Page 53 of The Love Ambush (The Sullivans #1)

Levi

P ounding on my door wakes me from a dead sleep. “Go away,” I yell at whichever of my brothers is there, probably Sebastian getting me up early to discuss plans before the day starts.

I’ve been putting off his requests to discuss things until I get Gentry’s house saved, but my time of putting him off is over, just not at… I glance at my watch.

It’s only one in the morning? That’s way too early even for Sebastian.

“Get your ass out of bed,” Deacon yells. “Gentry’s here, and she’s really upset.”

I leap out of bed and race for the door. I swing it open and step out, but Deacon slaps a hand over his eyes and shoves me back inside. “Dude. Put some clothes on.”

Right. I sleep naked. I toss on the sweatpants and t-shirt I was wearing last night and hurry out the door past my brother. Gentry’s on the landing right behind him, murder in her eyes. I can handle her anger, it’s the sadness that’s behind the anger I can’t handle.

Her eyes are red and puffy like she’s been crying, and I hate that I haven’t been able to be here for her.

“You went too far, Levi,” she says, her voice raspy like she’s been talking a lot, or yelling.

“You drove Dad away. We got home tonight, and he and Trisha were already gone. They took everything they had brought with them, leaving all our furniture in the garage. They just left, and it’s your fault. ”

My heart breaks for Gentry and her sisters. I’d really hoped Harley might step up and be the father he should have been to them. My heart breaks for me too, because there’s no way in hell she’s going to forgive me now. “Aw, sweetheart,” I say. “I’m sorry.”

Deacon slips past her and away, smartly getting the hell out of the crossfire.

“Don’t apologize to me,” she says. “Apologize to the little girl I held all night while she cried because her father left without even saying goodbye after he promised he would.”

My throat gets tight at the thought of Emily crying all night.

“Let’s go into my room and talk.” I gesture her in ahead of me, and she turns on me, eyes blazing as soon as I step inside.

“And that was after I spent two hours convincing Emily that it wasn’t my entire goal to make Dad leave.

That you and your family weren’t purposely trying to drive him away.

” She runs a hand through her hair, looking impossibly exhausted.

“Thank God, Sophie’s on my side. But it was still hard to convince Emily, because it sure as hell seems to me like the entire goal of your little plot was to get Dad to leave town.

” She slumps, sadness overtaking anger. “Why, Levi? Why did you want to drive him away?”

I sigh, not at all sure she’s going to believe me. “Because he was always going to leave, Gentry. He and Trisha were never planning to stay.”

That stops her. She goes very, very still, but there’s clearly a storm inside her. I lead her to my bed, and she sits next to me without any urging.

“Your dad changed the deed to the house last month. I can’t prove it, but I’m pretty sure he faked your mother signing it over to him. I’ve used every resource I have, and I can’t find your mother. There’s no way he found her.”

She bows her head, as if the weight of all of this is too much for her. “I should have known Mom would have never given him the house. What was his plan?”

“It took me way too long to figure that out. I flew all the way to Cheyenne and found nothing useful, when all I had to do was look into Trisha’s family.”

“Trisha?” she asks.

“That furniture they put in your house?” I say. “It was on loan from the company Trisha works for.”

“She’s a hairdresser,” Gentry says, her voice hollow.

“She’s a home stager, honey. She gets houses looking good for sales. She took that furniture on loan, promising her bosses she’d pay them their going rate plus a bit more after your house sold. All of Trisha and Harley’s actual possessions are in a storage facility in Des Moines.”

“Iowa?” She shakes her head. “I don’t understand. He said they were moving to Pensacola.”

“He lied.”

She jerks like I’ve hit her, and I wrap an arm around her shoulders. If I’m ever in the same room with Harley Lendew, I can’t promise I won’t at the very least try to cause him as much pain as he’s causing his daughters right now.

“I hate that I’m the one who has to tell you this,” I say, my chest aching for her and her sisters.

"I knew we couldn’t trust him, but I’d hoped…” She looks up at me, the pain in her eyes slicing me nearly in half. “I hoped he might decide we were worth sticking around for.” She leans in, our faces so close I can feel her breath on mine. “Please. Tell me the rest.”

“Harley and Trisha are deeply in debt, and they saw the house as a way to get out of it. Trisha’s got family in Des Moines.

She’s already got a job with a home staging company.

Harley’s going to work with one of her cousins at his investment firm.

