When he heard her gasp, he was done. How dare he compare Karson to something so serious? Karson was going to lose his shit, but before he could, Lacey said, “No, you’re wrong, and the thing is, Karson did nothing but love me completely. But what you did, making him break up with me, damaged me more than the actual cancer ever did.”

Karson knew that his leaving had caused Lacey pain, but hearing that it damaged her more than her cancer had not only hurt Nate Martin.

It hurt him.

This was not how Lacey wanted to spend the day. When she woke up that morning after spending the previous day and night with the Kings, she was almost blissful. Just so damn happy and then she got to Chicago and it all went to shit. She knew that she would have to face her father; she even knew he would be upset, but she didn’t expect to do this now. She had been sure she would have time to pack, go to her office to pack that up and make sure everything was ready to go. Instead, her father came at her without much notice.

She should have expected it too. This was the first time she had ever defied him.

Her whole life had always been done the way Nate Martin wanted it to be. Even when her mother was alive, he controlled everything. What her mother did, who she was friends with, and where she worked. With Grady, it was all about the best hockey schools, the winningest teams, and paying truckloads so that he could train with professionals. Grady slept, ate, and played hockey. He didn’t even have a girlfriend till he got to college. The same went for Lacey; she jumped from activity to activity, but unlike Grady, she never really fit in anywhere. Just floating through life, doing what her daddy said.

When they lost her mom, everything got ten times worse. She never had friends because he wouldn’t let her go anywhere without him, and neither did Grady. They had each other. He let up a bit when they went to college, but he was still a very heavy presence in their lives. He never let them make any kind of mistakes; he was always there to tell them what to do. Looking back on it, Lacey didn’t think her mother or even Grady minded it, but Lacey did. She hated it. She hated how hard he was on her and how he tried to push her to do things she didn’t want to. She didn’t want to be a lawyer; she wanted to be a designer, and that seriously angered him. She really shouldn’t be surprised that he was so upset now because he had been doing this her whole life. Nothing she loved was what Nate wanted for her, and she had contended with a lot of things in her life, but now, with Karson, she refused to do anything but be with him.

Closing her eyes, she pushed back the tears as Karson’s fingers laced with hers. God, she loved him. He filled the room with his presence, taking up most of the space in her small kitchen. She loved it though. She needed it because she was sure that she wouldn’t still be standing there without him. Yeah, he lost his temper a bit, but who blamed him? They were basically verbally attacking him when he didn’t deserve that at all. Sure, they had run off and gotten married, but they loved each other. Couldn’t they see that? She just wished her family would just be happy for her because she was happy.

Looking her father in the eye, she shook her head slowly as a single tear rolled down her cheek. He had done so much more hurt than good to her, and maybe if he had been a better father, she would consider his pleas, but even then she didn’t think she would. She loved Karson. That’s all there was to it, and she refused to not follow her heart.

“You keep saying that everything you do is best for me, but, Daddy, I just can’t see how breaking my heart multiple times is good.”

“You are naïve, Lacey. You don’t think straight when it comes to this…this…guy,” he yelled, shaking his hand at Karson. “You’re reckless when he is around.”

“It’s not only Karson I am talking about, Dad. You’ve continually tried to run my life since I was born. When I was younger, it was understandable, but I’m an adult now. I know how to make decisions. I know what’s best for me.”

Grady rolled his eyes. “We’ve always been there, and you are completely going against what we know is right.”

“But you’re wrong, on both accounts!” she yelled, her heart pounding in her chest. She knew what she was about to say was horrible and wrong of her since her father had done a lot of good, but he had also done a lot of bad, and she was tired of it. She wasn’t a child.

“How so?” he asked in disbelief.

Meeting her father’s gaze, she said, “You have repeatedly sheltered me, kept me under your thumb, and I’m sorry, but I can’t do it anymore.”

“I have loved and provided for you,” he asserted.

“I don’t doubt that you love me, but you have a shitty way of going about it. Like when Mom died and I need someone to talk to, instead of getting me real help, you pushed me off onto your sister.”

“I did that to give you a female companion.”

“I didn’t need a female companion, I needed my dad, but that’s not even the kicker,” she spat, her hands shaking. “When I lost my breasts, instead of approving the paperwork for the new ones, you lied and told me that the insurance wouldn’t pay for them.”

“What?” he asked, his mouth parting some. She knew she wasn’t supposed to know that. For the longest time she had kept her mouth shut, mostly out of fear of accepting it, but now with the way he was acting, it was time to throw it all out there.

“Yeah, I heard you tell Aunt Jen that I didn’t need breasts, they would just get me in trouble, and that it was a blessing that I lost them,” she said as her tears started to roll down her cheeks in droves. Karson’s hand squeezed hers as he leaned into her, kissing her temple. She took the strength he offered and ignored the look of distaste from her father as she continued. “But I needed them, I needed to feel like a woman, and you took that chance away from me.”