“What are you leaving, Mama?”

  “I’m leaving her some money, Harrison. Adalee’s mother and I were very good friends, once upon a time.”

  That’s news to me. I didn’t know that my mother knew Adalee’s mom. I didn’t know they were close. I didn’t know any of that.

  “Is that why she came to live here?”

  “She was dying: just like I am now. I told her Adalee could come and that I would take care of her little girl.”

  “But why didn’t Daddy tell her?”

  “Your father will never tell her, Harrison, and you can’t, either. Not if you know what’s good for you.”

  “Okay, Mama.”

  It doesn’t make sense. Doesn’t Adalee deserve to know why she came to live with us? I’ve seen her thinking about it. Sometimes she doesn’t know that I’m watching her, but I can tell. She gets this look on her face where she’s just...really, really sad.

  And my heart aches for her.

  “Harrison, if your father...”

  “What is it, Mama?”

  “If your Daddy ever tries to hurt Adalee, you have to protect her, okay?”

  Hurt her?

  Why would Dad ever try to hurt her?

  Then I think of Spike. I think of how my father hurt my dog when I didn’t expect it. That’s when I know that I have to make this promise.

  I have to do whatever it takes to keep Adalee safe from my father, from my enemies, from everyone.

  “I promise, Mama.”

  “If he takes away her money for school, it’s okay. I’ve already talked to the school, and I’ve set up a way for her education to be paid for, okay? I want Adalee to have a good life, Harrison. I want you to have a good life, too.”

  “Thank you, Mama,” I whisper, but then I start to cry because I realize this is probably going to be the last time I ever see my mother, and I’m not ready to say goodbye to her.

  I’m not ready for any of this.

  The idea that Adalee and I might have somehow found a way to make a relationship between us work feels impossible, and incredible.

  “I need to tell you something,” I tell her.

  It’s on the edge of my tongue. I should admit everything. I should tell her that my mother has been watching over her from beyond the grave. I should tell her that I’ve kept a close eye on the guys who have been interested in her.

  I’ve personally made sure that nobody fucks with her. Every fucking guy at Crescent Academy knows that if he messes with Adalee, he messes with me. Maybe this has limited her dating prospects, but then again, maybe not. She wasn’t a virgin yesterday, so maybe I didn’t do as good of a job protecting her from assholes as I thought I did.

  “What is it?” She whispers, and her eyes are wide and bright and she’s looking at me like I’m going to save her from everything, and that’s the problem.

  I want to.

  I want to save her.

  I want to rescue her from everything I possibly can.

  Including the pain of knowing that I’ve been hiding her past from her. I know she wonders where she’s come from. I guess I’ve always just hoped that there would be a good time to tell her.

  Is this it?

  Is this the right time?

  Will there ever be a more appropriate time than now?

  Suck it up, buttercup.

  “I need bigger balls,” I finally say, choking out an awkward laugh.

  “What?” She looks confused, and then she glances down. “I mean, they’re fine,” she says carefully.

  “Fine?” Now I’m suddenly self-conscious, and I, too, risk a glance. Then I shake my head. “No, not that. I mean, I need to be more confident and blunt.”

  “Oh,” she blushes. “About what?”

  “About...Adalee, I need to tell you something.”

  “What is it? Harrison, you’re scaring me. I mean, are you going to tell me that you filmed this or something? Or that this was some sort of bet?”

  “Sounds like you’ve been watching too many 90s teen flicks.”

  “Maybe they’re my guilty pleasure.”

  “Adalee, it’s about my mom.”

  “Your mom?” She raises an eyebrow, and I know what she’s thinking. Why the hell am I thinking about my mom after we just slept together?

  It’s not like that.

  “My mom...before she died...Adalee, she told me some stuff.”

  She stiffens, awkwardly, nervously. I hate that I’m making her feel uncomfortable, but I feel uncomfortable too. That’s the problem with being honest. It never really feels that great.

  “What kind of stuff?”

  “She told me that she was best friends with your mother.”

  Silence.

  Utter silence.

  “Did you know that?”

  Still more silence.

  Okay, so she didn’t know.

  “They went to college together,” I say. “And they were friends. Your mom got sick. She got sick and she couldn’t take care of you, so she asked my parents to take you.”

  “That’s why they took me?” She whispers, and her voice starts to crack just a little.

  “Yes.”

  “But your dad...”

  Now it’s my turn to be tense.

  My dad?

  What the fuck has my dad done?

  “Adalee, what did he do?”

  “He said...I mean, I thought...”

  “Adalee?”

  She starts to cry, and I grab her, pulling her close.

  “Shhh, it’s going to be okay,” I promise, but I don’t actually know if that’s true or not.

  “I thought I owed you all a debt,” she whispers finally.

  “What?”

  “Your dad. He made me think...I thought...I thought he’d sold my mom drugs, or that he’d bought me from her.”

  “What the fuck?”

  Is she serious right now?

  That sounds so fucking crazy.

  It also sounds exactly like something my damn father would do.

  “Did he say that to you?”

  “Not in so many words, but Harrison...there’s more...”

