Page 44 of Provoke You

The musty air calmed my nerves as I climbed in the front seat. To my surprise, Chase and Kitt were not in the car with us. When Matt got in on the driver’s side, he laughed, reading the confused look on my face. “Are you missing them?”

“No. I just assumed you’d want a full task force for this mission.”

“This is not a mission. You’re just going to the office to see your dad.”

Dad had let me down before, but this was bigger, final. It was one thing for him to pretend I didn’t exist and a whole different bag of beignets for him to want me to actually not exist. With the usual traffic in the Quarter, it took us close to half an hour to get to the office in the financial district. When I was little, Grans used to bring me here to show me off. Everyone acted as if I were the most precious thing in the world. For a while, I believed it.

So much changed when Grans passed away. Mom fled to Paris, and Dad did a similar disappearing act. In one swoop, I went from having a family to living alone in a hotel room. What changed? What did I do?

“Let’s go.” Matt parked right in front of the building in a reserved space. “Do you know what you want to say?”

I did a double take. Sitting here in the front seat of the car next to Matt felt so familiar. Even his tone had changed to less commanding, more the partner in crime. Was he feeling sorry for me? Or just doing his job? “Aren’t you afraid you’ll get fired over this?”

“Technically, I haven’t been hired.” He flashed a smile. Matt the marine all of a sudden liked getting in trouble.

“I’m a bad influence on you.”

“This job isn’t what I thought it’d be.”

“Which part? The part where you were made to play babysitter to me or the part where your employer may or may not be a total crook?”

“How about you don’t lead with that when you talk to your dad?”

“Of course, I was going to be nicer.” I slapped his chest, and my fingers gripped the lapel of his suit jacket. He didn’t have to do any of this for me. “Thank you.”

His gaze moved from my hand to the rearview mirror. “You’re welcome. Let’s go have that talk now.”

Dad sat in Grans’s old office, the one with the view of the Quarter and lots of sunlight. He hadn’t bothered to redecorate when he took over after her passing. The same cream-colored sofas faced each other in front of the old fireplace. The game table sat in the corner, as always, with more water stains than I remembered. Grans’s art was also still here. Several landscape pieces from local artists. Put together, they all told a story about New Orleans.

I was glad Dad hadn’t replaced them. But no matter how hard he tried, he seemed out of place sitting behind the large oak table.

“Did you send one of your guys to kill me?”

Matt was the strategist. I was just the daughter too tired of being alone. I shouldn’t be alone in this. Even now, Dad sat at his desk, an impassive look on his face, not at all surprised I was still in New Orleans.

“What is this now, Ela?” He rose to his feet slowly, looking tired and annoyed. “Why the hell are you not in Paris like you were supposed to be?”

I faced Matt. It didn’t occur to me to ask him before, but why did he not tell Dad about the incident at the lake? I got that we were not supposed to be there, but this whole situation was way bigger than anything else. What was it? Matt didn’t trust Dad.

“The answer I was looking for was ‘No, why would I want to kill you?’ ”

“I’m not about to dignify your ridiculous question with an answer. Why would I try to kill my own daughter?”

The tears streamed down my cheeks. That was close enough. He was my dad. Even if he was never around anymore, he was still my dad. “We didn’t go to Paris.”

“I can see that.” He stood and walked around his desk. He smiled at me, shaking his head. “It would’ve been a real miracle if you’d done what I asked.”

“I made Matt take me to New York to look for Old Ben.”

“How’s the old man?”

Somehow, we were having a conversation now. “Don’t you want to know why I wanted to see him?”

He joined me in the middle of the room and cradled my cheek. “I can only guess what goes on in that pretty head of yours. But I’m sure you wanted him to tell you that even though you are not capable of taking the reins of the LeBlanc empire, you still had some sort of claim on the Baroness. What did he say?”

I had a strong urge to stomp my foot. Why did he always treat me like a petulant child? For a moment, I had to stop and think about all that happened at the lake house. Everything had been real. “I didn’t get to see him. A couple of man attacked me. If it hadn’t been for Matt, I don’t think I’d be here.” I wiped the tears off my face.

“Is this true?” he asked Matt.

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