Page 55 of One Quick Obsession

That is what fills me with pride over your other siblings.

Maybe you’re more like me than you ever knew.

- Loren Cage

I looked down at the note and burst out laughing.

“Well. He told me that he was proud of me. It’s practically a declaration of love.”

Flynn took the letter from my hand and shook his head. “So was he proud of you for being in the military or not? I have so many questions on his stance on the military and appointments.”

“I have zero questions for that man. I have my own issues when it comes to that, and he never entered the arena of people that I cared about or their opinions when it came to military service. I can be as conflicted as I fucking want to be about what happened over there, and he has nothing to do with it. But the fact that he’s proud of me because he thinks I killed a man? What the fuck?”

“So he never knew the truth?” Flynn asked, and I ran my hand over my chest.

“What truth is there? Michelle and Jefferson are dead. I might not have pulled the trigger, but he sure as fuck thought I did. Turns out I just need a hint of a felony and breaking one of the commandments for him to love me. Who knew?”

“I should have been taking notes this whole time?” Flynn said, laughter in his voice though it didn’t quite reach his eyes.

We were both failing and trying to make this lighthearted, but hell. Our father had been insane. There was no other word for it.

Without another thought, I did what I had planned on doing when I saw that letter and tore it into pieces before tossing in the trash. “Fuck him. Seriously. I got over Dad being a dick to me long ago. I have my own issues outside of him. Thank you very much.”

“I have a feeling you probably shouldn’t have tested the gods when you said that,” Flynn muttered.

I frowned, then turned as footsteps echoed in my living room.

The day was a day of family reunions, because it looked as if hell had frozen over, and Melanie Cage had decided to walk on Cage Lake grounds after swearing to never come back to this hellhole—her words—again.

“I’m so glad I caught you.” Her gaze went to Flynn. “You too.”

“What are you doing here, Mother?” I ask, confused.

Flynn took a step to me, and in that moment, we were doing our twin thing again, two against one. And honestly, with this woman, I needed the support. We needed the support.

“I’m here because I’m asking for help.”

If she would’ve said she’d murdered a man, I’d have believed before her asking for help.

“Why on earth would I help you?” I asked.

“What do you think we could do for you?” Flynn added right after.

“I’ve made mistakes, and I don’t know how to fix them. Everybody has cut me off, and I need to fix this. We cannot be a proper family if I don’t fix this.”

“How do you think I could help? It’s not like you and I have ever gotten along,” I said dryly.

“Hudson. That’s not the case. And Flynn, I’m your mother. I love you both. All of you.”

“You know, I’ve really had too much family for the day. Dad has already fucked up our family enough and you’ve made mistakes. You have been cruel to people in our family.”

“I might have misstepped, but there has to be a way for me to atone,” my mother added, and I shook my head.

“I’m not the one you need to apologize to. You decided that you didn’t care about me long ago.”

“That’s not true, Hudson. I might not have understood why you joined the military. Or why you came back to Cage Lake. Or why you decided to be your own land baron out here by owning this property and the properties around you. But it made sense. You’re a Cage. I might not understand everything, but I’ve never not loved you.”

My mother kept speaking, but Flynn had stiffened beside me, and I realized that today was a day I really should have fucking locked my door.