Betrayed, I Rise novel · Chapter 20 of 32
Chapter 20: Birthday Present
Half the crew was still in the yard, loading the flatbed for a job in Cedar Key.
They stopped.
The welder set down a coil of rope. The oldest man took off his cap and held it.
My father walked through the open gate.
In a way, next month, he would.
He looked around at the hulls on their stands, the stacked lumber, the dog.
He wrinkled his nose at the smell of varnish.
Then he saw me on the office steps, in my mother's coat.
He stopped a few yards away.
"Carly."
"Dad."
"You look well," he said.
"I thought I was unwell."
His mouth went thin.
"I said what I had to say to protect the company. You'd have done the same."
"I wouldn't have."
He took a long envelope out of his blazer.
He held it out to Troy, not to me.
"For the Heron," he said. "The restoration. And for any trouble this family has caused your business."
Troy didn't take it.
My father kept holding it out, and his arm started to look foolish, and he put it away.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–16 of Betrayed, I Rise are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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