Page 86 of Never Bargain with the Boss

I lock eyes with Grace. “Hey, honey, can you call Cole for me? Tell him we’ll be late to babysit Emmett tonight because my…friendshowed up unexpectedly. Thanks.”

I hate to call Austin my ‘friend’ when he’s most definitely not. But I also can’t exactly call him my dad because that would confuse the hell out of Grace and lead to a whole bunch more questions that we really don’t have the time for right now. As it is, I’m praying she understands that something is very, very wrong here and I need her help.

“Uh, okay.” Her brows are furrowed and her eyes ping-pong from me to Austin, who is walking deeper into the house likehe has any right to. The only good thing about that is he’s not trying to talk to Grace or go upstairs because then I would full-blown lose my Mama Bear shit, and I’m trying really hard to de-escalate this dumpster fire of a situation.

“Hurry,” I tell her, and then I chase after Austin, right into the formal living room, where he plops down onto the couch, stretching both his arms out along the back and throwing his feet up on the coffee table. I can see the dirt on his boots falling to the table’s pristine glass surface from here. It feels like a symbol of how he intends to ruin everything for me.

It’s what he always does. I can see that now. Over the years, every time I found some sense of happiness, some tiny shred of hope for better days ahead, he’d show up to shit on it. He’s a ruiner, and one of the big reasons I never dare to dream of the future.

“Wow, Rye. You really got it made in the shade here, don’tcha?”

“Say what you came to say and get the fuck out,” I demand from the doorway, not getting any closer and standing guard between him and Grace. He won’t leave until he’s done that, at least. Fucking up my life as much as he can is a bonus.

“Why’re you being so bitchy? You’d think living in the lap of luxury like this would have you feeling friendlier. Maybe even generous.” He rubs his thumb and first two fingers together meaningfully.

I shake my head, astounded at his unmitigated gall. After all this time and all the damage he’s done, after so much drama and trauma, it all boils down to money?

“That’s what this is? You want money?” He tilts his head and purses his lips like ‘I wouldn’t say no’. “Absolutely not. You’ve never gotten a dime out of me and you never will.”

I see his jaw tighten at the reminder that I have never once given him a single red cent. Hell, by leaving when I did, Iprobably cost him money because they could no longer take in more kids the way they’d planned. That was the only reason he officially adopted me and cut off my state-funded support checks when he did. Well, at least it was the reason he told the court and Beth. I’ve always suspected more, which is why I didn’t hang around to find out.

“You think you’re all high and mighty now that you’re working for some asshole in a suit, taking care of his spoiled brat?”

“Say that again, and I’ll have your ass,” I spit out.

He grins, an evil glint in his eyes as I show my cards too soon. “Rye, don’t you go thinking you’re on their level when we both know you’re not. You don’t deserve any of this rich bitch shit.” He waves a hand around, gesturing at the luxury of Cameron’s home. “You’re nothing but a throwaway, just an unwanted, disposable bitch. That’s all you’ve ever been. All you’re ever gonna be. Hell, your own momma died to get away from you.” He chuckles like that’s funny. Fury boils up inside me, but before I can say a word in retaliation, that sweet bitch Karma has him choking on his own spit and pounding on his chest as he coughs.

Thanks, girl, I tell Karma.

But he’s hitting my triggers, pushing all those buttons that get hard-wired in childhood when a kid goes through something like I did. A throwaway? Yeah, I felt like it every time I’d shove all my belongings in a trash bag and get sent somewhere new. Unwanted? That too, every time I tried to sit with someone at lunch and they’d tell me that seat was taken. I watched and no one ever sat there. They just didn’t want me—the foster kid—to sit with them. Disposable? Forgettable? Unimportant? Yes, yes, and yes.

I’ve done a lot of work on myself over the years to unwrite those scars and heal that damage, but they’re still there… way down deep, right where Austin knows to cut me.

All that self-therapy taught me something else too.

“You’re a small man, Austin Collins. So pathetic and spineless that you can only prey on children, lording over them because you know everyone else sees you for who you are.” I look him up and down, frowning and sneering. “Weak-willed, lazy, manipulative, a user.”

“Don’t speak to me that way. I’m your father?—”

“You’re not my father!” I snap. “And I don’t know why you think throwing that word around will do you any favors when I see how you look at me. How you’ve always looked at me.” I narrow my eyes, letting every bit of the accusation lie thickly in the air.

I have spent my whole life running, cutting my losses before anyone could leave me, and drifting here and there like the wind, not feeling like I was worth a home, a family.

Things are different this time. I finally have something worth standing up for. Love.

I won’t let him steal it from me the way he’s stolen everything else from me in the past. I’m done with Austin. He will never have the hold on me that he once had. Not because he’s weaker, but because I’m stronger.

“You’ve always wanted to keep me small and scared, taking sick pleasure from my being hopeless and lonely, and it worked for a long time. But not anymore. I’m finally happy, and I won’t let you ruin that. Ever. I’ll fight back this time, Austin, and you don’t want that.”

He makes a chuffing sound, dismissing my threat. “You’re not gonna do nothing.”

It’s what he said on the phone that day. Then, it was the push that had me calling Cole. Now, it’s the push I need to go full-bore offensive because the time for defense has long passed.

“I already did.” I hold up my phone even though he can’t see the text I sent Cameron. Just one little letter—X. But Cameron,Grace, and I know the code. It’s what had me rushing to her side at Hannah’s. And hopefully, Grace called Cole and he understood the message. “The calvary is on their way. Probably the police too. I will press charges for harassment, stalking, trespassing, breaking and entering, and whatever else I can.”

I have no idea what I can do legally and am totally talking out of my ass, but I mean every word. Whatever hell I can put Austin through is well-deserved at this point, and I have no qualms about laying out every single one of his appearances, calls, ‘requests’ for money, and veiled threats if it means I’ll never see him again.

He yanks his feet from the coffee table, sitting forward. “You wouldn’t.”