I was clenching my jaw so tight that it hurt.
“And you asked to leave after your surgery. I was worried about Isabella’s threats and I was trying to keep you safe. You even asked me to take you away. You begged me to get you out of this house…”
“You kidnapped me!”
“I disagree.”
“You put me in the middle of nowhere and said I couldn’t leave!”
“For you own safety, angel. And I’d hardly call a beautiful beachfront property the middle of nowhere. You were happy there. With Miller. And when you ran off, I let you. Because Isabella was at the treatment center and I knew for the time being you’d be safe in California. I gave you the taste of freedom you wanted.”
“You…you knew I was in California?”
“Of course. I could see it in your eyes. That you were going to betray me.”
“Me betray you?” What the fuck?
“Indeed. So I gave you an ‘untraceable card’ to make purchases with. He put ‘untraceable card’ in air quotes.
My stomach sank. I’d believed him. I thought it was untraceable. But God, I was so naïve. Of course it wasn’t untraceable to him.
“And you took the bait,” he said. “You bought a cute little place by a lake for you and Miller. And then you took a little solo vacation to California.”
It wasn’t a vacation. I’d been so fucked up. I’d been so broken. He acted like he knew everything, but he knew nothing. If he was having me followed, couldn’t he see from the pictures how I was feeling in California? How badly I’d needed someone to love me. For him to love me. Instead of him wanting to just keep me in a cage.
“I will admit, I was impressed when my bank alerted me that millions of dollars had been drained out of my account right before you took off. And the lake house you picked out with a piece of it was quite lovely.”
Wait…he knows about all that?
“The money movement was clever. It’s all yours too. You’ve earned it. Why have you not touched the rest of it, by the way? It was almost like you knew I could see it afterward. Like you knew I was watching you. Did you? Know I was watching?”
I just stared at him. He knew everything I’d done. He knew all of it. I was honestly a little surprised he wasn’t the one holding a gun to my head. “If I knew you were watching I would have left.”
He nodded. “Interesting. So why didn’t you use the money?”
“Because we didn’t need it. I never needed anything from you. I never asked you for anything. I just wanted to be left alone.”
“In a lake house that my money bought? With a bodyguard I was paying for?”
I heard the ownership in my father’s statement about Miller. He was trying so hard to twist everything. But he couldn’t. I wouldn’t let him. “The bodyguard you used to pay for. The only person that despised you more than I did was my husband.”
“Miller didn’t despise me.”
“Yes he did.”
“Well that wounds me.” He put his hand to his chest. “I take great pride in keeping my staff happy.”
“By keeping them happy, do you mean beating them senseless when they wrong you?”
My father shrugged. “If you’re referring to your homecoming when Miller lost eyes on you, then yes. You could have been gravely hurt. You were hurt.”
“Because of Isabella, not Miller!”
“If Miller hadn’t let you out of his sight, that never would have happened.”
“Fuck you.”
“Language,” he said and dabbed at his bloody nose again.
I just gaped at him. He couldn’t be serious right now. He was never a father to me and now he was telling me not to swear? Seriously. Fuck. You. “Fine. So when you say you take great pride in keeping your staff happy, you actually mean you kill them when they wrong you?”
“On the rare occasion. But like I said before, I didn’t kill Miller. I didn’t blow up your car. Yes, I knew where you were. But I was letting you live your life. Just like you requested in that eloquent letter you left me at the beach house.”
“I remember the letter. I specifically told you to not do anything to Miller.”
“And I didn’t. I let the both of you run off. I wasn’t blind. I knew what was happening. And I was relieved when you went to the lake house to be with him. Because even though he was technically no longer my employee, he still had years of training and experience working for me. I knew he’d keep you safe. And I also knew how much he loved you.”
My heart felt like it was burning. Like it was stuck in the flames with Miller. And now there was also a knife in my chest, slowly twisting. Miller loved me. Past tense. I tried to blink away the tears. He was gone. He was really gone. I was here to avenge him. And I was letting my dad get in my head with his old tricks. But he couldn’t talk his way out of this. He’d killed my husband. I knew he did.
“Miller pretended to die all those years ago in order to leave with you. He gave up everything for you. He was like a puppy following you around.”
“Don’t.” The tears in my eyes were threatening to spill. “Don’t talk about him that way.”
“It’s the truth. And you being with him was a win-win scenario for both you and me.”
My love life shouldn’t have had anything to do with my father. My stomach churned.
“I got the comfort of knowing you were safe with one of my bodyguards. And you got to be happy thinking you made the decision to be with him all by yourself.”
My stomach churned again. “What do you mean by that? That I’d be happy thinking I made the choice to be with him?”
“Well, I’d hoped it would happen. Forcing you two to live together at the beach house for several months went just according to plan. A great bodyguard with very weak willpower.” He smiled to himself. “I remember making a big show of being upset that he touched you too, remember? I was trying my best to be a good father and I’d recently read that teenagers love doing the opposite of what they’re told. I figured you’d want him more than ever after that. I was correct.”
“You’re pure evil.” He was discounting my love for my husband. Telling me it was an elaborately orchestrated plan. He was wrong. I fell in love with Miller slowly, with a broken heart. And Miller healed it. He fixed me.
“You’re welcome for the past 16 years of happiness. How could someone evil have given you such a wonderful gift?”
“You didn’t give me that gift. Miller did. Jacob did.”
“Is that my grandson’s name? Jacob?” He smiled. “When can I meet him?”
“You must be joking.”
My father slowly shook his head.
“Never. You can never meet my son.”
“You can’t keep me from him.”
“Damn right I can.”
“Language.”
Okay. I’d had enough. I lifted my gun back up, my knuckles aching as I gripped the handle. I shouldn’t have punched him. I should have just shot him. He was doing what I’d feared. Twisting everything. Making my memories hazy.
He held up his hands like he was finally scared of the gun. “Angel, I’m truly sorry if the last 16 years weren’t wonderful. You looked happy. I was happy that you were happy. I would have interfered if I thought you needed it.”