Ghost Writer [Harry Styles][H.S. Fanfic]

24 - DON'T HOLD ME

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(HARRY'S POV)

Sitting on my private plane on the way to South Carolina for the next four-plus hours gives me enough time to digest everything I learned from Spike regarding Sunny and the shit she'd been through in her life.

As if the loss of her few remaining loved ones, being homeless at the age of seventeen, her accident, having heart surgery, enduring an abusive marriage, and losing her career weren't already unimaginable misfortunes. Now there are two new pieces of her tragic puzzle put into place, and it makes me physically ill to think about.

How anyone comes back from the things she has-it baffles me beyond belief. How life has consistently delivered blow after blow, and she never stops standing back up to fight-it shows the magnitude of her strength.

Despite Spike's cryptic description behind Sunny's sudden departure, it definitely gave me a fair amount to chew on.

Such as, for starters, it's unknown-but very well suspected-that her grandfather wasn't her last remaining blood relative. He was just the last to be involved with her life.

"When Sunny was a baby, her ma dropped her at off at her grandparent's house so she could 'run errands,' but she never came back. Her ma..." Spike sighs, running his finger through his black hair. "Her ma wasn't ready to have a kid, let alone raise one by herself. Sunny's kolohe pops was serving out one of his various prison sentences for drug dealing. She's never heard from either of them. She doesn't even know if they're dead or alive."

Then, Spike informed me they are the major reason Sunny is so secretive about her identity. It's not just Jack that she's scared of upending her life.

"If they're alive, she doesn't want them creeping in from the woodworks after all these years only because she's successful. They don't deserve any credit or financial support for something they had zero involvement in. I guess after Sunny's grandmother died, she overheard her Uncle Presley on a phone call in his office with her mother, Marley... Anna obviously had great taste in music... Nevertheless, Marley felt entitled to Anna's jewelry and lost her shit when she found out everything went to Presley and Sunny. Then, after he died, Sunny became the sole heir. So, when Sunny made a name for herself and had a bank account to back it up, she slowly became more and more paranoid that her parents, namely her mother, would try to come and collect or swindle a way into her life again and manipulate her just as she heard Marley do on the phone all those years ago."

After hearing that, I was beside myself-fury and sorrow catapulting throughout my body with zero remorse. But the only thing I could wonder is how she was homeless if she inherited her grandmother's things? Of course, Spike had all the answers. He's just choosey about the information he divulges. I don't know why I thought Sunny would hide things from him as much as she does from me. Regardless, I learned more from him in a couple of hours than I have from her since the night we met.

Apparently, her grandparents were well off. Their family comes from old money. However, in their will, they stated she'd receive her inheritance in full at the age of twenty-five. In doing so, it left her homeless at seventeen, because Alzheimer's had already overtaken her grandfather's mind. The will could not be changed, and she couldn't stay on the property because it would've landed her in the system if Social Services caught wind.

Sunny only obtained a handful of the family heirlooms, which she'd never part with for quick cash. Even if that meant not putting food in her belly. Everything she inherited stayed on her grandparent's property. Now, with her grandfather's passing, she's set to gain the remaining funds of Anna's life insurance, as well as her grandfather's. Although, her inheritance will remain under the control of their lawyer until she reaches the appropriate age.