Page 35 of Facet

The air was so thick, I could barely breathe. I wondered who the hell he thought we worked for. Mr. Geisman warily glanced from my father to me, and back.

“A lady with the agency we had been working through got us the number. She said she knew of a private agency that helped people who were deserving but were too far down on the list.”

Unable to stop myself, I scoffed. Willow’s father glanced my way as if he had suddenly forgotten I was there.

“I need her information.”

“That was over twenty years ago! I don’t have that info now!” he practically squealed.

My father approached Mr. Geisman like a predatory cat moving in on its prey. He reached out and grabbed the older man by his jaw. He whimpered when I thought I heard bone crack. My father went still, and his voice dropped to a mere whisper.

“Oh, Mr. Geisman,” my father tsked. “Why did your daughter leave? After all, her mother had just died. Her father was alone andgrieving. Yet she took off to gallivant around the country looking for her ‘real parents’—and you didn’t try to help her, stop her, get her to come home? Nothing?”

“I didn’t know she was looking for them! She was distraught. I figuredsheneeded time to grieve and come to terms with everything,” Willow’s piece of shit father ground out through his smashed cheeks.

“Really? Or were you afraid to bring her back because she might tell people about how you went to your daughter’s room the night her mother died? How you attempted to ‘console’ her? How you’d been terrorizing her at night for months before her mother died? Then there’s the fact that your dearly departed wife was beginning to get suspicious—before she so tragically died,” he said, his voice deadly soft.

I saw red. Before I knew what I was doing, I had blown past my father and grabbed the other man’s throat. I felt Mr. Geisman’s windpipe crush as his nails dug into my arm so deep they drew blood.

“How do you know that?” I asked my father, though my gaze was locked on the piece of shit I held. I practically gloated when Mr. Geisman’s gaze filled with terror.

“Why do you think we’re here? I have eyes everywhere. I sure as hell didn’t think he’d tell me who he bought his daughter from,” my father drily replied.

Bought.

I hated that.

Fury burned through me as I leaned in and inhaled. I watched as wisps of smoke left his mouth. When I breathed them in, he went pale—right before he shriveled before me and turned to dust.

“Well, hell. We won’t be getting many answers from him now,” my father drily observed.

Power surged through every cell in my body until I shuddered. My exhale was shaky as I stared at my father. “Then you shouldn’t have told me what he’d done.”

One corner of his mouth lifted, and I realized he actually expected me to do exactly what I did. But I had to tell Willow about it. I just wasn’t sure if I should tell her I’d been the one to do it—and how she’d feel about that.

“Now we need to work on you keeping everything under control and not un-aliving people every time you get pissed. That can get out of control very quickly.”

We popped in and out of several more locations before he returned me to the clubhouse and dropped me off at my room door. Most of the people we met with were falling all over themselves to help us, but there were a few that I didn’t get a good feeling about.

“I have one more contact I’m going to check with tonight. I’ll let you know if I get any leads,” my father said as I paused with my hand on the knob. “Take that fucking necklace off. Give it to your girl. Since it was spelled to you, likely using your blood, on her it would be harmless. But it should act as a homing beacon for you if you ever need it.” Like he had before, he disappeared in a wisp of black smoke.

It was strange that not only was my father suddenly back in my life, but he also was so willing to help me. My previous beliefs were all shot out of the water with him, because though he was a demon, he didn’t seem like he was completely evil. Unless this was all an elaborate act and I was completely fooled.

Shaking out of my meanderings, I opened the door. I wasn’t sure if Willow was getting ready in my room or hers, so I took a chance and checked mine first. Music was coming from my bathroom which told me she was in there. She was leaning close to the mirror as she applied mascara. The soft curve of her ass cheeks was visible at the bottom of her silk cheeky panties, and my dick went hard behind my jeans. Like every other time, I wanted her—fiercely.

When she saw me, she paused, and our gaze met in the reflections. A sweet grin lifted the corners of her mouth.

“Hey,” she softly murmured, then finished her eyes and dropped the gold tube back in her makeup bag. When I remained silent, her easy smile fell, and she spun to face me. “What’s wrong?”

“Why didn’t you tell anyone about what your father did to you?” I quietly asked as my brow pinched.

The color drained from her face, and she stared at me with her mouth ajar. “What? How do you know about that?” she choked out as her arms wrapped protectively around her middle.

“I have my ways,” I replied, not wanting to let her know that my father knew about her secrets too.

A frown furrowed her brow as she pressed her lips flat and dropped her gaze. I moved closer and gently lifted her head. “Look at me.”

She tugged her chin free and stared over my shoulder. “I didn’t want anyone to know and see me differently. He was supposed to be the person that protected me from that kind of thing. The man raised me as his own. Then when I started to… mature… he changed. It confused and scared me because he was mydad, you know? Back when it first started, I didn’t know he wasn’t my biological father—not that it matters. It was wrong, and it made me feel dirty and unworthy as a human.”

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