“It’s okay.” I looked away from him quickly, as I felt my eyes welling up with tears and I didn’t want him to see how upset I was. I couldn’t believe that it had all come to this. Everything I thought I knew about the Martellis was wrong. They weren’t the men I thought they were, and my heart broke at my complete and utter naiveté. My life would never be the same again, and I wasn’t sure how I would ever get past this, and that was if everything went well. I felt like this summer I had grown from a girl to a woman. I’d been so naïve when I had gone to meet Logan at the pier, my only hope had been to impress him and get to know him. I’d been thrilled and excited to finally meet him, and I hadn’t been scared of anything. It had been like one super-duper rollercoaster ride, and now I was starting to worry I was going to fall out and go crashing to the ground. It had been a mistake for me to pursue Logan like some psycho. I had convinced myself that all was fair in love and war, and that he liked me too, but now that everything had happened, I realized that I had messed up. All I had done was ruin people’s lives. And I had gotten hurt in the process as well. Every fiber of my person was crying inside at this moment. For everything I thought I knew that was wrong. For all the love and joy inside of me that had been captured and tied up. I felt tears welling in my eyes, but I wasn’t going to allow myself to cry. I couldn’t allow myself to cry.
“Your father better love you as much as you say he does.” Jared’s voice was harsh. “I sure hope you really are the apple of his eye and he loves you so much, he will do anything for you.”
“He does.” My words were short and simple. That was one thing I was sure of, my dad would do anything for me. “He’ll pay.”
“He better pay.” Jared sat down and I could see the strain in his face. He looked up at me with tired eyes, and I thought of Logan as he stared at me. “He better pay or there will be hell to pay.” He looked worried and tense. “And it won’t be just me who goes down, it will be Logan, and Vincent as well.”
“Logan doesn’t know anything, does he?” I whispered, scared to hear the answer. My heart raced as I thought of him. How I loved him. How I wished I could replace every worry and fear and hatred in his heart with love, joy, and happiness. I wished I could kiss away all the hurt he had gone through in his life. It killed me to know that someone I loved could have done this to him.
“Of course not.” He shook his head. “You know that.”
“He’ll be worried.” I bit my lower lip.
“Yes, he will.” Jared sighed. “I really wish you wouldn’t have spoken to him last night.”
“I didn’t want him to think that I wasn’t willing to give him a second chance. I love him and he loves me.” I sighed. “I know we agreed that I shouldn’t talk to him until everything was done, but he begged me, Jared. I saw the fear in his eyes, and the love, and I just couldn’t turn him away. I was so angry after the party. I hated him with everything in me. But I understand why he did it. And he finally opened up to me. I just couldn’t send him away. I needed to see him and be with him. I know now that was a mistake. I should have waited a bit.”
“I know.” Jared shook his head, and rolled his eyes. “What a mess.”
“Love isn’t a mess, though.” I smiled briefly. “At least he knows I love him, no matter what happens. And I know he loves me.”
“This is all a hot mess.” Jared jumped up and started pacing again. “I just hope it works. I want this all to work out for everyone, but for you and Logan especially. I want this to work out for him. He’s always been there for me and Vincent. I’m glad he has someone like you, who loves him as much as you do.”
“It’ll work out.” I jumped up as well and walked over to him slowly. “You need to hurt me.” I stared into his eyes thoughtfully, trying to think of how we could escalate the situation.
“What?” He looked at me in shock.
“You need to punch me or scratch me. Then send a photo to my dad so he knows you mean business.”
“I’m not doing that.” Jared stepped away from me and shook his head vehemently. “I’m not going to hit you.”
“It’s not a request, Jared.” I stared at him wildly. “He needs to know you mean business. We can’t let anything happen to Logan.”
“What do you think he’s planning to do?” Jared looked at me, and for the first time, I really saw just how scared he was.
“I don’t know. I honestly don’t know.” I looked down. “If you had told me a few months ago that this was who my father was, I would have laughed. I never would have believed any of this, but now, well, now, a whole lot of things are making sense.”
“He better not hurt him.” Jared gripped the gun in his hand I saw his fingers on the trigger. “If anything happens to Logan, I don’t know what I will do.”
“You need to be careful with that. Is the safety on?” I touched his shoulder gently.
“I don’t know.” His finger moved away from the trigger quickly. “How can I tell?”
“Give it to me.” I took my father’s gun from his hand and checked it. “Let’s just put it down for now. I don’t want anyone getting hurt.”
“I don’t know why you brought the gun.” He trembled as he looked at it.
“I’d rather we have it than him.” I shrugged. “I couldn’t have let Logan go to that meeting this morning if I had known Dad had the gun available.”
“You really love Logan, don’t you?” Jared looked at me in amazement. “I’ve never met anyone, asides from Logan, who thinks about others as much as you do. You’re a real gem, Maddie.”
“Yes. You know that I would do anything for Logan.” This time I couldn’t prevent the tears from falling. “It’s like he’s my other half. He just gets me and I just get him. It’s like we were fated for each other. I know that sounds kooky, but I feel like he was made for me, and I was made for him.”
“Yeah,” he laughed. “I mean, I knew you were sprung on him when we first met at Joey’s, but when you came over to play cards that night, well, that’s when I knew you loved him and he loved you.” He shook his head. “Only God knows why he put you two together. It couldn’t have been a worse match. The two children of two men who hate each other.”