So he was finally admitting that she hadn’t been using him. “Then, why did you shit on her life?”
His sneer matched my own. “She left me.”
“You were married.”
Our gazes were locked together like bull horns.
“She found out about the parts of my life I had no control over, and she left.”
I’d save that little bit of knowledge. Had he been forced into marriage the same way he was forcing me into one? “No. She left because you lied about being married. She would have stood by you in that court room, but you choose to take your wife.”
“A wife my father chose for me.”
He looked away as shock set in. I was right. For a second, I might have felt sorry for him. “And yet, you are doing it to me?”
“The fate of many before you from kings and queens to common people of all walks of life. Those pairings have lasted longer than some claiming it in the name of love.”
It wasn’t the Middle Ages, but I didn’t tell him that. “I love Liam.” The words tumbled off my tongue easily, despite this being my first time saying it or even admitting it to myself.
“And you’ll see the foolishness of that statement.”
I whipped my head around to face him. “You gave him two days.”
“A generous amount considering he’ll never accomplish any of it. Then, you’ll marry David as planned.”
“You never intended on giving him a fair chance,” I accused.
“I wanted you to see.”
“See what? That you ruined my life?”
“Ruined. I’ve only ever tried to protect you.”
“You call manipulating me through someone I thought was my best friend and stopping any relationship I ever had, protecting me?”
The ache ran deep when I thought about Jody, which was why I hadn’t. She’d been the one person in the world I’d trusted with all my secrets outside of my mother. It had been a sham all along.
“I call hiring a man with skills and relationships to keep his daughter safe from potential enemies a good thing. You mother didn’t seem to understand the risk she put you in by taking you away. If anyone had found out I had an unprotected daughter, they could have used you in ways you don’t want to consider in order to hurt or try and control me. So yes, I did protect you. And those relationships. Those boys wanted nothing more from you than to satisfy their needs. You were better off.”
“Those mistakes were mine to make,” I argued, because the rest of what he said unfortunately rang true.
He laughed. “You can’t admit it, can you?”
“What? That maybe you tried to protect me. Why didn’t you tell my mother?”
“Oh, I don’t know. She didn’t listen to me the first time when she stole you away and changed your name. Why would I think she’d listen if I told her I had someone watching for her own good?”
Damn him for sounding reasonable. It still wasn’t right. “You had someone watching me too.”
“A benefit by product of good hiring.”
“And Liam. If he comes through, will you let me marry him?”
“And when he doesn’t, will you marry David?”
We didn’t answer each other. When we arrived back at his compound, the first bit of good news came.
A frantic housekeeper came running into the room. “She’s gone! She’s gone!”
My unflappable father held her by the shoulders as he tried to calm her. “Who’s gone?” he asked, though I suspected he knew.
“Mrs. Valentina. She packed a bag and left.”
For a man who tried to suggest that his marriage was nothing but a piece of paper between two people in the way of a contract, he seemed mighty pissed. I smiled, because though things might have started off that way between them, I didn’t think that was how things stood.
I marched to my room like I was floating on a cloud. I wanted the man to pay for all the wrong he’d done, including imprisoning me and, for the second time, trying to kill Liam. I hadn’t closed my door so when it clicked shut, I spun around.
Dad’s right-hand man, Shawn, stood in my room. “I don’t have a lot of time. He’s distracted for a moment, but he’ll come looking for me soon.”
“What do you want?” I asked with an edge of malice, prepared to fight to the death if I had to.
“We have Valentina. It looks like she will talk. If so, we won’t need you.”
Confused, I asked, “Who is we?”
“Ask Liam when you see him next. I am a friend.” With that, he left as silently as he’d come in.
Someone had Valentina and she might talk. My best guess was the authorities. But he’d said, they didn’t need me? I’d never bargained with the cops or Feds on my father. Not that I wouldn’t. I hadn’t had the conversation. What did that mean? He suggested I could get answers from Liam and that he was a friend. Shawn had always done my father’s bidding. Could I trust him?