Worth Repeating (Worth It All Book 1)

by Elizabeth Perry

  When he finally turns to face me, the expression in his eyes takes my breath away. I’ve only met Abby’s father a handful of times, but all of the times, his eyes were cold as ice. He looked me up and down each time with a snarl, letting me know immediately that he would never accept me being with his daughter. Everything that he did back then, every movement that he made, was strictly and purely, to get rid of me. To get his daughter out of my grasp, and as I learned, he would stop at nothing to achieve that.4

  Getting rid of me was this man’s life mission. Every move that he made was cold and calculated, and at the end of the day, he won.

  Michael Daron is a hard sonofabitch. The man shows little to no remorse for any of his actions. And yet here he is, about to empty his cold, hard soul, onto me.

  “I can’t stop thinking about it.” His voice cracks, and he shakes his head. “For years, I thought that by getting my Abby away from you, that I was doing right by her. I was so blind to the love she had for you. I just couldn’t have accepted it.”

  Even beneath his designer, leather gloves, his hands shake. As he tightens the neck of his expensive jacket, I realize that it’s not just the bitter air making him cold. It’s the ice cube in his chest finally hitting him hard.

  “She loved you.” His laugh is bitter and is immediately swept away by the wind. “Despite never being shown what a healthy love looked like, she found it. She made it happen. And she was supposed to end up with you.”

  The air stills between us. I almost can’t believe what I’m hearing leave his mouth. Is he actually saying he believes that his precious daughter was supposed to end up with the scum bag fighter? It’s almost comical.

  Almost. I can’t find it in me to laugh.

  “It doesn’t matter, either way.” I make a vow to myself, right here and right now, that I will never interfere in my daughter’s love life the way that this asshole did to his. I know all too well what it feels like to have no other choice but to let the love of your life go. I won’t do that to my child. In fact, I’m going to push her towards love. I’ll never shield her from it.

  Never, fucking, ever.

  “Why are you telling me this?” I cross my arms and stare down at the man in front of me.

  He looks tired and sad. The man may be worth millions, but that’s all that he’ll ever have. He wasn’t a good father to Abby growing up. His wife, even worse. He never took the time to get to know his daughter, or to help her grow as a person. He simply gave her whatever materialistic items she wanted and allowed his wife to attempt to sculpt Abby into someone identical to her.

  When I met Abby, she was supposed to be going away to an Ivy League college, in order to snag a man who came from the same social upbringing as she did, and that was supposed to be her happily ever after. Imagine the shame and humiliation her parents experienced when they realized that instead of digging for a goldmine, their daughter was shacking up with a boy from the Bricks. When they discovered that, they’d both just about lost their minds.

  Even then, they chose their social standing over their own daughter. And this man in front of me stopped at nothing to pull Abby away from me.

  She has no idea the things that her father did to us. She was none the wiser to his undermined attempts at ending us. But as I stare at his sad, empty eyes, I no longer feel the rage that I used to. Now, I just feel pity.

  My, how the tables have turned.

  “I know that she came back to you.” His voice is flat. “When her world was falling apart, Liam, she still chose you. You were the person that she wanted, the person that she ran to when she was in distress. Even her accident couldn’t change the way that she felt about you.”

  “She came back to me to learn about her past, Michael.” I stare down at the man. “Someone needed to tell her who she used to be. Who she really used to be. I’m fairly certain neither you nor your wife were willing to tell her about her the truth, because honestly, you really didn’t know your daughter back then, nor did you care to try.”

  “I know that you can’t understand where I’m coming from.” He looks so damn helpless that I almost feel sorry for him. Almost. He caused too much upset in my life to get a whole lot of sympathy from me.

  “Someday when you have a daughter, you’ll understand.”

  “My daughter will be born in the morning.” I ignore the stunned expression on his face. “And honestly, I’ve had a lot of time to consider the type of father that I will be. I can assure you that I have taken every move I’ve ever witnessed from you and added it to my rule book for how not to parent. I’ll never cause that kind of pain for my child. Don’t ever try to make me relate to what you did. You’re a disgusting human.”

