Kimberly looked away, lips pressed into a thin line.
“She was following Dad’s lead,” she muttered weakly.
“Stop treating her like a child,” Ryan said sharply. “She knew exactly what she was doing. So did you.”
He folded his arms. “Unless our mother is willing to come clean, and tell me everything Steven has on them, and unless she is willing to accept my wife and my child, I don’t want to have anything to do with her.”
Kimberly swallowed. “But it was Eve’s father who hurt our family.”
Ryan laughed, not loudly, not cruelly, but with bitter clarity.
“He had every right to fight back,” Ryan said.
Kimberly stared at him, stunned. “You’re defending him now?”
“I’m explaining cause and effect,” Ryan replied. “Something our parents failed to teach us properly.”
She shook her head. “Mum sa
