Over the Edge (Bridge #3)(44)

His features were pinched with doubt. I didn’t want to push him. Whatever was eating at him had been festering for a long time. If he wanted to tell me about it, he would. I lowered again, relaxing against his chest.

His voice was low, tight with emotion as he began to speak. “My parents were crazy about each other.”

I held my breath, waiting for him to continue. He stroked his fingers through mine rhythmically.

“They had to be to have five kids together and still be as in love as they were at the end. They were inseparable. We were all close. Things weren’t always easy. We struggled sometimes, but we always had each other. I grew up knowing, without a doubt, that we could get through anything together. My sisters and I grew up, and we did the usual things. Family dinners and holidays, but the past couple years my dad started getting really worn down. We noticed but didn’t think much of it. Figured he was just getting older and slowing down a bit. Then he collapsed one day when we were doing a job. The ambulance rushed him to the hospital. He died a few days later. I watched him take his last breaths.”

His grief seemed to permeate my skin, tugging painfully at my heart. “What happened?”

He exhaled a shaky breath. “Cancer. We found out that he’d visited the doctor a couple years earlier. They’d detected it then, but he denied any treatment. He didn’t think it was worth the fight.” He squeezed his eyes closed and pinched the bridge of his nose with a sigh. “Felt like someone cut something out of me.”

I wrapped my arms around his torso and held him tight. I listened to the sound of his heart and his breathing. I couldn’t imagine losing a parent, even as strained as our relationships were at times.

“I wasted so much time, Liv. I’m angry because he let me waste it. I’m angry because he didn’t fight to keep our family together longer.”

“He doesn’t want you to be angry,” I whispered.

He held me a little tighter. “I know. I want to let it go, but it’s so f*cking hard.”

I kissed his chest and gazed up at him. “Think about the love he had for you, all the love he created with your family. Don’t let your anger ruin that amazing gift.”

He shook his head, his jaw tight. “It’s so much easier to be pissed off.”

“You need to let it go, Ian, if you want to make room for the good things he’d want for you.”

“Like what?” His voice was barely a whisper.

I trailed my lips over his torso and along the ink that marked his pain. “Like love.”





Chapter Twelve





WILL



Thanks to Olivia, the event looked more like an opening at an art gallery than a ribbon-cutting. Music filled the air but didn’t interfere with people having conversations. Servers buzzed around, refilling drinks and offering gourmet refreshments.

I’d been going nonstop all week, and tonight felt like the culmination of many things. After months of hard work and a pile of my money invested, Olivia and her brothers were one step closer to making their dreams a reality. After spending the past several days poring over every page of fine print I could get my hands on at Reilly Donovan Capital, I could appreciate the Bridge siblings’ hard-won milestone even more.

I’d officially filled my father’s shoes. Even though I stood by my choice, every day my own dreams seemed a little further away than they’d been before I’d taken on the position. The lawyers were drawing up the papers, and in a few days I’d become the official CEO of the company, my fate sealed for the foreseeable future.

I didn’t have much choice though. As predicted, the news of my father’s indictment had dropped like a bombshell on the company. And, as promised, I had been there to field every call. The investors were angry, and the lock-up period on their investments pissed them off more, but it was the only lifeline I had. Nothing was certain, but I made promises I hoped I could keep—significant structural changes, attractive investment opportunities, and a future of stability and growth. I schmoozed and sugarcoated every morsel of good news I could until I felt like I had a handle on all the major players.

I had six months to deliver. But Frank Bridge was right. It wasn’t a lot of time to work with.

His advice had been sound. Reilly was undoubtedly a scumbag. Deep down, even my father knew it. Perhaps that had made him a shrewd and valuable business partner in their line of work, but a man whose morals were so askew had no place near the fund. I had to get him out, but I wasn’t sure exactly how yet.

As I ruminated on that, Olivia’s parents walked through the doors, their rigid figures clear through the flawless glass wall that separated the entrance from the rest of the building. As if immediately sensing their presence, Olivia went to them. I couldn’t hear their words, but even across the room, I could sense the unease. Olivia’s tense smile, her mother’s stiff posture, her father’s gaze shifting around the room like he’d prefer to be somewhere else.

I made quick strides toward them and held out my hand. “Frank, good to see you again.”

“Will.” He accepted it, shaking my hand firmly, but his expression revealed nothing.

“Oh, Will. I’m Diane, Olivia’s mother.”

Diane was Olivia’s height, with short silver hair and a severe glare under her forced smile. I answered with a warm one, determined to melt the ice queen who had produced the most amazing woman I’d ever met.