Page 43 of Sweet Poison

She bowed her head and said nothing.

“What is it, sweetheart?” I insisted.

“She’s okay, but … she reminds me of Mom.”

I stared at my daughter with surprise. She was absolutely right. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I got the same vibes from her that I had got from Arianna. She didn’t look like Arianna, but something about her was the same. It was probably why I had been slightly repulsed by her. Just like Arianna, she had big hair, a fit body, fake boobs, and blue eyes. Attractive, of course, but I was done with that type.

“Yeah, you’re right,” I said. “I almost didn’t notice. So what did you think of your teacher, Miss Moore then?”

“She’s pretty.”

Pretty? More like drop-dead gorgeous, but there was no need to say that out loud.

“Um … Dad. I think she saw my phone.”

“What?”

Her smile was sheepish. “Sorry, Daddy. It fell out.”

“We talked about this. Phones are not allowed in this school, and you can’t let anyone ever know you have a phone on you. You also can’t let anyone ever take it from you. If that happens, call me immediately. I need to be able to reach you at all times.”

I was beginning to sound stern, and she had grown quiet and tense.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” I apologized. “I don’t want to scold you. I'm just really trying to be careful.”

“I understand,” she said. “I’ll do better next time.”

“Good girl. Now tell me what you studied today.”

“We had a history class and we studied about Communism in China.”

I turned towards my daughter in surprise. “What?”

“Yeah, we learned about Mao. Did you know he killed 60 million people?”

Yes, I did know that, but I had not expected her to be learning about that at the age of seven. The more I learned about Shadow Wolf Academy, the more impressed I was by it.

Chapter 26

Montana

“Dad, are you sure you don’t want me to help?” I asked as I sipped on the beer on the couch.

“Nope,” he replied. “I ordered most of it in. You can help with plates and cutlery, and while you’re at it you might as well take the trash out too.”

“I’d love to transfer the food instead while you get the plates and cutlery and take the trash out.”

“Get to work!” he said without acknowledging my observation.

With a sigh, I did as I was told. Sure, I was acting all nonchalant, like I wasn’t nervous, excited, and scared all at once, but the truth was that I was immensely conflicted.

I had no clue how tonight was going to go, but I did know that constantly being in his presence was not going to make my decision to maintain a professional relationship with him easy. Plus, I had been to bed with this man. How the hell was I supposed to not be terrified that my father was going to figure out that something was off between the two of us? He knew and understood me better than anyone else, but as far as Dad was concerned, I was his little girl who didn’t even know what sex was. To be fair, until I met Cole in Stormy City, that was exactly what I was.

His pure virginal daughter.

“Montana?” My father’s voice startled me out of my reverie. He was standing on the back porch with his hands on his hip, a slight frown across his face.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

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