Page 70 of Divine Sense
“Parker called Hank and told him you were arrested. Then I begged Parker to give me Hank’s number so I could call him and find out where you were. I amsosorry, I can’t believe any of that happened. My parents, my father?—”
“Shh, it’s fine. Just breathe, it’ll be okay.” I pulled her back into my chest and squeezed her, patting her hair down in an attempt to console her. I looked at my friends who were watching us, bewildered, because I hadn’t gotten the chance to explain what happened. I turned and looked at the group of cops who were watching us like we were prey and got an uneasy feeling in my gut. “Let’s get out of here.”
Our group left the station and agreed to meet back at my place. It was nearly ten o’clock and while I just wanted to go home and pretend like this day never happened, I knew my friends weren’t going to accept that. They all piled into Malcolm’s car and I helped Magnolia into her car. After buckling her in and taking my seat behind the wheel, I realized my own car was at the Sinclairs and I would need to figure out how to get it back.An issue for another day.
Before pulling out of the parking lot, I looked towards her and noticed how the light from the streetlamp reflected off of her sage green eyes. She studied me for a beat before tears burst from her eyes. She covered her face with her hands. I reached across the console and rested a hand on her thigh.
“Flower,” I tried.
“I’m so sorry. If I had just kept my mouth shut none of this would have happened. You wouldn’t have been arrested, we could have just kept pretending, my parents wouldn’t hate me,” she sobbed.
“Your parents don’t hate you, angel, they couldn’t. They’re just upset, that’s all.”
“You don’t understand. I only just got to the police station because I was finally able to leave their house. Kolbi, they kicked me out.” Her waterlogged eyes looked at me now. “I tried to convince them that we were good, that you were good, that you made me happy. But they wouldn’t listen.” Her voice broke and she dropped her head. “They told me to get out and not come back. They said that if I was choosing you then I couldn’t have them or anything to do with our family.”
“What?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I knew the Sinclairs could be ruthless people but I never imagined they would resort to cutting off their own daughter because of who she loved.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do. They’ve given me everything. Everything I have or own is because of them. And I’m pretty sure they just took it all away from me.” She started to cry again, her breath becoming more labored as she broke down into heavy sobs. I got out of the car and walked to the passenger’s side where she was and opened the door. Reaching across her lap, I unbuckled her seatbelt and pulled her from the car before wrapping my arms around her into a hug in the middle of the parking lot. I wish I could do more to help her but this would have to do.
“Hey, hey, listen to me,” I encouraged, trying to get her to slow down and catch her breath. “It’s going to be okay. You’re going to be okay. I’ll make sure of it, okay? I promise.”
“But what about your business, your work? What if it all goes down the drain because of me? Because of what happened tonight?” She looked up at me with so much despair as the tears continued to stream down her face.
“Then so be it. I’ll start over. I’ve built a successful business once and I’ll do it again if I have to. As long as I have you, I’llbe okay. We’ll be okay. I promise to take care of you, whatever happens. I’m in your corner.” I leaned down and kissed her finally, something I’d been longing to do since I saw her wearing her party dress earlier in the afternoon. “And you know what else?”
She used the back of her hand to wipe away some tears. “What?”
“I’m really fucking proud of you.”
“You’re…proud of me?” Her eyes were confused as she stared up at me.
“Really fucking proud of you.” I squeezed her hands in mine and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “For sticking up to your parents, for standing up for yourself. You’d never done that before and I’m proud of you for finally doing it. You are the strongest woman I know and I love you more than anything.” She let out a wet laugh that almost sounded like a cough before tucking herself in against my chest again.
“I love you too. With everything I am.”
44
MAGNOLIA
The following few weeks were hellish at best. While Kolbi believed my parents would calm down and come around, they had done the complete opposite.
They had seen my act of going after him as the ultimate act of betrayal and subsequently cut me off from everything I’d ever known. I’d stayed at his place for a few days after the party while things calmed down. When I went back to my condo to get fresh clothes and to check on my place, I couldn’t get in. I tried every key on my key ring and even tried the numbered lock on the back door, but there was no use. The locks had been changed as had the code. Because my parents bought my condo, it belonged to them and they had access to the property. Knowing my mother, she probably had someone sent over as soon as she realized I wasn’t staying there and had the locks changed without telling me. Soon after, my credit card had been cut off and embarrassingly declined one afternoon while I tried to treat Margaret and I to lunch.
She had warned me. She had told me time and time again for years that everything I had could be taken away from me if Idisobeyed or stepped out of line. It was how she and my father got me to be a dedicated and devoted daughter my entire life. They had raised me to live to a certain standard, to have certain expectations in life, and then used that comfort and security like a carrot, dangling it in front of me with the constant threatening undertone that it could be snatched away from me at any minute.
And it had been snatched.
Kolbi encouraged me to try and call them, to try and make amends and patch up our relationship. And I tried—I did—but every time I rang the house and someone picked up, neither of my parents were around to speak to me. I could hear the fear in the person’s voice who’d picked up and could just imagine my mother looming in the corner next to the phone making sure they made it known that I was no longer welcome there.
The fallout from Kolbi and my father’s fight became a local news headline. The papers reported on how the owner of the city’s largest security firm had gotten into it with the head of the Sinclair empire and why it happened in the first place. My name was splashed across the back white pages and outlandish tales of our relationship were spun for the sake of the morning news. Surprisingly enough, all the papers leaned in favor of what Kolbi did instead of away from it. All of them, minus a select few, painted him as a valiant hero who was out to protect his girlfriend from her enraged father. A father who—after a video of him slapping me went viral online—dropped out of the race for senator. I’d tried to reach out to him directly to apologize for not being honest with him but he ignored my calls as well.
Kolbi and I had fallen into a routine together over the last four weeks. He’d invited me to stay with him when we realized I could no longer get into my condo and was kind enough to take me shopping for new clothes and essentials since all of my stuff was trapped inside a home I could no longer get into. I wascoming in from a walk around lunch one Tuesday afternoon, not really knowing what to do with my time now that I was no longer required to be at functions or benefits with my parents, when my phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out and felt my heart jump when I realized it was our house number calling. Sitting on the steps just inside his house, I took a deep breath before answering, trying not to get excited that my mother was finally reaching out.
“Hello?”
“Yes, is this Magnolia Sinclair?” A voice I didn’t recognize said from the other side of the phone.
“Yes? Who is this?” I asked, trying to place the voice. I knew everyone who worked in our house but this voice was completely new to me.
