Gold (All that Glitters #2)(72)

“Say something!”

“No! It wasn’t just the money. It was you, too…I liked being with you, too.”

“Not just the money,” he murmured, stunned.

She covered her face with her hands and took a steadying breath. “That’s not what I meant.”

“Sir,” someone called, interrupting their argument, “it’s time for your speech.”

“I’ll just be a minute,” he said, not turning around. His eyes were hard. “When I get back…you should figure out exactly what you do mean.”

Hugh left her alone on the balcony. The door closed behind him.

“Fuck!” she yelled into the silence.

She closed her eyes and tried to piece herself back together. Things hadn’t just spiraled out of control with her accusation about him being married. It had plummeted to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

What the hell am I going to say to him? Everything he had said hit too close to home. She had been digging him. Though she had never clarified, she had thought they were on the same page. Now, it looked like they hadn’t even been reading the same book.

She was trying to figure out what to say to him when her cell phone went off in her purse. She jolted out of her thoughts and stared down at it in shock. She had forgotten that she even had it with her. No one had called her all summer. She had received messages from Trihn online but not phone calls.

She pulled the phone out of her purse and saw her dad’s number. What the f*ck?

“Hello?”

“Sweetheart! I’m glad I could reach you. I don’t know what time it is in Spain.”

How does he even know I’m here? I hadn’t told him before fleeing the country. Maybe Pace.

“Hi, Daddy,” she said uncertainly. “It’s midnight.”

“Honey, Celia went into labor. I really need you to come home.”

“What?” she asked. “You want me to fly back from Barcelona for the baby?”

“Bryna,” he said, surprisingly sweet, “I know you don’t approve of this. I know you don’t approve of Celia or Pace or what happened with your mother. But I don’t want you to blame the new baby for those things. She’s going to be your half-sister. Your baby sister.”

Her heart constricted at that word.

“She’s completely innocent in this, and I want her to grow up knowing her sister. I need our family together even though we haven’t been much of a family lately.”

“Lately,” she mumbled.

“Since your mother left.”

“Yeah…left.”

“We’re not perfect. No family is. But without you, we’re not even complete. I’m not going to command you to come back. You’re almost nineteen-years-old, and you can make your own decisions, but I want you here. Celia wants you here. We love you. What do you say?”

Hugh’s face appeared at the door, and he still looked pissed. Great.

She took a deep breath. “I’ll have to think about it and get back to you.”

“Thank you for at least considering it. We hope you come back. Your birthday is next week, and I know we’d all like to celebrate together.”

She was stunned as she hung up the phone with her father. The new baby, her father acting like…a father, him wanting to celebrate her birthday—she didn’t know what to make of any of it.

“Well?” Hugh said. He crossed his arms and looked at her.

She could see all the love and devotion underneath the tension in his shoulders.

Bryna sighed. “I don’t think I can say anything to make this better. I didn’t want to hurt you. I thought we were on the same page. I thought this was what I wanted, but I guess it’s not.” She hated the look of pain that crossed his face. “My stepmother just went into labor in Los Angeles…”

“Then, maybe you should go to L.A. to be with her.”

She swallowed, hearing the dismissal in his voice. “Yeah, I guess I should.”

Hugh closed his eyes and released a deep breath. “Here.” He held out the box with the necklace. “Keep this.”

She stared at it, slightly horrified. “I can’t take this.”

“I’m not going to return it or give it to someone else.” Their eyes met across the distance between them. “And I’d say you’ve earned it.”

Bryna flinched at his harsh words as he placed the necklace in her hands. “I wish it hadn’t turned out this way,” she told him truthfully.

“Yeah, well, I was the idiot who fell for it.”

“Hugh,” she whispered.

He shook his head. “I really don’t want to hear it. Take your spoils and go.”

She pushed the box back into his hands. “No. I don’t want it. You shouldn’t give it to me. I don’t deserve it.”

“Fine.” Hugh flung the box over the balcony.

Bryna’s mouth dropped open. She looked over the side and listened to the crunch as it hit the ground four stories below them. “I can’t believe you just did that.”

“It was worthless.” He turned his back on her and looked out at the city. “Just go.”

She tilted her head, refusing to acknowledge the wobble in her chin at his words. She deserved his anger. But it was for the better that it was ending. She couldn’t keep living this life, and she didn’t want to hurt him. He was a good guy. He needed to find someone who could love him back just as fiercely.