CHAPTER 279: SECRETS IN THE PARKING LOT

Maximilian

"You're just fine the way you are." I drive up to the half-empty parking lot for the hiking trail and park in a spot far from the other cars. "Let's go." I walk to her side and open her door.

"I've never been up here," she says as she looks around.

"After the conversation I had with your dad, I don't think you've gone anywhere, period," I say as I take her hand in mine.

She frowns. "Yeah, true," she says as she follows my lead. "Sometimes—" She cuts herself off. "Never mind."

"Tell me," I tell her as I look around.

"Sometimes I think they never wanted me to grow up." She looks down. "I think my dad and brothers always expected me to be a child playing with Barbies and my toy cars."

"Because they love you," I say as I stop in my tracks. "I would've preferred for my family to have wanted me to never grow up instead of telling me to grow up faster."

I look around and try to remember where the lake is.

"Your parents made you grow up fast?" I hear Via ask, which causes me to fre