Hated Ties (Book 3. Ties)

6. A Chance

To knock or not to knock? That is the question. My heart is racing as if I had drank too many energy drinks.

The door swings open. "Mackenzie, you're here." His tone is full of confusion.

"Are you going out? I'll just go," I quickly say and step back.

"No! Stay. Come inside," Nicholas says nervously. I do as he says.

Now I am sitting in his living room, and he is smiling from across the coffee table. An unknown maid brought us tea and set it down on the table. Everything about coming back to Texas is unknown and odd. Nothing is familiar except for the man himself. But even he is different.

I finally got the courage to speak up. "Why did you move here?"

"After your mom and you left, the house was too much for me. Too much space and too many memories in those walls. I went to California and stayed for a few years, until Nicole begged me to move here. I sold our old home and bought this one."

Nicole moved to Texas after Philip died. She wanted the comfort of family. But when did he come here? "She just had to beg, and you did not have to think twice about dropping your success in California?" It is Nicholas in front of me; a man full of ambition. It is hard to believe he would leave all the things he had achieved.

"You kept up with me?"

He got me. "I—no," I fumble with words.

The smirk on his face widens with the way I respond. "I kept up with you too if that makes you feel less embarrassed."

I bite my lip to keep myself from smiling. The audacity of this man... "You haven't answered my question," I remark.

"I have not; you are correct." He clears his throat and sits back with crossed arms. "For the last four years or so, Nicole and Philip spent some holidays or random weekends with me. With that said, I know how much your sister was affected by his death. I stayed for another week after his burial, and that is when she asked me to relocate down here with her." He is beginning to have a distant look in his eyes. "When you see someone so hurt, you can only try to please that person."

"Isn't it uncomfortable to be around Richard," I ask.

"We got used to each other over the years because of Nicole." He shrugs.

Ever since I met Nicole, I have felt a small twinge of jealousy—still do. She has always had a loving father, and for the past few years she has had two. All the while mine was absent.

I have to change the subject before the poison spreads. "How much... When did you... You have cancer—"

"I don't know how much longer I'll stay alive, maybe a couple of months. I got radiation therapy, but it didn't work. I finished the treatment two weeks before you were... abducted." His eyes are filling up with rage. Why though? Is it because he is dying or because of what happened to me? I'm not sure, but I doubt it is the latter. However, I do find it interesting that he responds exactly to what I was asking even though my questions had not made any sense.

So what now? "Are you going to get another type of treatment? The technology is so advanced. Why do you say months? You should have years left." My head shakes in disapproval at the truth that is hurting me. I cannot say I have forgiven him, but no matter how hard I tried to hate him there was always a sliver of affection. That sliver did not make me hate him, but it did make me hate myself all these years. I felt weak not being able to hate the man who never made me a priority.

He smiles sadly. "The tumor is in an inaccessible area. If surgery happened, I would probably be worse off."

I nod once and then looked down.