Page 179 of Top Shelf

I normally shrink beneath my father’s impatience, but today…

…Today I grow angry.

“Isaac raped me,” I snap right back at him, taking a little bit of pleasure from the penetrating silence that resonates from the other end of the line. It stretches long enough that I check my screen to make sure the call hasn’t dropped.

It hasn’t.

For once in his life, my father is completely speechless.

When he finally finds his voice, it sounds different. Harsher than I’ve heard it before. “What did you just say?”

“You heard me. Isaac raped me.”

There’s something freeing about finally being able to say that aloud.

Another silence follows.

“Are you sure?”

Ouch.My dad sure knows how to show he cares.

Officially out of patience, I snip, “I wouldn’t be calling if I wasn’t certain.”

It’s not an answer, but it’s the only one he’s getting. I don’twant to talk about that night or the years in between. I don’t want to talk about any of it—especially not with my father.

More penetrating silence where I wait to see if he will show an ounce of humanity for his daughter.

I’ve heard my father command boardrooms. I’ve heard him boss players around. However, when my father next speaks, there’s a steeliness in his voice that I’ve never heard before. Even when my father is angry, he is controlled, but now…he doesn’t sound in control.

“What do you need from me?”

41

WREN

The hotel roomdoor swings open before I have a chance to knock. Ronan is standing there, his hair a mess and shirt wrinkled. The look on his face stops me cold.

Relief. Pure, overwhelming relief.

“Jesus,” Lucian curses, shoving him aside. “Where the hell have you been?!”

The next second, I’m being pulled inside and wrapped up in Silas’s arms.

I barely get a chance to sink into his hug before Ronan is peeling me away and turning me to face him. His hands frame my face as he searches me from head to toe. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“Fine?!” Lucian repeats. “You disappear in the middle of the night. You don’t answer your phone. After last night…” He shakes his head. “Do you have any idea how close we were to filing a missing person report?”

I wince.Shit.

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking. I spent the night at Dylan’s.”

The tension in the room pops like a pin to a balloon.

“Next time, leave a note or text one of us, yeah?” Ronanasks, collapsing onto the bed and running a hand down his tired face.

I feel like shit for worrying them. Too lost in my own head, I didn’t think about how it would affect them to wake up and find me gone.