re capable of. Do you want to see what I’m capable of, Alexander?”

For the first time in my entire life, there is a flash of fear in the old man’s eyes. For the first time ever—I don’t feel fear when I look into them. He’s just a man, I realize. Just an evil old man with more power than he deserves.

“I’m going to make sure you never touch her again,” I tell him resolutely. “I don’t care what it takes. And if you do, if you put one hand on her, if you so much as mess up her fucking hair—I will kill you. Do you understand me?”

“You can’t threaten me—”

“I just did,” I seethe. “Nothing to lose, remember? But go ahead, call the police. I’ll have plenty to say about you if they want to talk. Plenty to say.”

Again there is that flicker of alarm in the depths of his blue eyes, his pupils dilating and his throat bobbing with a swallow. I swipe my bloody knuckles on his suit jacket, standing to my full height and turning to point a finger at Lorenzo.

“If I ever hear you insult my mother again, I’ll extend you the same warning.”

Lorenzo grits his teeth. “You cannot—”

“Again,” I tell him calmly. “I just did.”

I straighten my suit, taking a deep breath and blowing it out, feeling lighter than I have in years. I step over Alexander’s crumpled figure, moving toward the door. I pause just before I open it, turning back to him one last time.

“Oh, and one more thing,” I call, my mouth splitting into a grin. “I quit.”

Alexander starts yelling again as I shut the door, but I’m over it. Closing the door on his bloody, irate form feels like closing the door on a part of my life that I’ve long yearned to escape from.

I feel…free. For maybe the first time.

I’m still smiling as I start moving back through the halls, only slowing when I catch sight of Lorenzo’s mistress in the foyer talking to his assistant. I frown as I watch them embrace, thinking that it’s weird that they would be so close.

But that’s not my problem anymore, I suppose.

I ride back down the elevators in a completely different mood than I rode up in. But I have another stop to make.

···

If I never have to come back to this house again, it will be too soon.

I stare up at the massive structure where I spent my childhood, the elegant details and expensive features a point of envy to anyone who wouldn’t know any better.

No one could know just looking at it what sort of hell lurks inside.

I push open the heavy French doors without knocking, stepping into the foyer and calling my mother’s name.

Rita appears from the kitchen to give me a puzzled look, but I ignore her, calling for my mother again.

I hear her voice faintly from the direction of her library, and I stomp toward it in a rush, only letting out the breath I’m holding when I find her sitting in her favorite chair, looking at me quizzically.

“Ezra?”

I cross the space in just a few short steps, falling to my knees and wrapping my arms around her waist to hug her tight.

“Ezra?” Her hand falls to my hair, stroking her fingers through it. “What’s wrong?”

“I want you to leave with me, Mom,” I whisper.

“Darling, what are you talking about? You know I can’t—”

“I hit him.”

“Him? Who?”

“Alexander,” I tell her. “I hit him. I think I might have broken his nose.” I pull back, tilting my head up to meet her eyes. “I told him if he ever touched you again, I would kill him. I don’t regret it either.”