“Not until you agree!”
Paige was crying harder now, and Randy’s grip tightened on me so hard that I winced and crumbled forward at the pain shooting up my arm.
Suddenly, Paige let out a scream, and then she wrapped her little hands around Randy’s arm, instead, and with all her might — she bit him.
Randy yelped, yanking his arm back and holding it in shock. It was just enough time for me to shove him backward as hard as I could manage, and I didn’t wait to see if he fell or regained his balance before I slammed the door shut and locked it. I ran to the sliding glass door next, making sure it was locked, too, and then I rushed back to where Paige was at the front door.
She had giant tears rolling down her cheeks and more building in her eyes when I pulled her into me, and I sank down to the floor, my back against the front door as my daughter sobbed into my chest.
From the other side came a cynical laugh. “This isn’t over, Sydney,” Randy sang. “You belong to me.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, and Paige held me tighter, shaking and crying in my arms. I couldn’t be sure how much time passed before I heard the car door to his cruiser slam shut, and then the squealing of tires as he pulled away.
I let out a gasp, my hands frantic where I smoothed Paige’s hair and held her to me and assured her everything was alright. But I knew it was a lie. Things were not okay, and they hadn’t been for a long time.
Through the beats of my heart pumping loudly in my ears, I heard Mallory’s voice from Thanksgiving night.
We are fighters, Sydney. We are warriors. Survivors. You never have to apologize to me, okay? You just have to keep fighting. That is what you owe me — not an apology, but a fight.
Because if we don’t fight? Then he wins.
The truth of her words cut me like the hot blade of the sharpest knife, taking my next breath with it. But when I did inhale again, it was calmer, deeper, more resolved as I felt my battle gear slip over me like the armor of a knight.
She was right. Jordan was right. My sister was right.
The Becker family needed me.
Jordan needed me.
And I needed him, too.
I’d run before. I’d been scared, and manipulated by the power I felt Randy still held over me. I worried for my daughter, but now I could see plainly that it was him who was putting her in danger — not me.
I had to make things right with Jordan.
I had to apologize, to tell him and his family everything I knew, to link arms with all of them and charge into battle — together.
We had to fight.
And more than that — we had to win.JordanI forced the biggest smile I had as Mom aimed her ancient digital camera at me, and Logan smirked from his side of the table, knowing I was hating every moment of this.
“Hold the cake a little higher so we can read it,” Mom said, waiting until I did so before she lifted the camera to her eye again. She didn’t even need to — it had a digital screen. “Okay, say champions!”
“Champions,” I murmured through my smile, and Logan covered his laugh, which earned him a poke in the side from Mallory.
“Thanks, Mallory,” I told her, narrowing my eyes at my brother. “At least someone has my back.”
“Oh, come on, Bro,” Logan said, hopping up from his chair and wrapping my head under his arm. He rubbed his fist into my skull before I shoved him off. “You’re a three-time State Champ! Lighten up a little.”
I smiled, but shoved him off again until he was sitting next to Mallory again. It was just the three of us and Mom tonight, a small celebration with Mom’s famous barbecue ribs and a giant cake that we’d likely take to Betty at the nursing home after, because there was no way four people alone could eat it.
Mallory eyed me from the other side of the table, and when our gazes met, she nodded with a slight smile and understanding. I knew then that Logan had told her what we’d discovered, and I wondered if she was just as anxious as I was for my brothers’ arrivals tomorrow. Noah and Ruby Grace would be home from their honeymoon in the Exumas, and Mikey and Kylie were flying in around noon.
Mom thought they were all coming back to celebrate the win, and that was the way I wanted to keep it.
Mallory held the small of her back as she waddled into the kitchen, returning moments later with a knife and serving set. She began cutting into the cake when I heard the wheels of a car on the gravel drive that led to Mom’s house. When I looked out the front door window and saw Sydney’s car, I was up off my feet in seconds.