All that settled in, and everyone sat quietly. Finally Matt asked, “What do we do, Dad?”

“The man cut the brakes . . . or hired someone to do it for him. He’s already crossed the line. We circulate his picture to my friends and yours. We let the family know to be on the lookout. I don’t care what your attorney says; you get down to the station and file a report. Offense and defense. Who has the power?”

“The one punching first,” Matt said.

His dad pointed at him. “Right.”

Matt felt better knowing they had a direction and a plan. Much as he wanted to trust Renee, he trusted his father more.

“So what does this asswipe look like?” Grace asked.

Erin removed her phone from her purse and started scrolling.

“Try not to worry, son. It clouds your head. We’ll get you both through this.” His dad reached over and patted him on the back.

“Here he is.” Erin handed the phone to Grace.

Grace expanded the image and made a choking sound in the back of her throat. Color drained from her face, and she jumped to her feet and ran inside.

“Gracie?”

Matt hurried behind her with the rest of the family on his heels.

Grace ran straight to the nearest bathroom and lost her dinner.

“I hope that wasn’t my chicken,” Emmitt said, turning away.

Erin moved behind Grace and held her hair back while Nora turned on the faucet and dampened a washcloth.

“Oh, God.”

Matt was about to walk away.

“Desmond was my date last night.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Growing up in a home where your mother disappeared before you reached a double-digit birthday, and your father tolerated your existence by hiring nannies and sending you to camp in the summer, Erin’s sense of family was grossly distorted. Now she sat in a conference room at the police station across from one detective and one uniformed officer that was a friend of Matt’s. Mr. and Mrs. Hudson sat by her side along with Matt and Grace. The sheer support and understanding from this family rendered her speechless. If this had been her family all these years, she wouldn’t have stuck around after the first hit. And chances were, Desmond eating his balls would have been a harsh reality.

Emmitt had told everyone to get in the car the second Grace had rinsed out her mouth. He marched into the station as if he was still in uniform.

For two hours they gave statements and documented everything they knew to be true. And since they couldn’t prove otherwise, and it was in their best interest, they moved forward on the assumption that the vandalism to her car had taken place in Santa Clarita prior to the trip into LA.

Grace was painfully silent during the whole ordeal, and when they exited the station, she walked beside Erin and laced her arm with hers. “I feel like such a fool.”

It was Erin’s turn to comfort Grace. “He’s a master manipulator with charm and charisma. He should spend his time writing a book on the art of bullshitting and getting away with it.”

Grace laughed at her side as they walked through the parking lot. “You sound a lot calmer about this now than you did earlier.”

Erin drew in a deep breath with fresh air. “Walking in there and finally working toward legal action that would actually make Desmond pay for what he’s done to me . . . to all of us . . . felt like I’d just run a marathon and won. Yeah, I’ll be sore and tired when it’s all through, but right now it feels great. He fed on my fear, and you know something? I’m not on the menu anymore.”

“Why do you think he approached me?” Grace asked.

“To prove he could. To scare me into submission.”

Grace stopped beside her parents’ car. “Clearly he didn’t expect that you’d grown proper chesticles since your separation.”

Erin glanced down at her breasts and started to laugh right along with Grace. She hugged the other woman hard. “It would have killed me if he hurt you,” Erin said in her ear.

Grace pulled back, looked her in the eye. “Well, he didn’t. And it wouldn’t have been your fault if he had. He won’t get a second chance.”

Kind words, even if Erin didn’t completely believe them. “Did he at least buy dinner?”

Grace laughed again. “Yes. And I ordered the expensive wine, too.”

Matt joined them along with Nora and Emmitt and clapped his hands together once. “Okay, then. Mom and Dad are taking you to your place to pack a bag. You can either stay with them or us,” he told Grace.

“Oh, please—”

“Gracie?” Emmitt’s voice stopped the argument.

“Fine. At least the bed in the guest room was my old one. It will be better than listening to you guys go at it and remind me that I’m going to be single forever!”

Matt patted his sister on the back. “I was actually thinking you’d stay up in the main house with Parker and Colin.”

“Like that’s any better.” Grace rolled her eyes.

Nora moved in for a hug. “Anytime you need anything . . .”

“Thank you,” Erin said.

“Daily updates,” Emmitt announced.

“I really am sorry I brought all this on you guys.” And she was.

“Young lady?” Emmitt found his dad voice. The one Erin knew existed in the wild but had never heard before.

“Yes, sir?”

He looked her dead in the eye. All amusement vanished from his face. “Let that be the last time you apologize for actions that are not your own. Do you understand me?”

And then he opened his arms and pulled her into a hug.

“I have your father in my office. I think you might want to hear what he has to say.”

They’d called Renee the night before to inform her they had proof Desmond was in the area and that they’d gone to the police. Now it was nine in the morning, and Renee had called on schedule.

“He hasn’t said anything worth hearing for years. What’s changed?”

“Regret is a strong emotion. I’m happy to tell him to take a hike if you want me to, but I’m going to act in your best interest, and right now I think that’s you hearing what he has to say.”

She and Matt were lying in bed drinking coffee when Renee called, and right at that moment he was staring her way. “Up to you. Listening to him doesn’t mean you need to act on anything.”

It was time to face her demons. And talking to her father was one of them. “Fine.”

“Give me two minutes. I’ll be back in my office and put you on speaker.”

She held the phone in her hand and closed her eyes.

“Anytime you wanna hang up, the button’s right there, babe. It’s as simple as that.”

“You always say the right things,” Erin told him.

Matt winked. “I took a class.”

The phone made a clicking noise. “You still there?” Renee asked.

“We are,” Erin replied.

“Okay, Mr. Ashland. You’re on my time and I bill five hundred an hour.”

The deep tenor of her father’s voice filled the line. “Maci?”

“I’m here.”

“Damn . . . I was starting to think I’d never hear your voice again.”