Read Online Retribution: An Alpha Billionaire Romance (Secrets & Lies Book 3) by Lauren Landish - Free Book Online

a hard run with Andrea. She's trying to be brave, and she's tearing herself apart pretending she's better than she is. She doesn't need to, but she can't let go of her shame, which just adds to the anxiety. “What?”
    “I'm originally from the Midwest, a city boy in fact,” I tell her, knowing I've never told any of the family much about my past, by my own choice. “And I had never seen anything at all like Fort Leonard Wood, where I did my initial basic training. Our drill sergeant was a holy terror. I'll be honest, quite a few of us, even me, cried themselves to sleep more than once during those first few weeks. There is nothing wrong with being anxious or crying.”
    “There is when it cripples you,” Melissa insists softly. “When you worry that you're going to push away the people that are special to you because you think they're going to get exhausted about it all.”
    I nod, and give her shoulders a squeeze. “I know. But you said it back on the farm, we are a family. And that means that we stick together, no matter what.”
    “No matter what?” Melissa says, giving me a hopeful look.
    “No matter what. Another thing they taught me in the Army. When I applied for and got accepted to the Green Berets, they sent me to Fort Bragg. But one of the big things they taught me is the truth, even if they taught me other stuff that turned out to be lies. You wanna know what that truth is?”
    “Please,” Melissa says, calmer.
    “People are more important than hardware. And that means you are more important, too. Now, can I ask you, before we left the farm, you seemed calm and relaxed. On the drive, too. Was there anything different about what you did then to tonight?”
    She nods, and I think I can see a blush come to her cheeks. “I guess. Andrea taught me some acupressure to help relieve my anxiety, but I don’t know how much that helps.”
    “Then go ahead. It can’t hurt.”
    She nods, and takes a deep breath. She reaches down and takes her one hand in the other, and I see her thumb moving in one spot again and again. In any case, she sounds calmer as she answers. “Okay. Thank you, Nathan.”
    “You are welcome. Goodnight, Melissa. See you in the morning.”
    “Goodnight, Nathan.”

Chapter Seven
Melissa
    I wake up the next morning feeling better than I was last night, and I get out of bed, stretching. It feels good, and the chill in the air isn't as bad as I thought it'd be. I practiced the acupressure moves Andrea taught me last night until I was calm enough to try going back to sleep.
    When I leave my room however, I have to chuckle as I see my sisters arguing over the shower. “Come on, Kat. You're just going to go out and get sweaty anyway.”
    “And?” Katrina asks Andrea, both of them standing in their bathrobes and slippers. “Just because you got sweaty last night doesn't mean you get to hog all the hot water.”
    “Hey, that's not my fault!” Andrea protests, her hands on her hips, and her face indignant. “Besides, I know you too well, Katrina. You get it as often as I do.”
    “Girls?” I ask, and both of them turn to me, both blushing when they realize I overheard them. “Can’t you two settle this without all the yelling?”
    “You’re right. If this continues much longer, we're either going to be flipping a coin or having a fist fight over this,” Andrea says, Katrina nodding.
    I turn to go away, leaving my sisters behind in the hallway as I round the corner and find the toilet, where I do my morning business and brush my teeth. I'm an evening shower person anyway, so I'm not worried about fighting for it, too. After breakfast I force myself to leave the main building, interested in the chapel that's about fifty yards from the main building. I walk over, opening the door to find a large octangular main room with nothing but dust and some spider webs on the inside. At the front is a large altar table that looks like it's been carved out of a single gigantic piece of