Defending Zara (Mountain Mercenaries #6)(55)

Chapter Seventeen

Meat ground his teeth together and did his best not to say something he’d regret. These were Zara’s grandparents, and he had no right to kick them out before Zara had even met them. But so far, they weren’t exactly making the best impression.

Mr. Harper had immediately wanted to know how much money Meat expected for finding Zara. After he’d explained he didn’t want the man’s money, Mrs. Harper had curled her lip and made an insinuation under her breath that maybe he’d already taken his reward from their granddaughter another way.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, they made it more than clear they weren’t impressed with his house or anything about the decor. After sitting, Zara’s grandmother offered a disparaging comment about his “rustic furniture” and how quaint it was. Her grandfather promptly looked bored and asked if Meat had anything to drink. It was only eleven in the morning, but somehow Meat wasn’t surprised the man wanted alcohol already.

He was still attempting small talk, having reassured them that Zara would be down as soon as she was ready, when Mrs. Harper said, “She knew when we would be here, right? It’s rude to keep us waiting.”

Meat just about lost his cool and was seconds from telling her off when Zara entered the room. Her chin was up, and she didn’t look the least bit intimidated to meet her grandparents, thank God.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t available to speak to you as soon as you got here,” she said, a hint of a Peruvian accent in her tone. Meat hadn’t really noticed it before, but apparently when she got agitated, it was more pronounced. “I was otherwise occupied.”

She walked up to her maternal grandparents and stood in front of them. Instead of standing to give her a hug, to say how thankful they were that she was alive and home after all these years, Mrs. Harper simply held out her hand.

Zara stared at it, but eventually reached out her own to shake it. Her grandfather did the same.

She turned to Meat and frowned as if to say, “What the hell?” and he did his best to keep his facial expression neutral. He was appalled by their behavior and already couldn’t wait for this meeting to be over.

Zara sat on a chair next to Meat, across from the sectional where her grandparents were sitting.

“So, Zara, when do you think you’ll be ready to move back up to Denver?” her grandfather asked.

Zara blinked in surprise. “What?”

“When will you be moving home? Of course, we had to sell Chad and Emily’s house, but there’s a guesthouse on our property you could live in,” he said.

“It’ll take a while to get you fixed up enough to be seen in public,” Mrs. Harper mused. “Your hair is atrocious, so we’ll have to get you some extensions. You’ll obviously need more appropriate clothing as well.”

Meat was incensed by Mrs. Harper’s words. Zara was beautiful just the way she was. Yeah, her hair was a bit uneven, but it was a symbol of her strength, and exactly how much she’d endured and overcome. He actually liked her short hair.

“Why would I move back up there?” Zara asked with a tilt of her head, ignoring the rude comment about “fixing” her so she could be seen in public.

“Because it’s what people expect,” her grandmother said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Zara was silent for a long moment. Then she asked, “Did you even look for me? Wonder what happened to me?”

Mrs. Harper gasped and brought her clutched hands up to her chest as if in shock. “Of course we did! How can you even ask us that?”

“We put up a ten-thousand-dollar reward for your return,” Mr. Harper added indignantly.

“But you didn’t bother to go down to Lima, did you?” Zara asked.

They both looked uncomfortable now.

“There wasn’t any reason for us to go all the way down there,” Mr. Harper answered defensively. “The police said they were doing all they could to find out who’d killed Chad and Emily, and to find you.”

“Meat told me that you sold the house only three months after their deaths,” Zara replied quietly. “You moved on without a second thought about what had happened to me.”

“You have to understand,” Mrs. Harper said. “We were being told that it was highly unlikely you were still alive. My daughter and son-in-law had been killed, and you’d probably been taken away to be raped and murdered. They said your body would never be found, that it was most likely in one of the huge dumps around the city.”

Meat’s hands clenched. What the actual fuck? Were these people really that heartless?

“Besides, even if you were found, it wasn’t as if you could have lived in that house by yourself. The money from the sale went into the trust anyway,” Mr. Harper added. “You’ll still end up with the cash in the long run.”

Zara closed her eyes for a second, and Meat wanted so badly to put his arm around her shoulders, but he sat as still as a statue next to her. These were her family members, and he had to let her take the lead in how to deal with them. Even if they were assholes, they were her blood.

“You think I care about the money?” Zara asked.

“Well, of course,” Mrs. Harper scoffed. “Who wouldn’t? We’re not talking about a couple thousand dollars here, Zara. It’s money your uncle Alan could’ve really used over the years.”