Page 131 of Bad Influence
“This isn’t revenge,” I say. “Caroline and I love each other. Something you would have realized a lot sooner if you hadn’t built up this idea of Caroline and Beckett in your minds.”
Beckett opens his mouth and Caroline holds up her hand. “Please don’t talk unless you want to get stabbed again.”
“Is that what you want?” Mom cries. “You think that’s the answer to solving problems. I guess we should just start stabbing one another when we have a minor disagreement.”
She picks up a knife from the table and waves it around.
“I mean, you can,” Caroline says slowly. “But that’s a butter knife. It’s not going to do much. You need something sharper.”
I have to hold in a laugh at the outrageousness of her reply.
“Caroline!” Elaine snaps sharply.
“If all else fails you can just use your tongues,” I say.
Now Caroline is the one suppressing her laughter. This conversation is quickly deteriorating.
Caroline tucks her hair behind her ears. “Look, I know you’re all disappointed. What I did wasn’t right, but please understand when I say I felt I was pushed to my limits. I’m clearly a disappointment and no matter how hard I try, nothing is ever going to be enough. I decided to stop fighting.”
She takes a breath. “I know it matters very little to any of you, except for Gerry, but I am happy. I finally feel like there isn’t a giant rock sitting on my chest. If my happiness bothers you, that’s fine. I understand I’m not living the life you want, but it’s the life I want. I’m finally realizing that’s more important.”
I kiss her temple as silence follows her speech.
“Why didn’t you say anything before?” Carter asks.
Caroline laughs dryly. “To whom? No one cares. Admit it to yourself. All my choices have always been wrong even when I've tried making the right ones. This was the catalyst.”
She waves a hand towards Beckett.
“Caroline, if you walk through this door now, you cannot come back,” William Sinclair says.
Jesus fuck, these people will never understand, will they?
I expect her to break and I pull her close, but all she does is smile sadly and nod in acceptance.
“I knew that when I left home,” she says.
“Fuck all of you,” I say.
“Killian, you don’t have to do this,” Caroline whispers.
I ignore her. “All Caroline wants is your love and acceptance and you can’t even be bothered to give her that. She’s funny, smart, and capable of achieving anything she wants but you can’t look past your goddamn demands andproprietiesto see her clearly. It’s unbelievable to me that she actually felt guilty over upsetting you, the same people who don’t give a single fuck about her happiness. You don’t deserve her.”
Beckett laughs. “You can’t be fucking serious. You’re going to get bored of her in two months and she’s going to come back to me.”
“Fuck you, Beckett. We might share DNA, but I’m nothing like you. See, I actually know I’m the luckiest bastard alive because I get to spend the rest of my life with the most amazing woman.”
Beckett’s face turns red. “I’m going to sue her. I can have her arrested. She fucking assaulted me.”
Caroline opens her mouth to argue and I squeeze her hand to let me handle this. Distance really does give perspective because I see clearly I never belonged in their world. I would’ve been fucking miserable.
“You can try,” I tell Beckett. “Go ahead and make a spectacle of the family. Before you do, just know that I have a lot of footage of you and yourassistantdoing a lot of things that are out of her job description.”
Beckett’s eyes are wide in horror and a dawning realization that I’m not joking.
“No one is suing anyone,” my father says. “We’re ending this matter here.”
“But–” Beckett argues. Dad holds up his hand and Beckett falls silent.