  She takes a deep breath, and I hold very still because there’s no way I’m doing anything that could scare her or startle her. Not now. I want the truth: as much of it as I can handle, and I don’t know how much that is.

  “Your dad keeps tabs on me, Harrison. He wants me to seduce you and convince you that we should get married because he wants me to have power over your finances. He wants to make a move on the money your mom left, and he...Harrison, I wasn’t going to do it.”

  Now it’s my turn to tense. Of course, she wasn’t going to do it, but my dad?

  That’s what my dad has planned for me?

  He’s been planning on trying to get Adalee to seduce me so he could weasel his way into my trust fund?

  I don’t even give a shit about the money. He can have it for all I care. He’d hurt Adalee to get to it, though? That’s shady as fuck.

  “I know,” I say.

  “It’s why I never made a move on you,” she whispers, and she’s still crying. “I didn’t want you to think that I was only doing it because of him. I’ve liked you for so long, but I always thought that if your dad knew, that if he found out...”

  “He’d use it against you.”

  “And I owed him.”

  “You don’t owe my father shit, Adalee.”

  “He gave me so much,” she whispers.

  “Adalee, if you still think you owe my family anything – anything – then consider your debt repaid. I love you, Adalee, and I’m never going to let him hurt you again.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Adalee

  THE NEXT MORNING, AFTER a long night of soul-sharing with Harrison, I report for duty outside of Frank’s office. I know that he’s going to have a lot to say to me. At least, I suspect that he will.

  Not that I really care.

  I ate way too much yesterday and I didn’t weigh in. I didn’t even text him or check in with him. Harrison took my phone and read through all of the messages between his father and me. If that wasn’t enough to convince him that his dad is a prick, then I think the collection of emails I’ve saved over the years did.

  The good thing is that Harrison seems like he not only believes me, but that he takes my side, and that he knows his father has been hard on me, and hurtful. I think that’s more than I ever could have hoped for, really, but it doesn’t make what happens next any easier to deal with.

  “Are you going to stand out there all day?” Frank’s gruff voice sounds. “Or are you going to come inside?”

  Well, shit. I forgot he has security cameras outside of his office. Of course he does. I look to my left and see one pointed directly at me. Like an idiot, I wasn’t paying attention. No, I didn’t sneak up on him.

  No, I didn’t surprise him.

  He knows more than people think he does. He knows everything, probably, and that isn’t necessarily a good thing.

  “Yeah,” I say, and I push the door open. Closing it behind me, I take a look around the office. I look everywhere but at Frank because I need a second to get over myself. More than anything else right now, I need to play this totally cool.

  I need to be one hundred percent normal because I do not – and I mean, I do not – want him to know what happened between me and Harrison.

  That’s our little secret, and if it’s up to me, it’s something I’m going to take to the grave.

  I might be able to tell Frank to get lost, but I’m not going to throw his kid under the bus. Harrison and his father...well, their relationship is their own. It really has nothing to do with me, and I’m not interested in interjecting.

  I look at the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves that line the walls of the room. Frank doesn’t deserve a place as wonderful as this. That’s what this office is: fantastically wonderful. He doesn’t deserve this one bit.

  He deserves to be locked in a cage. If I had my pick of where he’d be located, that would be it.

  But here he sits.

  Finally, I look at him. He gestures to the chairs in front of his desk. He’s behind his desk, leaning back in his leather chair. He looks like he owns the place, like he’s never worked a damn day in his life.

  “Sit down.”

  I don’t fight him. I just move ahead. My legs are numb and seem to move on their own. I find myself sitting in one of the chairs, and I look up at him.

  “Weight,” he says.

  And this is the moment.

  This is the moment I’ve been waiting for.

  This is the moment where I decide whether I’m going to keep the status quo or if I’m going to risk it all.

  Am I willing to throw away everything to get what I want?

  If I tell Frank what I weigh, I’m submitting to his lifestyle regime. I’ll be consenting to this childish game of cat and mouse. I’ll be doing exactly what he wants.

  I’ve been paying for the sins of my mother for my entire life. The worst part of all is that now I know my mother is an innocent. She didn’t do anything to Frank except befriend his wife, and that’s something he couldn’t have. He couldn’t deal with someone Lily loved. Lily wasn’t allowed to have people in her life. Not if they weren’t Frank.

  So he wants me to pay for that. He wants me to constantly and consistently pay this unbearably high price.

  Do I want to keep paying?

  I don’t know exactly why he doesn’t like the idea of my mother. Maybe he just hated that Lily had a friend she could confide in. Maybe he dislikes that Lily brought me into their home without consulting him. I don’t know.

  But I do know that I don’t want to spend the rest of my life afraid.

  The little time I spent with Harrison up in the attic and out in the garden was freeing, and it made me realize something.

  I’ve never felt as free as I do when I’m with him. Being around Harrison is fucking fantastic. It’s wonderful. Liberating. When I’m with him, I feel like I’m totally unstoppable. Unbeatable. I feel like I can fly and nothing and no one can stop me.

  That’s how I feel.

  That’s how I want to keep feeling.

  But I have to stand up to Frank, and something tells me that it’s now or never. If I tell him no, if I make this move, then that’s it.