” I shake my head. “Apparently, references don’t matter when it’s family. ”

“What references?”

I tell her about Harley’s job at the bank and why he lost it.

I explain to her that around the time the police started investigating him and his loan sharking, he got the invitation to Brodie’s wedding.

Something Brodie regretted sending almost immediately when his father actually RSVP’d that he wanted to come.

I’m pretty sure Harley saw a reunion with his wealthy son as an opportunity to make some money before he headed to Catalpa Creek for the bigger payoff he’d get from the house sale.

We’ll never know for sure, because Harley’s never going to tell us the truth.

“How did you find all of this out?” Gentry asks. “Did you have to do anything illegal?”

“No,” I say, so fucking grateful it’s the truth. “It turns out people like to talk, and a lot of my educated guesses paid off.”

“You’re easy to talk to,” Gentry says, her eyes dropping to my lips before bouncing back up to my eyes.

Desire shoots through me, and I squeeze her shoulder.

She looks away, her gaze going distant. “I guess I should be glad to know my mother never lied to me about Dad, but right now it hurts too much—” She presses a hand to her mouth and tears spring into her eyes.

“Why didn’t you tell me all this sooner?

You said you wouldn’t cut me out of the loop again. ”

My heart stutters. This could be where I lose her for good.

“There was no time. I found out about Trisha and your dad’s jobs in Iowa less than two days ago, and I had to prep Daisy, so she’d play her job well.

” I swallow hard. “Also, if you’d known…

” Shit, I don’t know how to word this without making it seem like I’ve manipulated her again even if that’s the last thing I ever wanted to do.

Even if she never forgives me, it was worth it to get Harley out of their lives. “If I were in your situation and I—”

“I get it,” she says. “If I’d known, there’s no way I could have kept cool and played along with Daisy. If Dad thought he had even a chance of getting away with selling the house…”

“Exactly,” I say. “I hated not telling you, but your house could sell in less than four days with an agent who’s actually trying to sell it.

Possibly even faster. If your dad thought for even a moment that he could get a new real estate agent and get the sale done before anyone at CPS found out about it—”

“He would have done it.” She shakes her head, new tears brimming. “How can my own father spend any time with Emily and Sophie and walk away like that? How could he have even considered leaving us all homeless and broke?”

“He’s a selfish person,” I say. “He’s hurt a lot of people, and I doubt he has the ability to truly love anyone more than himself.”

She sniffles and straightens. “Thank you, Levi. Thank you for helping us. I really appreciate it. And your family, too.”

“Not just us,” I say. “The whole town. Everyone loves you and your sisters and wants you to do well. With so many people helping to stop the sale of your house, inevitably the whole town heard about it. And so many people want to help. Kaley Reese, the owner of Flip-Flop gymnastics wants to offer Sophie a job teaching gymnastics to the little kids. Sophie will be paid a small wage, and she’ll get her classes for free. ”

Gentry pulls away from me, gets up, and paces. “That’s really sweet, but is it too much? We can manage without charity and—”

I stand and face her, my hands on her shoulders. “Kaley wants to do it, Gentry. Just like Lazy Holiday wants to give Emily a fifteen percent discount on every book she buys and Henrietta wants to give Sophie a thirty percent discount on her prom dress when the time comes. And—”

Gentry drops her head in her hands. “Oh my god, this is exactly what I didn’t want. I don’t want everyone knowing about our situation.”

I pull her hands away from her face. “You live in a very supportive town full of people who love you. What can be wrong about that?”

She shrugs. “It just feels wrong. I don’t deserve it.”

I kiss her forehead. “You deserve the whole fucking world, baby. You’ve given so much of yourself to your sisters.

You deserve to accept help from people who offer it.

Because nobody wants to see y’all struggle.

Nobody wants to watch as y’all drown while we do nothing.

It makes people feel good to help, so let them. ”

“How?” She looks genuinely bewildered. And adorable. God, I’ve missed her.

“By doing it for your sisters. Part of giving them the life they deserve is accepting help from your community.”

She nods. “Okay. I’ll try. It’s not going to be easy. Some mystery person’s been doing things around the house for months now, like raking leaves, and I hate that I don’t know who it is. I’m not sure I can handle the whole town helping us.”

I grin. “Oh, that was just me.”

She stares at me, mouth dropping open in shock. “That was you? But you were furious with me. And I was so mean to you.”