The words had barely left my mouth when my father's hand cracked across my face.
"You've got some nerve! This family raised you all these years. You owe us!"
"What's one lousy rib worth? Ms. Henson is only trying to help a friend. If a woman like her can look past what you are, if she doesn't think you're beneath her, that's your good fortune!"
"Sit tight, marry Ms. Henson, and take care of your brother. Isn't that a damn sight better than playing pilot? Marriage is for parents to decide. You breathe another word about breaking it off and I'll snap your legs. As far as I'm concerned, I never had a son like you!"
My father was a farmhand, all muscle, and that blow landed hard.
The taste of blood flooded my mouth at once.
I pressed a hand to my face and dragged the corner of my mouth into a bitter twist.
Seeing him rear back for another hit, Ursula finally spoke, unhurried.
"Enough. Laying hands on my fiancé right in front of me. Are you trying to humiliate me?"
My father bobbed his head in a rush. "No, no, never. Thomas, your dad didn't mean it. Don't take it to heart, all right?"
"Ms. Henson, you two talk. His mother and I will go make Thomas some plum tea. It's his favorite."
I watched them haul those two boxes of cash into the house, barely able to wait.
Something in my chest went hollow with grief.
These were my parents.
For money, they'd fawn over the mistress who'd torn apart their son's relationship.
And only for money would they ever bother to show me a kind face.
Ursula sighed.
"Thomas, I know you're devoted to your family, that more than anything you want peace under one roof."
"Look at me. I'm the only one who doesn't mind that you've got a pack of bloodsuckers for relatives, the only one who can keep your parents in line and give you what you want. Come on, stop this. Does your face hurt?"
There was a lofty charity in her tone, as if she were handing something down to me.
That was Ursula. No one was better at turning a person's soft spot into a blade to force them to cave.
She reached out to touch my face. I turned aside.
"Spare me the fake concern, Ms. Henson. If the money bought my brother a house, then let him pay it back."
"The million from before, I'll return to you. After that, we're square."
Her face darkened in an instant, and I saw the dawning suspicion in it, the sense that something was slipping out of her grip.
She was about to say something when Aaron looped his arm through mine, coaxing.
"Thomas, don't be so stubborn. You've only been a captain for six months. Where would you get that kind of money?"
"Oh. Unless you've latched onto someone new?"
I shook him off in disgust. "None of your business!"
Aaron lost his footing and pitched backward.
Ursula caught him fast and glared at me, seething. "Thomas Harding, Aaron was only trying to help, and even with a guilty conscience you didn't have to put your hands on him. Apologize. Now!"
I let out a cold laugh, biting off each word. "Not a chance!"
Then, without a second's hesitation, I walked out.
Behind me came Ursula's furious warning.
"Thomas Harding, you'll regret this!"
I didn't slow down. I didn't look back.
Back at my apartment, just as I was about to reach out to my landlord about ending the lease, the doorbell rang.
Puzzled, I opened the door. Two officers flashed their badges and a search warrant.
"Mr. Harding, someone reported a theft."
"Step aside, please. We need to search the premises immediately."
And behind them, arms crossed, Ursula leaned against the wall, watching me with a smile playing at her lips.
Two minutes later, they pulled that limited-edition watch of hers out of my bag.
Once she confirmed it was hers, the officers turned to me, grave and cold.
"Mr. Harding, we'll need you to come with us."
A strange, hollow laugh rose in me.
That watch. The night of the party, in the private room, her strap had gotten soaked with liquor.
She'd taken it off herself and asked me to hold on to it.
And now she was using that against me, framing me as a thief.
"So this is how you settle the score for Aaron?"
