Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 72543 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72543 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Sixty seconds later, she calls me back. “What are you talking about?” she demands, no hello to be found.
“I’m done, Mom.” My words are as biting as the emotions she’s created in me. “You let him in here, I know you did.”
“Who is he?”
“Don’t play naïve. And you know what, I can’t have this conversation with you right now or I might say things we’ll both regret.” I hang up and it’s right then that Damion appears in the doorway.
I rush to him and fling my arms around him. “What just happened?” he asks urgently, his hands on my arms as he eases back to study me. “My mom gave him the code to get in so Adam thought he couldn’t get to me. Bottom line, your father basically told me to leave you or else.”
His eyes sharpen, his energy a sharp stab in the air. “And you said what?”
“Nothing. Adam thankfully broke us up, but your father was entertained by it all, Damion. It amused him that we felt I needed security support and I think he was trying to show us all how easily a hole can be found.”
His scowl is instant and as deep as the blade that cut me when we last parted ways. “You have no idea how much I want to go confront him, but I also have a plan in place to shut him down that I worked out with Walker. We need to leave him in the dark for the next two days.”
Hope flares for the second time today. “What plan?
“Let’s go home and stay there for the rest of the weekend. I’ll tell you all about it when we’re alone.”
“Okay, but it’s a good plan? You feel good about it?”
“It’s better than killing him,” he says dryly.
I try to take comfort in these words, but it’s not an easy task. Not when he’s all but admitted it’s this new plan or killing his father.
Chapter fifty
Damion
The moment my father made the decision to corner Alana and threaten her, he erased the father-son connection of which I didn’t even know still existed, until I felt it evaporate with that knowledge. Not even the many sins, as Blake had called my father’s bad deeds, had done what my father did himself today. With a plan in place, and a good one, I’m forced to contain my reaction to his attempt to scare Alana. As much as I want to literally beat his ass, the plan dictates my action and it’s therefore important that I leave him guessing about where me and Alana stand, and what happens next. Fortunately, Alana doesn’t push for more details, seeming eager to get out of the Blue Real Estate offices above all else.
An hour later, we sit in the living room of what is now our apartment, eating Italian takeout, talking through a few of the details of my plan to deal with my father and how it took shape in my mind as I’d finished reviewing all the content Blake had provided.
“He’s really dirty then?” she asks. “That’s what Blake’s file told you.”
“A criminal who belongs behind bars and don’t ask for details. The less you know right now, the better. You can’t answer questions about what you don’t know.’
“I’m not sure how I feel about that. I feel shutout.”
“You are not shutout, but I am protecting you, and not by walking away.”
She considers me a moment and fortunately doesn’t push but she does ask another question. “So let me get this straight,” she says, sipping her glass of red wine. “You think he’ll believe he got to me if you don’t confront him this weekend?”
“I know he will. He’ll believe I have you locked away in my apartment, trying to convince you not to run. He’ll also believe I’m rattled Monday which is what I want.”
“Okay, so then what? What happens Monday?”
I set her wine on the coffee table and drag her to her back, on top of the soft rug, leaning over her. “Unless you want to go to Vegas and marry me tonight, I’m not going to tell you that. No yet. Like I said, the less you know the better.”
Her expression turns incredulous, right along with her tone. “Because you think I might be asked to testify against you?”
“My father is a very bad person, Alana. Shutting him down means exposing those things, and while I wasn’t involved, there will be an attempt to connect me.”
“Then you don’t have to marry me in Vegas tonight. I have nothing to testify about.”
“What if I just want you to marry me tonight in Vegas, before all of this drives you away? You know everything about me now. Marry me, Alana.”
Her expression is a mix of shock and happiness, her soft hand pressing to my face. “Damion,” she whispers, her eyes glistening with tears. “I can’t believe we’re finally at this place together.”