Kenzi stood. “No, I’m not on something. I’m tired of pretending to be happy when I’m not.”
Sophie looked to her husband and then back at her daughter. “This is why you won’t take our calls? We’ve always celebrated your birthday in March. Ever since you were a baby. It never bothered you before.”
“It has always upset me. But you don’t know that because I’ve never told you. That’s the point. I can’t remember ever having a real birthday party. I should have had one. I should have told you I wanted one.”
Sophie searched Kenzi’s face. “Are you saying you want a party?”
Kenzi threw her hands up in frustration. “No, this isn’t about a party. It’s about me and all the things I’ve been too afraid to tell you. I can’t keep it all in anymore. You need to know how I feel. I’m so angry with you about so many things. I hate that you sent me away. Why couldn’t you listen to what I wanted? Why couldn’t we fight about it like normal families do? You packed me up and sent me away. Just because you didn’t approve of my friends?”
“It wasn’t just your friends. We couldn’t let you date Dean Henderson. We love him, but after he was arrested you had to understand why we didn’t want him around you.”
“I was never going to date Dean, and he wasn’t the problem,” Kenzi snarled. In the face of Kenzi’s anger, Sophie began to shake with emotion. Kenzi had never spoken to her mother this way before, but she couldn’t stop. It was as if a pressure valve had popped off, and what she’d held back for so long was too much to contain. She wouldn’t have brought her anger to their door, but she was in her own home, already retreating as much as she was willing to. Like a cornered animal, she lashed out. “I tried to tell you that back then, but you didn’t believe me. Or you didn’t care how I felt. I don’t know. I wasn’t allowed to talk about it. We’ve never been allowed to talk about anything that matters because everyone is so afraid to upset you that we all suffer in silence.”
“That’s enough, Kenzi,” her father warned. He stood, placing himself between Kenzi and Sophie. “I won’t have you speaking to your mother this way.”
“Then you’d better leave, because I haven’t even begun to share what I’m holding in.”
Sophie stood next to Dale. “What happened? This isn’t our Kenzi.”
Kenzi hugged her arms around herself. “Yes, it is. The real me. I don’t want to be in Boston. I don’t want to be pressured to visit you. Game night is a joke. The only reason we go is the same reason we do anything, Mom, because it’s what you want. Bad things happen to everyone, but you’ve let one tragedy rule all of our lives. I’m sorry my twin died. I’m sorry you went through that, but do we all have to pay the price because you blame yourself for something that would have probably happened even if you hadn’t been out of the country? It wasn’t your fault, but it wasn’t mine, either. I love you, Mom, but I won’t feed into your fantasy that we’re one big happy family anymore. Because we’re not. We never have been. I’m just the only one with the courage to tell you.”
Tears began pouring down Sophie’s face. She was pale when she turned slowly and walked out the door.
Dale turned on his daughter, angrier than she’d ever seen him. “If your goal was to hurt your mother tonight, you succeeded. I hope you’re proud of yourself.”
Only after the door had slammed behind her father did Kenzi sink into the couch and cover her face with her hands. She replayed the scene with her parents in her head, and each time she felt worse. All of it was true, but she regretted how she’d said it. On impulse, she picked up the note Dax had sent her.
Am I? Am I stronger than what I’m facing? It doesn’t feel that way.
She picked up her phone. Dax’s number was still in the phone history. Calling him made no sense. She hadn’t heard from him since their date. He was probably back in London. Probably already with another woman.
None of that stopped her from choosing his number. It rang once and she almost hung up. He picked up on the second ring, “Marshall.”
“Dax? It’s Kenzi.”
Kenzi?
What the fuck?
Still in Boston, fresh from a heated call from Dean Henderson, Dax’s adrenaline was pumping. That little shit had the balls to warn him to back off Poly-Shyn.
Dax had almost told Dean he’d already lost interest in the venture, but Dean kept the threats coming until Dax lost his temper. “Be very careful, Dean.”
“You be careful. Go back to London. Stay away from Poly-Shyn and Kenzi Barrington.”
“What does Poly-Shyn have to do with Kenzi?”
“Nothing, but I know you took her to dinner. I know your reputation, and the last thing she needs is someone like you messing with her. Stay the fuck away from her.”
“Or what?” Dax asked the question even though all sense told him not to.
