Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 78076 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78076 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
He washed his face, applied his aftershave, and then patted his skin dry with a towel. Now his chiseled jawline was on full display, the hard bones in his face distinguished through the tight skin. The cords in his neck were more pronounced too. He tossed the towel on the counter then turned to face me so our eyes could meet.
“Are you going to answer my question?”
He walked past me out of the bathroom, dropping his towel along the way. “No.”
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I yelled at my father in his own home, screaming in the drawing room. “He broke Catherine’s arm. He beat her face until it turned black and blue. And yet, you continue to employ this asshole? Why isn’t he buried six feet under? As a girl dad, aren’t you supposed to be overprotective and all those other clichés?”
He had a bored look on his face, like he hadn’t listened to a word I said. “It’s not important right now.”
“Not important…?” I couldn’t believe the words out of his mouth. “He could kill her.”
He turned to face me, his face subtly enraged. “I don’t have time for this conversation, but I made time—out of respect for you.”
“Oh wow… I feel so loved.”
“This nonsense with Lucas and Catherine can wait until another time—”
“Nonsense? It’s domestic abuse. I gotta ask, did you hit Mom? Because you seem real chill about the whole thing.”
My father blinked. That was it. Nothing else.
“Oh my god…you did.”
“No, Laura.” He lost his temper. “I refuse to even respond to an accusation so ridiculous—”
“Protect your daughter. Be a man, goddammit.”
He rushed me, like he was going to bloody me the way Lucas did to his other daughter. But he stopped. Went still. The fight ensued beneath his features.
I stood my ground and dared him to fuck with me. “Do it. See what happens.” Bartholomew would walk right into this house and carve every feature off his face if he laid a hand on me.
His eyes flicked back and forth between mine. “Don’t insult me like that again.”
“You want my respect? Then earn it.”
His face scrunched together in rage, like there was too much to contain, too much to express. “I’ve lost my relationship with my production partners because some asshole has undermined me. No one will do business with me, not the US, not even Russia. I have no product to put on the streets, so the livelihood of everyone who works for me is in jeopardy. My own livelihood is in jeopardy. No cash is coming in, but cash is pouring out, funding this very expensive enterprise. If I don’t find a solution soon, I’ll have to start selling my homes one by one, because if I lose my men and my protection, I’ll be dead. So, I don’t give a fuck about your sister right now. If she doesn’t like the way Lucas treats her, she can leave. Simple as that.”
I breathed as I processed all of that, realizing it was a real situation, nothing like the ones I remembered from my childhood. I didn’t know what to say—because something about it didn’t sit right with me.
A hand grabbed me by the arm. “Let’s go, Laura.”
I let Victor pull me, my mind still in a haze.
He escorted me to the entryway. “It’s really not the best time, Laura.”
“Do you know who’s behind this?”
“No one’s naming names. And they can’t be bought—because the other guy is always outbidding us for secrecy.”
My father had a lot of enemies, but none that had this kind of power. “I want to see Catherine. Can you take me to her? I don’t know where she lives, and I don’t have her number either.”
He nodded. “Let’s make it quick because I’m needed elsewhere.”
He dropped me off at her apartment.
It was a nice piece of real estate, something that rivaled Bartholomew’s place. It was soaked in wealth, and now it made perfect sense why my sister was under my father’s thumb. She couldn’t live without this kind of luxury.
I missed it sometimes, but it wasn’t worth the price.
I asked the butler to see her, but when he returned, he denied my request. “Catherine is resting right now. Perhaps another time.”
She was blowing me off—and for good reason. “I don’t think so.” I walked around him and marched in the direction I’d seen him disappear.
“Stop! She wants you to leave.”
I ignored him and kept going, finding her in a sitting room, wearing her athleisure as she sat on the couch, her arm in a cast—and her face black and blue.
The butler made the mistake of grabbing me by the arm.
I twisted out of his grasp like a pro then shoved him in the chest.
He stumbled backward, his eyes wide and affronted. “I’ll call security.”
“It’s fine.” Her quiet voice came from the couch. “It’s not going to stop her.”