how Emily was able to talk you into this fake marriage scheme
to begin with.”
Dani wasn’t going to back down. She wasn’t going to cower
in front of this man or admit to anything.
“What other motivation would I have had?” she challenged.
She wanted to know how much more he knew about her. How
much more leverage he might have.
It turned out, as she feared, he knew so much more. “I know
all about how you grew up. How you bounced from foster
home to foster home after the age of ten, when your mother
died. There was no father in the picture, no living relatives to
claim you, so you went into the system. You aged out at
eighteen. You had no permanent address after that for over a
year. Lived on the streets, I imagine. I have no idea what you
did to survive, but then suddenly you did have an address and
several jobs. You saved up enough to buy this place. It must
mean a lot to you.”
Dani didn’t have to answer that. She heard the threat
implicit in Radcliffe’s words. She wasn’t afraid of the media
finding out about her background. She wouldn’t be
embarrassed by it. She was a heck of a lot tougher than that.
She found herself laughing softly.
“If my past came out, if that’s what you’re trying to threaten
me with, it would be much more embarrassing for you.” Some
of the wind went out of Radcliffe’s sails, but Dani could easily
see he was far from done fighting for whatever he’d come to
get.
“I’ll get right to it, then,” Radcliffe sighed. “I want my
daughter back. I want her unattached from someone who just
wants to be with her for her money. That was never something