Declan's POV
"Hello, Crystal." I looked up at her father. The same blonde hair and blue eyes that I had gotten to know so very well was mirrored in this man. He stared at Goldi with fixed concentration, not seeming to notice me at all.
"What the hell are you doing here?!" Goldi stood up and balled her hands into fists. Her eyes were ablaze with hatred and disgust as she stared him down.
"I heard about your mother." His voice had just a tinge of the same tone as his daughter.
"Like you ever gave a shit about her." Goldi spat at him, anger dripping from her words.
"At one time, Crystal, I did." Goldi rolled her eyes at him and then grabbed my hand.
"Let's go, Declan. I have nothing to say to this asshole." She pulled me forcefully as I stood up but I didn't make any motion to start walking. As much as I wanted to go with her, I had an overwhelming feeling that we needed to stay.
"Goldi, I think you should hear him out." I said cautiously. Her eyes widened in shock and then turned to anger once again.
"I don't owe that mother fucker anything!" She yelled at me but I could see her eyes water with sadness and pain. I held a little tighter to her hand, trying my best to give her comfort. I knew she was having conflicting feelings. Hell, I was having conflicting feelings.
Why was he here after all of this time?
It didn't make any sense. Even though their mom did pass away, it still didn't add up. He obviously hadn't cared about the three of them all this time so why did he care now?
"Crystal, you have every right to hate me but I wanted you and your sister to know that if you need anyth-"
"Don't! Fucking don't! We don't need anything from you!"
"Crystal." Her dad's voice was cracked with pain and regret.
"What's going on here?" Bridget's said from beside us. It brought all three of us to look at her. Grant, Ray and Bailey all stood with her as they watched the interaction between Goldi and her father.
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing is going on here." Goldi snarled out before walking past both me and her father. Everyone watched her as she made her way through the crowd until she was out of sight.
"We'll go after her." Bridget said and then tugged on Grant's hand. Bailey and Ray followed them and then it was just Goldi's father and I, alone. I slowly turned to look at the man who had affected Goldilocks so much that she ended up hating men. A mix of emotions swarmed me as I stared at him. I needed to keep my cool but the anger that was swirling around in my gut was uncontrollable.
"Do you have any idea how much you hurt your daughter? How much you put her through?" I asked. He sighed and brought his hand up to his forehead, closing his eyes tightly like he had a headache.
"Yeah, I know. At the time, I was so consumed with my own problems that I didn't care. And then when I finally got myself together, it was too late. I knew I couldn't go back and make everything ok again. They were better off without me at that point. So I stayed away. I didn't want to do anymore damage than I already had. But when I found out that their mother passed away, I couldn't help myself. I hired a private investigator and had him watch the girls. I needed to know that they were alright."
"Well, they are, so why did you show your face?" I felt my own anger and protectiveness of Goldi come over me like a tsunami. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't keep the resentment out of my voice.
"Crystal might be fine but her sister is not." I rose an eyebrow at that.
Her sister? My mind immediately shot back to the moment I met her sister at the hospital. She was really upset and blamed Goldi for their mother's death. They still hadn't talked since the funeral.
"What do you mean?" I asked cautiously.
"Nikki started doing drugs." I felt my stomach start to churn with a mix of emotions that I couldn't separate.
"So you thought you would come and tell Goldi so she would fix it for you? Like she has everything else that you fucked up?" My disgust was becoming unbearable for this man.
"No...I just...there's no way for me to help Nikki. Not now. Not after everything I've done to her. Crystal is the only person who can help her." I took a deep breath before contemplating what to say next. After thinking for a few moments, I sighed and then spoke.
"What do you know?" If something really was going on with Nikki, I couldn't just ignore it. This was Goldi's sister, despite the fact that they hadn't been talking.
"She did weed a day after her mom passed. But then on thanksgiving, she started doing coke. My PI said that she has been staying at her friends' house and hasn't come out for days now."
"I will tell her what's going on with Nikki on one condition." I stated firmly.
"And what condition is that?" He narrowed his eyes and I couldn't help but see the similarity between him and Goldi. It was ironic that the person he hurt most looked eerily identical to him.
"You stay the hell away from her from now on. Go back to wherever you came from and stay there. You've hurt her more than enough to last a lifetime. You may think you know how much damage you did, but you don't. She took care of both her mom and her little sister when you left. She lived almost her whole life in fear that a man would come in and destroy her life again. You did that to her. So I never want you to show your face here ever again. Do you understand?" I tried to keep my voice even but it came out jagged and filled with venom.
"I understand... And thank you." He caught me off guard with those last words.
"For what?" I asked hesitantly.
"For taking care of her. Like I said, my PI has been watching and you have been really good to her...I'm glad she has a man in her life that treats her well. So don't hurt her, alright?"
"I will never do what you did." I said confidently.
"Good. Because it was the worst mistake of my life." We stared at each other for a long while before I finally broke the silence.
"Your daughter means the world to me. I will take care of her and keep her safe for the rest of my life, I can promise you that." He smiled sadly and then nodded.
"She's lucky."
That pissed me off.
"No, I'm the lucky one. Your daughter is a wonderful person. She's smart, strong, kind and more than anything, she's filled with love that you will never get to see. She is all of that DESPITE what you have done to her. You will never know how much you've missed out on." I said harshly and then turned and walked away from the man who had ruined my Goldi. Once I got far enough away, I heaved a deep sigh.
How was I going to tell her that Nikki was on drugs? She was finally happy and now this had to happen.
Maybe I didn't have to tell her.
Maybe I could solve this on my own.
I decided that I was going to fix the problem myself. I wasn't going to tell Goldi. I had to protect her and that was the only way I could.
I made my way to her car in the parking lot and found the group surrounding and comforting her. As I approached, Bailey turned to look at me.
"She needs you." She said quietly and then moved so I could see Goldi. She was crumpled on the ground, her back against the car, sobbing into her knees. I felt anger towards her father all over again as I approached and crouched down next to her.
"Goldi." I whispered. She didn't hesitate as she launched into me, wrapping her arms around my neck and continued crying into my chest. I held her in my lap as the group around us dispersed. Where they went, I had no idea but I didn't care. All I was worried about was my Goldi.
"It's alright, he won't bother you again. I took care of it." I whispered into her ear as I stroked her hair soothingly.
"Why did he have to show up?" She asked as she continued to sob.
"I don't know, Goldi, but he's gone. For good this time. He'll never be able to hurt you again. Alright?"
"I hate him, Declan." She sniffed and clutched handfuls of my jackets desperately.
"I know, baby."
"Can we get out of here, please?" She asked after her crying had subsided.
"Yeah." I scooped her up into my arms and put her in the passenger seat of the car. After I got in on the driver's side, I looked over and examined her face. She was staring out the windshield, watching everyone else have fun at the ice festival. I wondered what she was thinking at that moment, seeing all of those people go on with their lives while hers had become so bleak.
Her face was red and slightly swollen from crying so hard. The blue eyes that an hour ago had joy in them were now tainted with despair. My heart ached for her in a way I couldn't even begin to describe. I wanted so badly to take away all of her worries and sorrows. I wished that I could erase all of the painful memories that her father had implanted into her life.
But the only thing I could do was keep the truth from her. I would go to Nikki and help her get her life back together. I just had to hope and pray that Goldi would never know what was really going on. I knew if she ever caught wind of this it would break her, fully and completely. And if that happened, I wasn't sure I would be able to put the pieces back in place again.
A vase can only be broken so many times before it's impossible to put back together.