Page 59 of Until Daddy

Since the second was at least someplace where she couldn’t run off and hide, he decided to deal with the bigger fish first.

* * *

He foundhis father at his office building. No protesters were in sight when he crossed the street from the parking garage to his father’s building.

Garrick had left their office to pick up Jade, mostly to keep her from going to Carissa’s aid. They would be going to the police station to talk to Damien, who worked as a detective for that precinct. Carissa wouldn’t be getting out until Jamison got there, but he wanted to be sure she was treated respectfully and safely until Jamison arrived to deal with her.

“Father.” Jamison barged into the office, letting the door bang against the wall and leaving his father’s receptionist standing in the doorway with her mouth gaping open. “What the hell happened? Do you know you had Carissa arrested?”

His father, who had been studying papers on his desk, looked up. He flicked his wrist to dismiss his secretary, who shut the door behind her as she left.

“Yes. I do. In fact, seeing my son’s girlfriend was one of the protesters only convinced me further I was doing the right thing.” He dropped his pen on the desk and stood up. The cool demeanor Jamison recognized from childhood stared back at him, chilled even more. “Do you really think she’s going to stick around with you after this whole thing? She was using you to get to me, Jamison. She wanted you to save her precious shelter.”

Jamison’s hands clenched at his sides, his jaw tightened.

“Neither of us knew about your damn hotel plans until after we were seeing each other.”

“Well, if that’s true, then she is merely using you now.” Barron dismissed the idea of anything real developing between Jamison and Carissa with a slight wave of his hand.

“Why? Because it’s impossible to believe she’d want to be with me?” The vulnerability of his child-self started to surface. Did his father think that just because he considered Jamison unlovable, others would too? He closed his eyes a moment and shoved his insecurities away.

“Women only want a man for what he brings to the table, nothing more. In your case, wealth and power. I know she lives in that three flat on the north side. You think she doesn’t want to get out of that place and move into your condo? Instead of overlooking a back alley, her bedroom would overlook Lake Michigan.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jamison ground out his response, using the last bit of his control to keep his feet planted where they were.

Barron laughed. “I’ve had four wives, I’m well versed in the selfishness of women.”

“Selfishness? Because they wanted you around? Because they didn’t like being married to a man who thought simply because they were female they weren’t worthy of his time or effort?”

“Every one of them used me. They wanted my name, my bank account, but when it came to following my rules, they refused to comply!” His father’s nostrils flared, and his wide eyes were wild. His irritation was palpable.

“What rules? Let you sleep with other women? Never require commitment from you?”

“They got what they wanted out of the marriage.” Barron sighed, as though the idea of any of his marriages bored him.

“I’d say that’s wrong, considering every one of them left you.” The tension he usually felt when disagreeing with his father disappeared. There was nothing but the urge to push forward and finally speak his mind.

“Don’t forget, Jamison, that one of them left you too!” Barron pointed a finger at him.

“Mother? Tell me again, what happened with Mother? How did you convince her to leave me behind? And never return?” Jamison hadn’t spoken with that Newton woman yet, but he had a good idea of what she would tell him when he pursued that avenue.

“I didn’t do a thing. She just walked out.” Red blotches formed on his father’s cheeks.

“Really? Just left, you didn’t do anything?”

“We’ve been over this! Your mother didn’t know how good she had it. Always asking for vacations, demanding time I didn’t have. And with you—she used you against me. So, when she wanted to leave, I let her. But she wasn’t taking you. She wasn’t going to have you to use against me anymore.”

“Use me against you? How, by making you pay her child support, making you spend time with me?” A damn had burst, words flew from him with little filtration.

“Pay her child support? Do you know what it took to get her to leave you with me? One settlement check. I basically bought you from her. She sold you, Jamison. Your mother sold you.”

Jamison took a step back, as though the words had morphed into hands and shoved him. “You paid her to leave?”

“Paid her to leaveyou, she was leavingmeall on her own.” Barron rounded the desk and came to stand in front of Jamison, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Your mother was like the rest, son. The highest bidder wins them—I’d say they win their hearts, but greedy women like her don’t have hearts. She gave you up for money, and she left me for a man who was even wealthier.”

“She left you for someone else?” Jamison remembered his mother; the soft smiles, the easy singsong tone of her voice. He remembered her putting him to bed every night, spending all her free time with him. Why would she have left him so easily, for what other man?

“Just like Carissa will, mark me, son. I’ve seen her type. Whatever she needs for her cause. If you don’t succeed in getting this shelter under protection, she’ll walk too. And you won’t succeed. I won’t let you.” He jabbed a finger in Jamison’s direction. “This is my goddamned legacy.”

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