  I might not get to finish high school.

  I might not get to live here another day.

  I might not...

  I might be giving up everything.

  Can I risk it all for Harrison?

  For myself?

  For my freedom?

  “Weight,” he repeats, and I know suddenly what I have to do.

  “I’m not weighing in over Christmas break,” I tell him honestly. The words seem to fall out of my mouth before I can stop them. I can practically see them tumbling out: weighty and heavy, but at least I’ve spoken the truth.

  I can’t tell what changed in me recently. Maybe it was seeing my best friend, Emilia, fall in love with someone. Maybe it was realizing that I’m going to be trapped under his thumb forever. Maybe it was realizing that making love to Harrison felt good – really good – and I never want to give up the way he makes me feel.

  I don’t know.

  I do know that Frank is shocked – utterly appalled – by my statement.

  “Excuse me?”

  “You heard me. No more weigh-ins. They’re demeaning, and I’m tired of being hungry all of the time.”

  “I think you’ve forgotten your place,” he says, standing up.

  “No, I don’t think I have,” I tell him. “I think you’ve forgotten yours.”

  Okay, now I definitely know that I’m pushing too hard, but I can’t seem to stop myself now that I’m getting going.

  “You’ve had me under your thumb since I was a kid. Ever since I came to live here, you’ve been bossing me around, and you haven’t ever cared what I think.”

  “Children don’t get opinions.”

  “That’s what you say. You’ve always said that. Well, I’m tired of being your whipping girl, Frank. No more bossing me around. I’m going to finish school and then I’m going to walk away. You’ll never see me again.”

  “That’s not going to happen. I’m your legal guardian,” he says.

  “Not anymore,” I point out. “I had a birthday. I’m 18 now. No guardian needed.”

  It’s a freeing thought.

  “You don’t know who you’re messing with, little girl,” he says.

  “Actually, I think I do,” I say. “I know exactly what you are, Frank. You’re a fucking bully. You think you can boss people around. You think you can call them names. You think that everyone in the damn world needs to bend to you and why? Because you’re rich? There’s more to life than money,” I tell him.

  “You won’t feel that way when I pull my financial support from your school.”

  “Maybe that’s true,” I say. “But I’ve had plenty of time to think about this, and I’ve already contacted Crescent Academy about scholarship opportunities. I know they have some, and I’m applying. You aren’t going to keep me from graduating, and you aren’t going to force me into marrying your son.”

  Besides, I’ll do that all on my own, if I get my say.

  It will be my say, though.

  It’ll be my choice.

  I’m not letting Frank pressure me into a marriage I’m not ready for. When Harrison and I are both at the right age, and the right point in our lives, and we’re both totally committed, then yeah, we’ll get married.

  Not a moment sooner.

  Not a moment later.

  “What’s my son going to think when he finds out I sent you to seduce him?” Frank asks. He plants his hands on his desk. “I have plenty of emails between us detailing the entire plan for you to make him fall in love with you so that we can manipulate him together.”

  “I’ve already read the emails,” Harrison says, walking into the office. Both Frank and I turn to see him standing in the doorway. Okay, so I’m happy to see him, but I had no idea he was planning on interrupting this little discussion.

  “Harrison? What are you doing here?”

  “Something I should have done a long time ago,” he says. “Dad, I’m out. I’m leaving your house, and you won’t hear from me again. Cut me out of your will or whatever it is you need to do: I don’t care. My tuition at Crescent Academy is already paid, and although I appreciate Adalee’s willingness to apply for scholarships, Mom set up a fund just for her to pay for her education.”

  She did?

  Lily set something up for me?

  I don’t know whether I should cheer or cry. The thoughtfulness of Harrison’s mom completely overwhelms me. I had no idea.

  “If you walk out that door,” Frank says. “Then don’t ever come back.”

  “I won’t,” Harrison says. “And neither will Adalee.”

  He takes my hand and hauls me out of the office without a backwards glance.

  “Wait,” I tell him. “My backpack.”

  “It’s already in the car,” he says. I had packed it earlier, just in case things with Frank didn’t go well. “Mine is out there, too,” he says.

  We see Margaret in the lobby as we prepare to leave the house, and she’s smiling.

  “I knew you could do it,” she says. “I knew you’d find a way.”

  “What’s going on?” Tamara comes marching out of one of the offices. Her too-high heels teeter for just a moment, and then she looks at us. “What are you doing?”

  “Getting lost,” Harrison says.

  “You can’t just leave,” Natasha appears. I really can’t tell her and Tamara apart very well. They both wear too much makeup and their hair is piled way too high.

  “Actually, they can,” Margaret turns to them. “And so can I.”

  “Margaret?” Frank appears in the doorway to his office. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

  “Consider this my resignation,” Margaret says. She turns then and walks ahead of us out the front door. Harrison looks at me and shrugs. Okay, so apparently ol’ Margaret has had just enough of Frank’s crap as we have.

  Well done.

  Together, Harrison and I leave the house. Frank, Natasha, and Tamara are all screaming at us as we head outside. Harrison’s dad gave him a car, and I can see now that it’s parked in the front driveway. Margaret is standing beside it.