  “You benefitted from it, didn’t you?” His sneer is back. I’ve offended his precious ego too much. The wounded puppy look is gone, and in its place, is the expression that I’m used to. “You used my fucking name, and gladly, to get your ass out of going to prison, Liam. Prison. I saved you from that shit. You took my fucking money. I bet you ran right to the bank, didn’t you? Twenty grand in exchange for my daughter. You were so fucking dumb back then, you didn’t even realize how much more you could have gotten from me. I would have given you ten times that. No amount was too high for Abby.”

  “Funny you say that.” I match his stare, sheer murder clear as day in my eyes. “Because that’s where you’re wrong. That money? I didn’t keep it. I turned it into a scholarship, so that Abby could attend culinary school in the city. All of that money? I gave it back to your daughter. The daughter that you’re adamant that no price was too high for?” I snort. “You wouldn’t even pay for her college, you sonofabitch. You were only willing to pay for her if she followed your plan. Your fucked up wife’s plan. I let her go, so that she could follow her dreams. I let her go, because I loved her, Michael. And I knew, I fucking knew that she wouldn’t leave me. I knew that she’d be content to live whatever life I could provide for her, because she loved me. But I couldn’t let her. I knew that she deserved the world. By the way, bringing up the prison part is a low fucking blow, since you set me up.”

  Anger courses through my body. A few years ago, his words would have made me see red. I could kill this man, with a single blow to the head. I know exactly where to hit him to end it all. I could easily do it. I wouldn’t have an ounce of regret over it, either.

  But, doing so would mean putting an end to his misery, and to that, I want no part of. I’d rather live knowing that he’s suffering until his final breath.

  “I’m assuming that since you’re here, it means that Abby doesn’t want anything to do with you again, eh?” I cut my eyes at him. “I bet you were real content living a lie. It probably felt good to have your daughter speak to you. Too bad she got her memory back.”

  “She didn’t get her memory back.” He scoffs, staring up at me with his cold, dark eyes. “She never will, either. The doctors are convinced that there is no hope. Which is a damn good thing for some of us.” When he twists his wedding ring and grunts, all of the blood drains from my face. I try to swallow, but my throat is so dry that I can’t do it without breaking into a coughing fit.

  I cannot believe this. I can’t believe that I was so blind. This entire time, I believed that Abby remembered why she left me. I took solace in the fact that she wasn’t far away from me, hurting for me. Thinking that she hated me again was the much easier option.

  But that also means that she still doesn’t remember what happened to her or why she took off in the storm that night. I no longer have questions about it. The answer as to who hurt her, is sitting right in front of me. This entire time, he knew what happened.

  And he didn’t do a damn thing about it.

  “Where is your wife?” I practically growl my words at him, staring down at him with enough rage that I really might just kill the man. Not now, of course. Right now, all that I want, is to have my hand wrapped around the neck of Summer Daron, the same damn way that she did to her daughter. That twist
ed fucking bitch.

  “She was coming back to you!” His voice roars, echoing into the night air, even over the sound of the waves. “She was going to give up a man like Maxwell to come back here and beg for you back! We couldn’t let that happen. You have to understand that! We couldn’t let her find out the truth!”

  I have no words. Luckily, I don’t need any.

  The sound of Abby’s howl is enough to cause both of our attention to shift.

  22

  Liam

  Ancient History

  “There’s been a mistake.” I’ve said this already, too many times to count. The detective sitting across from me doesn’t even acknowledge me at this point.

  “I don’t do drugs.”

  “Right.” He sneers. “That’s what they all say.”

  “Where’s my attorney?” I glare at him. “I asked for an attorney, and I made my phone call. You can’t keep him from me.” My voice raises with every word. “It’s my right.”

