Page 65 of Forbidden Forget-Me-Not

My father swore loudly.

“Did she tell you she hit Julian Harrington for no reason?”

“If she hit him, then it was for a good reason. Kaylani is not violent. As her father, I’d think you’d be more concerned with why she felt the need to strike a man than worrying about your own selfish interests. Let me make myself clear, Father. My sister is not a bargaining chip. I will not be played by you or pushed to betray my sister because you choose to twist facts into fiction.”

I wanted to jump up and cheer

“That girl needs discipline and to be reined in.”

Titus’s gaze flicked to me for the first time.

“She is not the problem,” he said calmly. “Your obsession with ownership is.”

The call ended abruptly without another word. Titus set my phone back on the counter, and for a moment neither of us spoke.

“Thank you,” I managed to say.

“You don’t owe him anything. Not ever.” Titus took a sip of his tea as if he had just wrapped up a conversation about business. “Drink. It will help you sleep.”

I swallowed a mouthful and let the warmth spread throughout my body. My legs felt weak now that the adrenaline had worn off.

“I didn’t mean for any of this to happen,” I mumbled.

“I know.”

Titus leaned back against the counter, his eyes fixed on the far wall like he was looking for something long gone.

“When Father found out about Fawn, he tried to take her from me.”

“What?”

“We kept this from you, but I think it’s time you heard the truth.” Titus sat down and gave me the full weight of his steady stare. “Father wanted Ronan to marry Vera, but I stepped in for him when things turned ugly at dinner.”

“She has a decent clothing line, but I never liked her much. And that whole thing at Nathaniel’s wedding was…wow.”

Titus smirked. “Yes, well. That was our older brother helping me escape an arranged marriage. The point is, when Father got wind that there was more between Fawn and me, he wanted me to end it.”

“I can see that. She doesn’t exactly come from the kind of lineage he would be overjoyed to have attached to the Mikhailov name.”

“That is an understatement. He knew that choosing her made me less useful.” His mouth tightened. “He threatened Fawn. Tried to bribe her. And when that didn’t work, he arranged for her to be kidnapped.”

My stomach dropped. “Is that why you’re not speaking? I knew it was about Fawn, but why didn’t you tell me that part?”

Titus shrugged. “It didn’t feel right to let what happened between us affect how you saw Father.”

“No. You were trying to protect me.” The realization irritated me more than it should have. Once again, I was being handled like something fragile.

“That is part of it,” he admitted, taking the wind out of my sails. “But that was also the moment I realized there was no version of my life where I got both his approval and what I wanted.”

“So, what did you do?”

“I made it clear that I wasn’t going to play by his rules. I went to work for Nathaniel. And I may have shed a little blood to get my point across.”

My jaw dropped. Nothing Titus said could’ve shocked me more. Then again, it was always the quiet ones you had to watch.

“Kaylani, I won’t tell you what to do. Only you know what is right for you. But I will tell you this. You are not alone. It may seem that way because Father’s goal is to make you feel isolated and weak, but you’re not.” Titus stepped forward and rested his hand on my shoulder. “Remember that.”

He left the kitchen, and I moved to the couch in the den. Curling up, I pulled the large throw down over myself while Hailey jumped up beside me.