Thief:A Bad Boy Romance(78)
A lump forms in my throat.
Rowan laughs loudly. “I’m just fucking with you, man. Let’s go stop your wife.”
Chapter Forty
Ivy
Yet again, I’m taking the ferry over the probably more sensible train back to Boston to catch a flight back to New York. But somehow, it feels like a fitting book-end to this debacle of a trip.
I look out at the breakers at the mouth of the harbor, running the tally inside my head. Let’s see, minus one shitty boyfriend, minus one arguably shittier assistant, I’m being sued for breach of contract by my management company, and I may or may not be needed for questioning in conjunction with a possible armed robbery.
Nice, Ivy. Nice.
I’ve also lost the only man who ever truly had my heart.
Again.
Stella strokes my back as we all stand there on the pier, my parents off to one side as we all wait for the ferry that’ll take me away from here.
“You’ve got Beth’s number, right?”
It’s the fifth time Sierra’s asked if I have her lawyer-friend’s number. I nod.
“It might not be her kind of case, but she’ll know people.”
She means my upcoming fight with my own management company over the whole gala debacle.
I smile at her. “I got it, thanks.”
“Bye-bye?”
Carter tugs on my shirt, and I reach down to snatch him up.
“Yeah, buddy, I’m going bye-bye.”
He pouts.
Yeah, I’m definitely going bye-bye. I think I’ve done quite enough mayhem to my own life in the span one trip to Shelter Harbor. It’s time to head back to New York and see if I can try and put things back together.
And at least there, there’s no family around to get the blowback from any of my self-destructive decisions.
“With the fish man?” Carter says earnestly.
I raise a brow at Stella.
“Translate for me?”
My older sister gives me a wry look as she takes Carter into her own arms. “Eh, it’s nothing.”
She looks away and I furrow my brow.
“What?”
Stella glances at Mom and Dad, who’re still standing apart from us, looking out at the Harbor.
“Silas taught him to catch a fish. He hasn’t stopped talking about it.”
I swallow. “When did he meet Silas?”
“Yesterday, when you were in Boston. I thought he should meet his nephew.” She gives me a guilty look. “Sorry, Ivy, I was just trying to help.”
“I know,” I smile. “Thanks.”
“You sure you want to leave?”
I nod. “I think I’ve had enough Shelter Harbor for a while.”
Sierra makes a face. “How long of a while?”
“Ask me at Christmas.”
“Fish man!”
Sierra laughs, and Stella rolls her eyes.
“Yeah honey, the fish man.”
She gives me a look. “Sorry. He’ll be onto something else next time you see him.”
“Fish man!”
She glances at her son. “Carter, honey-”
“Fish man!”
Carter’s grabbing her arms, pointing over her shoulder.
“Carter, what is-”
But I’m following his little finger as I turn and look down the pier.
And there he is.
He’s running towards us, his face fierce and his eyes grim, looking right at me.
“Silas?” Sierra says incredulously.
Our parents turn, and Dad suddenly scowls as he moves between me and the man running towards me.
“Hold up there, son.”
Silas stops short, sucking in a breath of air before meeting my dad’s eye.
“No, sir.”
Jacob Hammond’s face darkens as he draws his full frame up.
“Excuse me?”
Silas holds his ground.
“I said no, sir. Respectfully.”
“Son, you need to-”
“You’re the only family I’ve ever known,” Silas says, his voice almost breaking like the heart in my chest.
“And this is the only place where I belong. Right here, with the only people who’ve ever felt like home.”
Rowan comes jogging up behind him, puffing as he winks at me.
My dad eyes Silas. “You gave that up when you walked away from it, Silas,” he says gruffly. His face darkens. “When you walked away from my daughter.”
Silas shakes his head. “I’m not that guy anymore, sir,” he says fiercely. “I was a dumb kid, and I screwed up.”