  As the door opens, I breathe a sigh of relief, foolishly thinking that the door opening meant that my attorney was finally here and going to be let back to the interrogation room, where I’ve been sitting for what seems like hours now. Instead, as my eyes adjust to the figure standing there, another emotion fills me.

  And then, in a rush, this entire thing makes perfect sense.

  I had just stepped off of the airport terminal, gotten my bag from the bag check, and was ready to head home to my girl. My first stop was going to be at the jewelry store, to spend some of my recent winnings on a rock worthy of Abby, right before I went home, and dropped on one knee, to beg that girl to be my forever.

  Instead, the second that my bag was in my hand, I was tackled on the ground by two overzealous police officers and cuffed like an animal. After being dragged to the station, I was placed here, in this interrogation room, where I have been for seemingly forever.

  The detective has repeatedly mentioned the drugs that he found in my bag. I’ve told him just as many times that there is no chance that there were drugs in my bag, since I don’t do them.

  It’s just been round after round of that same rhetoric. But now, as my eyes fix on Michael Daron, the reality of my situation smacks me right in the face. He is behind this. He’s behind all of this.

  Exactly one week ago, he and his evil wife found out about Abby and me.

  At first, they instructed her to pack her bag. Finding out that their precious social standing was about to be threatened by their daughter dating a boy from the Bricks, had caused them to go apeshit. They all but hog tied her in the backseat of their car, and drove her to the airport, ready to put her on a plane to Harvard that same day.

  That was their solution to the problem, of course. They didn’t care to hear that we were in love and were planning on forever. All that they cared about was my zip code. Unfortunately for the two of us, it just didn’t measure up.

  But Abby managed to escape. Right as she was supposed to be walking down the terminal, instead, she booked, running right for the exit, and into my waiting vehicle. She had been almost inconsolable over how quickly her parents were willing to send her away, but then, her sadness turned to anger. She immediately cut them off, ignoring every phone call and vowing to never speak to them again. All of that happening only gave me the push in the direction I was already heading, which was why I was so excited to get down on my knee in front of her tonight.

  Now, that may not happen, all thanks to the jackass standing in front of me and staring at me with pure hatred in his eyes. I have no doubt that this entire thing is a set up, and I’m yet another pawn in the story of how he absolutely ruined his daughter’s life.

  “Chuck.” He nods at the officer. “I’ll take it from here.”

  He’s silent until the door shuts behind the detective, the tension rising in the air to almost an unbearable level.

  “You.” I glare at him, anger radiating off of me. “You set me up.”

  He tsks his tongue, leaning back in the chair across from me, staring at the wall instead of looking directly at me.

  “Drugs.” He shakes his head. “I wonder how my daughter would feel, knowing that the boy she loves enough to leave her family is actually a drug addict.”

  “I’m not an addict.” My words are forced through clenched teeth. “You planted those drugs on me.”

  “Performance enhancing drugs are illegal, Liam.” He shakes his head. “If word of this got out, you’d lose everything. Your little fighting circuit has very strict rules on the subject. A simple phone call, or a heads up about this little incident would most definitely, end your career.”

  My stomach sinks. He’s right. I would be kicked out of the circuit indefinitely. There’s absolutely no doubt about that in my mind. The rules are clear, completely black and white with zero areas of gray. If this goes public, I will lose my livelihood. At least, I will, until I can prove my innocence, which should be easy. A simple drug test will do the trick.

  “I know what you’re thinking.” Michael finally looks at me. “But you won’t see the light of day long enough to clear your name, son.”

  He sneers the last word. “You’ll lose everything. Your new home, your siblings, all of your titles, and, eventually,” his stare is hard on mine, “you’ll lose my daughter.”

  “Bullshit.” I glare at him. “Abby will never leave me.”

  “At first?” He narrows his eyes. “Probably not. But you’re looking at real time, Liam. I could get you locked up for ten years. Do you really think that my daughter is going to sit around and wait on you while you rot in prison? Do you think she deserves to have ten years of her life stolen from her?”

