The Intern Serials: Complete Box Set (27 page)

Chapter Twenty

Bentley

LIFE WITH CECI is natural. She brings out the young side of me. She brings out the playful side of me. Better yet, she brings out the loving side of me.

She’s helped me in so many ways. Learning how to forgive. Learning how to love unconditionally. Learning how to accept the things I can’t control.

Kickboxing first became an outlet for me to help me forget. I didn’t want to let go, I wanted to forget. Forget what Hannah did. Forget how badly I loved Ceci. Forget the career I so thoroughly fucked up.

But nothing could prepare me for this. Not today. Today is all about Ceci.

July 16
th
.

The day of her father’s death.

I can barely contain the emotions that are flooding through me. I can hardly imagine what’s going through Ceci’s mind. She’s strong though.

“Sweetheart, it’s all right to not be okay today,” I remind her for the fourth time. She’s putting a façade on, but I can see right through her.

“I don’t want to be sad.”

I grab the room key off the dresser and close the gap in between us.

“I know. But if you need to cry, you can. Let it go…if you need to.”

We stayed at a hotel last night since we had to travel to Iowa. She was up half the night tossing and turning.

“Thank you,” she says, looking up at me with a straight face.

I smile weakly down at her, brushing a piece of hair behind her ear. “You don’t have to thank me. I wouldn’t miss this for anything.”

“Not for that,” she says softly. “Thank you for everything—investigating it even when I had hurt you, supporting me when I let it consume me, coming with me. Always understanding. I know I come with a lot of baggage.”

“Sweetheart…” I lean down and brush her lips gently, closing a soft kiss on her mouth.

It’s been exactly ten years since her dad was shot down and murdered in front of her childhood home. It’s been ten years since she last saw her father. It’s been ten years that she’s been searching for answers, and now today, she’ll be getting them.

Hopefully.

My biggest fear is this won’t give her answers. I fear it’ll add more questions. Worse, I fear it won’t give her the closure she needs to move on.

Spending the last year with Ceci has been perfect. We’ve loved. We’ve fought. We’ve tested one another. We’ve grown closer. Everything about being with Ceci is a life lesson. I never did the relationship thing, but for her, I wanted to.

But now…I want much more.

I don’t want this date to be tainted with the death of her dad. I don’t want this date to come every year and her to be sad. I want to make this date a date she remembers because it makes her happy.

Cecilia

I rub my sweaty palms down my shorts as we walk into the bank. We called ahead of time and they know we’re coming. Casey couldn’t fly home from California because of some audition and Mom said she couldn’t bear to see what’s in there.

Part of me thinks she knows, or at least suspects what’s in there. It’s a very legit reason why she hid the code in the first place. Whatever it is, I’m ready. I’ve waited ten years for this.

“Miss West, I’ll need to see your license, social security card, and birth certificate before I can give you access.”

I nod, handing everything over to her. I already knew what was expected. I wasn’t going to let anything get in my way of getting inside that box.

“Thank you,” she says, handing me back all my documents.

My body trembles as she leads us into the back. I anticipate what I’m about to find. I just want closure. Anything to give me a piece of my father back.

“It’s been set up for you already on the desk.” She gestures her hands behind her where the metal box is laying. “Take as long as you need.” She smiles genuinely just before walking away and giving us privacy.

Bentley presses a hand on the small of my back, leading me in. I swallow deeply as I stand in front of the box I’ve thought of relentlessly for the past three years. This is it.

This is really it.

I rub my fingers together, hesitating momentarily before entering the code from the post-it note. I hear it unlock and I stop breathing.

I bow my head, unable to open it just yet. My body is shaking at just the thought of touching something my father had once touched. But I’ve come too far now to back away.

“I’m ready,” I say, more to myself than to Bentley, but he nods anyway encouraging me to open it.

The first thing I notice is a manila envelope. There are three of them—one with each of our names—Casey, Nathan, and mine—written on them. There’s another envelope, but it’s much thicker. I grab it and feel pictures inside. I flip it open and am immediately hit with a flashback from my childhood. I flip a few over and realize my father has written something on the back of every picture—over two hundred of them.

“What are those?” Bentley asks.

I laugh lightly, scanning through all the silly ones. “Pictures of my dad and us.”

“You were pretty cute as a child.” I look up and see his grin.

“I wonder why he has these in here.”

I flip through some more and land on a picture of my dad and me. It was the last birthday I had with him—my eleventh birthday party. He was standing behind me as I was blowing out the candles of my birthday cake. I laugh lightly to myself as I take in my face—my cheeks pudgy from holding air in just before I go to blow it all out. My dad’s standing behind me smiling, his arm wrapped around my shoulder. God, he looked happy. I had no clue that deep inside he was hurting.

I quickly wipe away the tear that falls down my cheek. I don’t want to cry. At least not yet.

I decide to open the envelope that’s labeled with my name. My hands begin sweating again as I hold the couple of pieces of paper in my hand. I set the envelope down and slowly unfold the paper.

To my Princess,

I hope you’re reading this on good terms. I have my reasons for making you wait ten years, baby girl. I don’t know if your mother told you about the safe box or not, but I sure hope you get to it soon.

First, I know you have a lot of questions. I know you were too young to understand. But please know that what I did was to protect you. You, Casey, Nathan, and your mom are my world and I promised your mom I’d do anything to keep you all safe.

I had to keep that promise, princess.

I planned my own murder.

Damn, that hurts to write down on paper. But it’s only fair that after all this time you know the truth.

