Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 78464 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78464 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
“What meeting?”
“You had someone at the house when I stopped by.”
“Oh, that’s right.” He watched the waiter fill his glass before he took a drink. “Yes, it was an old friend. Just catching up.”
“If he’s an old friend, wouldn’t he have understood that your daughter needed you?” I was supposed to be calm. I was supposed to be sly. But shit was about to hit the fan because I’d inherited his temper.
His eyes narrowed on my face. “So you are angry with me…”
I’d just stepped into the snake pit without gloves or boots.
“Considering everything worked out between you two, I assumed you wouldn’t be upset—”
“I forgot my purse.” The moment of truth had arrived—and we hadn’t even ordered dinner. “I sat in the car for a while fighting back tears, but when I tried to drive away, I realized I had no keys. So I came back in to grab it.”
My father was still and composed, but his eyes darted back and forth between mine.
“You asked this old friend to kill my husband.” I wanted it to be a misunderstanding, but what possible misunderstanding could there be? I’d heard him, like a boom box in a silent room, and there was no mistaking the threat.
He gave no reaction to this. None whatsoever. He just continued his stare. He didn’t feign surprise or look appalled by the accusation. But he didn’t admit to it either, plotting his next move behind the rough exterior. “You were eavesdropping—”
“I forgot my purse. And even if I were maliciously and intentionally eavesdropping, it doesn’t change what you said. You said you would kill both Axel and Theo. Axel, my husband, and Theo, my brother-in-law. You said those words.”
He inhaled a slow breath, not blinking once since the accusation had been put on the table.
The waiter approached. “What will we be ordering—”
“Leave us, and don’t come back.” My father didn’t raise his voice or drop it, but there was a distinct threat to his tone.
The waiter remained for a moment, taking a second to wonder if he had heard my father correctly, but whether he did hear correctly or not, the tension between us was unmistakable, so he fled.
My father continued his ruthless stare, all the fatherly affection he’d previously held gone. “Scarlett, you had just told me he served you divorce papers—”
“And five minutes later, you decided to kill him?” I couldn’t believe he tried to justify it, let alone admit it. “Those plans must have already been planted in your head and grown to a full tree for you to act on it so suddenly.”
He stared, his features those of my father, but his spirit belonging to someone I didn’t recognize. “You aren’t even denying it.”
“Because I wouldn’t lie to you.”
“Really?” I snapped. “So, once he was dead, how would you explain it?”
“Nothing happened, so we don’t need to discuss this further—”
“I told you he was the love of my life—and you plotted to kill him. So yes, something did happen.”
“I told you I’ve never liked him—”
“It doesn’t matter what you think. I love him. I’m in love with this man.”
He didn’t look guilty or apologetic. He was a man without a conscience. “He went to prison—”
“He’s innocent.”
“He cheated on you.”
I sucked in a hard breath and swallowed, using my full restraint to keep my mouth shut. My eyes burned as my eyelids were stretched open, and my rage was restrained in a delicate glass bottle that was about to shatter.
He waited for my rebuttal.
But I couldn’t give it.
“He’s never been good enough for you—”
“So he deserves to die?”
“He backstabbed me—”
“Because you backstabbed him first. What the fuck is wrong with you?” Now my voice rose in complete disregard to the people enjoying their dinner around us. “How dare you.” There were no words to match my anger, no words that could convey the depth of my rage. “Axel doesn’t like you either, but he would never kill you. Who are you? Who the fuck are you?”
The hardness in his face started to slacken. “Sweetheart—”
“Don’t sweetheart me, asshole.”
“Axel made some bad decisions that really messed up my business—”
“I was almost raped and killed, and the only reason I wasn’t was because of him.”
“That meeting wouldn’t have happened in the first place if Axel had any business sense—”
I shoved my chair back and got to my feet.
“Scarlett.”
“Fuck off.” I stormed off, leaving him to foot the bill for our wine. It would give me a chance to escape.
But he walked out right behind me and onto the sidewalk. “Scarlett.”
I walked down the sidewalk and headed to my car, which was parked in a lot a block over. My jacket had been left on the back of the chair, so I walked in the cold, but my anger created an inferno of warmth inside me.
“Stop.” He grabbed my arm and pulled me back. “Let me explain—”