  “No, she doesn’t.” I return his cold stare. “And neither do I.”

  “You’ll do the right thing.” He stands abruptly, placing both of his hands on the table, and leaning across it, so close, that our noses are almost touching. For a split second, I debate head butting him. I could break his fucking nose, break his whole fucking face with just one head thrust.

  I barely manage to hold myself back.

  “You will end things with my daughter.” Rage fills me. “In return, you will get your freedom. And no record of this will be released to the public.”

  “You can’t do that.” His sinister laugh falls over me. “And I won’t do that. I love Abby, and she loves me. Why can’t you just leave us alone?”

  “I can do anything that I want. This is only the tip of the iceberg. My daughter is my life’s most precious gift, Mr. Worth. You have had your fun with her, and now, I need her back. Her mother needs her back. You will be the one to return her to us. You will end things with her, and you will do it, by the end of the week. If not, you’ll spend the next ten years behind bars, and I will personally see to it that your little sister is placed in a home of my choosing.” His sick smile twists my gut in half. “All alone, too. That can happen, you know. Siblings don’t have to be kept together.”

  I’m on my feet, glaring at the man in front of me, vowing to myself that one day, I will fucking end this man. He’s the worst kind of person that I’ve ever met.

  “Fuck you.”

  All that he does is laugh. He just fucking laughs. My God, I can’t believe that my sweet Abby shares this piece of shits DNA.

  “I almost forgot.” He turns back to me, glancing smugly over his shoulder. “In return, you’ll get your freedom, and just for kicks, I’ll throw in twenty grand. I’m expecting my daughter to run home to me by Saturday. If that doesn’t happen, I guess you’d better take the time to explain to your little sister just how bad this world can be. She’ll need to be prepared for what’s coming.”

  23

  Liam

  Ancient History

  “Why are you treating me like this?” Abby’s eyes are wide, staring hard into mine in desperation. “Liam, what did I do wrong?”

  The questions that she asks gut me wide open. I hate the look in her eyes. The questions that linger behind her soft
, blue eyes that I lose myself in all too often wreak havoc on my soul.

  I ignore her completely and continue to twist my body inside of the cage. Every hit calculated. Every movement cold as ice.

  I hear her fist bang against the cage, and I listen to the agony in her voice as my name leaves her mouth in a plea.

  Don’t engage with her. Continue to ignore her. That’s the only way out of this.

  Cold is something that I’m used to. Dammit, it’s all that I’ve ever known. I allowed myself to get comfortable basking in Abby’s light, but doing so was selfish. I should have never hung on to her like this for so long. I should have cut the cord a long time ago. Back before everything got so fucking complicated.

  “You can’t just ignore me!” This time, she kicks the cage hard, making the entire thing shake. “You can’t just pretend like I’m not standing here and bleeding over you!”

  I never meant to make her bleed over me. In fact, by doing this, I’m banking on the fact that she will never have to bleed again.

  “You just got to accept it, Abs.” I don’t even make eye contact with her. There’s no way that I can. At least, not and keep my emotions in check. “What we had was fun, but now it’s over. The way that you’re acting, babe.” I shake my head, and snort. “It’s borderline pathetic. I told you, I’m done with you. There’s no way that I’m going to let myself be tied down when I’m literally surrounded with women on the road. I’m not a cheater, so I’ve got to cut you off.”

  “Cut me off?” Bang! Her foot slams into the cage again. “Cut me off? You worthless piece of shit!” This time, her fist strikes the cage. Blood splatters onto the mat, but she doesn’t stop. It’s in this moment that I almost lose it, knowing that she very likely just broke her hand and is still pounding it against the steel cage with all of her might.

  My insides twist until I almost can’t breathe. But then I imagine Bianca’s face, and I picture all of the motherfuckers who could potentially hurt her if I end up behind bars.