I did this to protect you, sweetheart. Please understand that. Please know I’m so upset I won’t be around to watch you grow up, to watch you enter high school, go to prom, get your first car, your first job, your high school graduation, your college graduation, your wedding, and all the babies I know you’ll have. This is my deepest regret, but I made a big mistake. And you didn’t deserve to be in the middle of it. Only I could fix it. The only way was to be out of the picture for good.

There are some bad men after me, and I know they’d come for you, Casey, and Nathan if I didn’t disappear. Except they wouldn’t stop until they got their money. Money I didn’t have.

I told your mom to use the life insurance money to pay them off for good. I also told her to burn the note.

It was the only way, baby girl. Please believe me when I say I tried everything to fix this and make this right.

Please know I love you. I love you so much that I’d rather be dead than let anyone harm you.

I love you, Princess.

And remember… don’t let one mistake keep you from taking on the world.

Love,

Dad

My knees haven’t stopped shaking since I read the first paragraph. They gave out completely when he confessed he had himself killed. Bentley caught me just in time, but he kneeled down with me as I sobbed through the rest of the letter. I’m not even sure how I finished reading it, but I couldn’t stop. I kept waiting for some punchline, or something else, but it ended and it never came.

How could he do this to me? How could he plan this and let his own family suffer?

It didn’t make sense.

And my mother knew. Or she knew enough.

I try to put the pieces together, but the sobs continue. My face is covered in my uncontrollable sobs. Bentley continues to hold me as I shake and cry on the floor with him, my fingers gripping the letter.

“Shh…sweetheart,” he soothes, brushing his hand through my hair. “Talk to me, Ceci,” he pleads.

My chest rises rapidly as I try to get the words out, but every time I try, a sob releases instead.

He rubs my back as he keeps me pressed against him, holding me tight. I’m not sure how long we sit there, but he doesn’t release me until the tears have dried up.

He runs the pads of his thumb under each eye, wiping away the tears so I can at least see clearly.

“He was in trouble,” I blurt out, knowing he’ll understand considering he already found out about his gambling addiction. “He owed money and didn’t have it,” I continue, trying to remain strong so I can keep it together long enough to tell him. I look into his pleading eyes and say it aloud. “He planned it. He had to die in order to protect us and pay off whomever he owed. He planned everything.” I get the words out, but the tears are right behind them. I bury my head in his chest as he holds me tighter and my body continues to tremble.

“I don’t understand!” I yell into his shirt. “How could he leave us? How could he leave me when I needed him the most?”

It feels good to scream. Although deep down I understand why my dad did what he did, but it doesn’t make it any easier. I’m relieved to know the truth, but now I wish my mom and Casey were here with me.

“Sweetheart, let’s go.” He tilts my head up, concern laced in his tone and face. I nod, agreeing that I need to get out of here. I grab everything out of the box and lock it back up.

Bentley

Nothing could have prepared me for what would be in that lock box. I had hoped closure, but now I’m not so sure she’ll ever have that.

Not having her mom here wasn’t helpful because she knew much more than Ceci and I ever did, but I also think it was good she did this on her own. She had so many questions, now she finally has her answers—even if they are devastating.

“I wonder why he waited ten years. Why not five? Or fifteen? Or twenty?” she rambles as we drive back to the hotel. I squeeze her hand, knowing that I can’t give her any of those answers.

“He had a reason, sweetheart. You just have to trust him.”

“Trust him?” she squeals, turning her head toward me. “He left me!”

I don’t argue with her because I know it won’t do any good. She’s upset. She has every right to be. I know she needs some time before she can calm down.

Once we get to the hotel, she collapses on the bed and sobs. I grab her and make her lay next to me. She pushes away, making it impossible to comfort her, but I don’t care.

“Sweetheart, stop fighting me. Let me hold you,” I growl. Her body finally relaxes as my arms wrap around her. She cries into my chest until her body goes limp and she falls asleep.

I run my fingers together, debating whether or not I should still propose to her today. I wasn’t prepared, and now I’m starting to think I’m a major asshole for wanting to take this day away from her.

She stirs awake, but she doesn’t let go of the grip she has on my shirt. She wiggles in close to me and tilts her head up at me.

I brush a finger over her cheek and smile down at her. “Feeling better?”

“Yeah.” She nods. “I dreamt about him. I haven’t dreamt about him in awhile, so I don’t think it’s a coincidence.”

I lean in and kiss her forehead, relieved she’s feeling better.

“It scares me to think of what my dad must’ve been feeling that day—knowing that was the day. He was so happy that morning. He made us all pancakes. I wanted ham, but Casey wanted bacon so he made both.” She laughs lightly. “Nathan was too young to care, so he ate anything we gave him.” She smiles at the memory. “Mom slept in that day. Knowing what I know now, I guess she probably hadn’t been sleeping too well. If they were fighting, she was probably stressing.”

“Your dad loved you,” I tell her. “It’s evident in the way he wanted to protect you.”

She sinks into me deeper and sighs. “I know. That’s what hurts the most, I think. Knowing the amount of love our family had and having it be ripped away from us seems so unfair.”

“Addiction is an awful disease. It tears people apart. He was apparently involved with some pretty influential people.”

“Do you think my mom knew?” she asks, her eyelashes flickering up at me. “That he planned it?”

I shrug. “I’m sure once she read the note it was easy to speculate, knowing the money troubles he got himself involved in. She had to know who to give the money to.” She nods, agreeing. “She wanted to protect you too, Ceci. That’s why she didn’t want to tell you too much—keep the memories you had and let them be the ones you remember of your dad.”