Page 22 of Cutting Ties
Chapter 11
Anthony
The way he said fiancé as he gave me the critical up-and-down didn’t bode well with me. When she announced our engagement there was no congratulations from her family – just stares. At least from my father and Asher. Her mother seemed pleased. That wasn’t the reaction either of us was hoping for, though considering the current situation with her family, perhaps it was simply not the proper time to announce it. We’d suspected it wouldn’t go over well so it wasn’t a big surprise.
Either way it didn’t matter. She was going with me. I didn’t give a damn who the man before me was. She wasn’t a child and I wasn’t one of his employees.
He led me down a hallway, and we came to a large mahogany door. Opening it, he stepped aside and motioned me to enter before him. “Please, take a seat on the sofa,” he said, motioning to the black leather sofa with dark claw feet at one end of the large room whose walls were lined with leather-bound books.
“Sure. Thank you.” Sitting down, I watched my fiancée’s father, who was roughly my height and lean in build, walk across the room to the small bar and pour himself a shot of whiskey. His hair was cut short, neatly shaved and completely silver. While he looked much younger than his fifty-two years of age, his eyes told a different tale.
He downed the shot of whiskey and poured himself another shot, then turned to me. “Would you like one?”
“No. Thank you.”
He shrugged. “Suit yourself. A lot has happened in my absence.”
“I wouldn’t know much of that.”
“My daughter was nearly killed and now she’d engaged. A lot.” With the undrunk shot of whiskey in hand he came to me, sitting in one of the two armchairs adjacent to where I was sitting.
“I imagine it is,” I agreed, reclining back on the sofa. Taking a deep breath in, I slowly released it. “Listen, Mr. Rossi. I understand that your daughter is one of the most valuable things in your life.”
“The most important,” he corrected me.
I hesitated, forcing myself to remain unperturbed by his interruption. “I also understand that the current situation in Colombia is tumultuous at best. Yesterday’s incident demonstrated how vulnerable your daughter can be while here.”
Drinking the shot down, he placed the glass on the wooden coffee table between us. “What you did for my daughter and Emiliano… I thank you. He’s been my most valued and trusted employee – and friend – for a very long time…” He leaned back in the chair and eyed me. “He would have been impossible to replace.”
“There’s no need for thanks. I’m a doctor, it’s what I do.”
“Either way. I thank you.” He motioned to the room. “Do you know what I do to afford all of this?”
“I do.”
“Then you know I don’t trust many people, but at the same time many, many people depend on me for their livelihood and their lives.”
“I understand that.”
“The problem is that I don’t know you. Yet you expect to take my daughter away from me and the safety of her home?” His eyes narrowed at me. “You do expect to take her to the United States, do you not?”
Clucking my tongue off the roof of my mouth, I sighed. “As soon as possible. I love your daughter and would protect her with my life.”
“You’ve only just met her.”
“But I know her. I’ve talked to her every day for six months. She’s touched my heart and my soul. I genuinely love your daughter.” Leaning forward, I braced my elbows on my knees and met his stare. “And I truly feel she’ll be safer with me in the United States.”
He was silent for so long it became nearly unbearable. “How old are you? You look closer to my age than my daughter’s.”
“I’m forty-three.”
“And you plan on giving my daughter a family. You’ll be an old man before they are grown.”
“I do want to start a family, sooner rather than later. Valentina and I have discussed it and she wants the same thing. I can provide to her everything she’s always wanted.”
“And you plan to take her to marry her in America?”
“Yes, I have connections. I’d like for us to be married sooner rather than later.”
