Free Ink Inspired-epub by Carrie Ann Ryan

Midnight Ink. I’ll make it so he can’t even draw with chalk on the street without the police on his back for some crime or another. I’ll ruin him, Shea. Don’t think I won’t. And if you still refuse to stay away from him, I’ll ruin that other shop in Denver, Montgomery Ink. I’ll ruin them all.”
    The determined glint in her mother’s eyes made Shea want to throw up.
    As it was, bile filled her mouth, and she fought to control her shaking.
    Jesus.
    Who was this woman?
    “You…you can’t do that,” Even to Shea’s ears, she knew her voice sounded weak.
    Of course her mother could do that. The woman lived for things like this. She had connections through money and the family everywhere.
    Shep could actually lose everything because her mother was a selfish, vindictive shrew.
    Jesus.
    “You know I can, Shea. You know I’d crush him under my shoe without even batting an eyelash. I’d enjoy it too.”
    Shea swallowed hard. “Why? Why do you want to do this?”
    “We need Richard’s family,” her mother snapped. “We might have money and power in this state, but Richard’s has it throughout the entire country. Together we can go even further. You know Richard has political ambitions. With you by his side, our family will be in the hallowed halls for generations. We will be remembered. Eternal.”
    The woman had to be crazy.
    Certifiably insane.
    “If you don’t leave him, I’ll take it all from him, Shea. You have until tonight.”
    With that, her mother turned on her expensive heels and left Shea standing alone in her office.
    Broken.
    Shea staggered back, her feet barely working as she bumped into her desk. A stack of papers fell to the floor, but she ignored them.
    What was she going to do?
    This couldn’t be happening. Her mother couldn’t just come into her life and try to regain the control she’d had for so long.
    Shea closed her eyes, the tears she hadn’t noticed before falling harder.
    She’d lose Shep.
    To ensure his life remained as he knew it, to ensure his happiness, she’d lose him.
    Her arms went numb, her chest tingling.
    God.
    She couldn’t lose him. She’d just found him.
    She’d finally stood up to her mother with her chin held high, and it was for naught. Her mother always had the upper hand, the ace up her sleeve, and now she had what would guarantee the end of the life Shea wanted to build with a man she loved.
    No matter how much she thought she could fight it, her mother would fight harder to punish Shea for the faults and wrongdoings she’d never actually committed.
    That was the type of woman her mother was.
    Shea didn’t know how to fight against it.
    Oh, she might have learned to fight for herself and would fight to the ends of the earth for Shep, but to risking hurting Shep beyond measure fighting against her mother when she knew she couldn’t win?
    No.
    She couldn’t do that.
    She’d have to in order to make sure he could live without her.
    She’d marry Richard and break completely in the process.
    She’d do anything for Shep.
    Even leave him.
    She cleaned up the stack of papers she’d dropped and put them on top of the other stack of papers that she’d leave to the other accountants.
    Hell. She was really giving up.
    This was the person her mother had made her, the person she’d fought so hard not to be.
    She hated it.
    “Shea? I brought coffee.”
    The sound of Shep’s voice startled her, and she dropped the papers in her hand on the floor. She cursed again—inwardly reminding herself she’d have to stop that when she married Richard—and bent to pick them up.
    “Oh, I’m sorry, baby, for scaring you. Here, let me help with that.”
    Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Shep put down two coffee cups and a bag of something and walk toward her.
    She had to turn away.
    It hurt too much to face him.
    She would just have to slink away like the coward she was.
    “I’ve got it. I’m actually kind of busy right now. You’ve caught me at a bad