Only You (Adair Family #5)(52)

Tears brimmed in Monroe’s eyes as she turned them accusingly on her mother. “I never got that letter or my phone.”

“Which would make sense since I tried calling you for weeks after that.” I took another step toward her. “I let my stupid pride stand in my way because I should have just come to you at school. But I convinced myself you were done with me.”

“That I abandoned you.” A tear slipped down Monroe’s cheek, and I felt her torment like it was my own. Bloody hell. We were a fucking Greek tragedy.

And she wasn’t wrong. Most of it was my doing.

Well, we wouldn’t end as a tragedy. As much as she scared the shit out of me, life with her had to be a million times better than life without her.

Her tear-filled gray eyes flew to her mother. “Why?”

Mrs. Sinclair lifted her chin in arrogance. “You weren’t meant for the likes of an Adair. I always knew that boy would hurt you. I was protecting you.”

“Like you were protecting me when you didn’t tell me my dying father wanted to see me?” she seethed.

What the fuck?

Yesterday, on the beach, when I’d been running and saw Monroe up ahead, it had felt like the world gave way beneath my feet at the sound of her scream tearing through the skies. That sound terrified me. Her agony haunted me. Now I think I knew what had caused the pain.

Rage churned in my gut as I glowered at her mother. “You didn’t.”

“I will not be talked to like this in my own home!”

“Fine.” Monroe shook her head. “Never mind about Dad’s grave. I want nothing from you ever again. I’ll find out for myself. You can rot in isolation for all I care. Never call me again.” Monroe turned and stalked out of sight.

“Just like your father! Abandoning your family! You horrible wee bitch!” Mrs. Sinclair screamed after her.

“Enough!” I barked, and she slammed back in her chair like she was frightened. That furious part of me found a perverse satisfaction in her fear. “You heard Monroe. Never contact her again.”

“Or what?”

“I didn’t protect her from you when I should have … but I won’t make that mistake again. If I have to, I’ll drive you out of Ardnoch to keep you away from Monroe.”

“You can’t do that.”

“You’d be surprised what an Adair can do.”

“You’re threatening me? An old lady? Pathetic.”

“No, what’s pathetic is a woman so filled with spite and self-loathing she isn’t even capable of loving her own child.” I bent my head toward her, voice thick with promise, “Cross Monroe again, and I’ll make you a fucking pariah in this town. Understood?”

She scoffed, “So that’s what’s hiding behind that fake charm of yours. You’re a bully.”

“Takes one to know one.” I cut her one last dark look and marched from that cold cottage. Outside, I searched left and right for Monroe, and relief filled me to find her sitting in her car. I hurried over and got into the passenger side.

Monroe startled, turning to me, face pale, eyes haunted, cheeks tearstained. I wanted to touch her, to wipe the tears from her face, but I knew it was too soon. “Brodan. I thought you left me.”

I knew she spoke of eighteen years ago. “I didn’t. But I did.”

Monroe shook her head. “But I thought you threw me away because of Arran, and I was so angry at you. And all this bloody time, she kept your letter from me. I had to get a new phone, and they wouldn’t transfer my number because you owned it.”

“Shit.” Of course. Technically, Lachlan owned it. He’d obviously stopped paying it and didn’t bring it up because Monroe was not a topic I let anyone discuss.

“All that time,” she whispered, grief-stricken. “All that time lost. And now all that’s left between us is resentment and hurt.”

Her words sliced through me. “That’s not all that’s between us, Roe.”

“Yes, it is.” She turned away. “It doesn’t change the past. It doesn’t change how you’ve treated me. Who you’ve become. I’ve been your target practice, Brodan. But … my heart can’t take it anymore.”

Panic suffused me, and I reached for her hands, gripping tight. “Please give me a chance to prove that’s not who I am. I will never treat you that way again.”

She eyed me incredulously. “I don’t believe you. I loved you once in a way I have never loved anyone.”

Emotion stung my nose and thickened my throat.

“But I love the boy I left behind. I don’t love the man. I could never love someone who has treated me as you’ve treated me.”

Fuck, that hurt. I released her hands and a strained huff escaped as I tried to suck back tears.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, sounding as lost as I felt.

I shook my head. “You’ve nothing to be sorry for,” I told her gruffly. “Goodbye, Monroe.” I got out of her car, the cold late-November air whipping across my skin like a slap from the universe. It made me halt before closing the door.

Monroe was right. There was no way she could love a man who’d treated her like the enemy for the last few months. Who had fucked her and then taunted her.

That was not the man I wanted to be. Ever again.