“You’d be wise not to stick around to find out. If you’re looking for a fight, I’ll bring it every time, and I always win.” Dean had hung up before Dax had the chance to bring it right then.
See, this is why people need to learn to shut the fuck up. Now I have to acquire Poly-Shyn just to teach that little shit a lesson. He called his team in for a meeting and ordered them to start buying Poly-Shyn shares as soon as the market opened in the morning. It was a classic English maneuver to strike without warning before the company had time to have their first meeting of the day, but it was effective. His team was experienced with his methods. They knew how much to buy, the contacts necessary within the company, and what to release to the press. As usual, his team would handle the paperwork side; he’d handle the fallout.
He was still pondering how Dean had known about Kenzi and what their relationship was when she called.
“Is this a bad time?” she asked. The hitch in her voice told him it was for her.
He took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “It’s not the best.”
“Sorry,” she said, “I shouldn’t have called. It’s probably late where you are.”
He swore and sat down at his desk, hating how abrupt he’d been with her. “I’m still in Boston. Don’t hang up. What did you want, Kenzi?”
The line was silent for a long moment, then she said, “The truth?”
“Always.”
“I needed to hear your voice.”
Her answer knocked the breath clear out of him. He’d spent the last two days telling himself she’d be better off if he stayed away from her. He hadn’t gone as far as to fly back to London, but he’d almost convinced himself that staying had nothing to do with her. Now there she was, telling him she needed him? It was enough to nearly kill a man who was trying not to take advantage of the situation. “Did something happen?”
“Yes.”
His conversation with Dean was quickly forgotten in the face of Kenzi’s distress. He sat straighter in his chair, already angry with whoever had hurt her.
“I hurt someone I love very much,” she added sadly. “I said things I shouldn’t have. I didn’t mean to. It’s just that once I started speaking everything gushed out. How do I say sorry when what I said was true?”
Dax couldn’t remember the last time someone had turned to him with a problem that wasn’t business related. He wasn’t sure where to begin. “Who did you hurt?”
“My parents.” She paused. “You don’t want to hear this.”
“I do.” Dax opened his office door and motioned to his secretary to hold his calls. He closed the door and sat in the chair in front of his desk. He wasn’t proud of the relief that flooded through him when she said it wasn’t a lover or old boyfriend. “Are you close to your parents?”
“Yes and no. We try to be. It’s a long story.”
With anyone else that would have been Dax’s cue to exit the conversation, but he wanted to know ever
ything about her. “Stop hedging and just tell me, Kenzi. I’m here and I’m listening.” The sound of her sobbing filled him with a rush of emotions he wasn’t used to. He wanted to hang up and run from her—or to her. She tangled him up in a way he had no defense against. “Don’t cry. Whatever is wrong it can be fixed.”
She sniffed loudly. “Some things can’t be, but I’m not crying over that.” He wasn’t used to feeling lost, but he had no idea what she was talking about or what she expected from him. All he knew was he wanted to be there for her. She blew her nose loudly. “I wasn’t sure if I should call you, but you hear me. You really do. I feel like I can be myself with you, and you can handle it.”
A warm feeling spread through Dax. “I can. So tell me what it is you’re holding back.”
“I don’t know if I can.”
Dax’s chest tightened, and he leaned forward in the seat. He had a feeling he knew what she was going to say. Part of him didn’t want it to be true, but wanting things to be different never changed anything. Ugly reality was best faced head-on. “Whatever it is, it won’t change the way I see you, nor will it go farther than me.”
“I’m a big lie, Dax. A big fat lie. My family doesn’t know. My friends don’t know. And it’s eating me up on the inside.”
“Then let it out. I’m here, Kenzi. Right here.”
After a pause she started talking in a calmer tone. “You have to understand; my family doesn’t handle things well. They either don’t react or they overreact. I had a twin. We never talk about him. He died at birth. My mother has never been right since. She had a breakdown when I was an infant, and my family has lived in fear of it happening again for . . . twenty-eight years. We don’t talk about it, but it’s always there. Looming as a possibility. We grew up knowing we had to be careful not to upset her. We had to be perfect in front of her. And I was. At least I tried to be. I kept my questions to myself. I pretended along with everyone else that every year we weren’t gathering for a week to mourn the loss of a brother none of us ever knew. I know my parents love me, but when I needed them the most they sent me away. Part of me hates them for it.”
