Page 67 of Fast Vengeance

His expression turned stricken. “No. Don’t say that.”

She shook her head, held up a hand to stop any other arguments. She didn’t want to hear his lies. “I’ve said everything I had to say to you. I came here to see you, did everything I said I would. Now free Agent Hamilton and let me go. You and I are done.”

“We’re not done,” he shouted, slamming his hand on the desk.

She jumped and sucked in a breath, ready to bolt for the door. His face was red, his eyes bulging in a way that terrified her. She’d never seen him like this, the monster beneath the handsome veneer slipping above the surface. While she hadn’t expected him to just let her walk out of here, until this moment she hadn’t been afraid that he would hurt her.

Now she wasn’t so sure. But even if she got out of this office, she would have to get past David, and David would do whatever her father told him to.

Her father struggled with himself for a long moment, then exhaled and leaned back to regard her more calmly. “All right. You’ve said your piece. Now you’re going to listen to mine.” He thrust a finger at her chair. “Sit down.”

“N-no.”

“Sit. Down.”

“Or what? You’ll hurt me too?”

Something flashed in his eyes. Surprise? “Don’t push me.”

The menace in those quiet words sent a shiver through her. Reaching behind her, she gripped the arms of the chair and dropped onto the seat, her pulse hammering in her throat.

Someone knocked on the door. David opened it. He glanced between them, his gaze pausing on her almost in concern for a moment before he addressed her father. “He’s on the way. Should be here in about ninety minutes.”

“Thank you,” her father muttered, his eyes still spearing her. “We’ll be out shortly.”

David shut the door and a chill rippled up her spine as his words registered.

“You are my only child,” her father continued as though there had never been an interruption. “My sole heir. While I’ve been searching all over for you, I’ve also been reorganizing my estate. It’s true that a sizeable amount of what I have came from less than legal means. But everything else came from legitimate sources.”

“Some of which I unknowingly helped you launder,” she snapped, sick with rage and despair. And alarm. She wanted out of here. Had stupidly thought Nieto would let Brock go if she came.

His jaw flexed again, but this time he let the verbal slap go. “I pushed you into becoming a financial adviser for a reason. I knew that someday you would have a huge amount of money to manage, and I wanted to be sure you could handle it. Now the time has come. I’ve been restructuring everything so I can begin to show you what I’ve created, let you take over more and more of the business side until I pass it all to you when I die.”

“I don’t want your filthy blood money.”

“It’s yours, whether you want it or not. It’s your birthright. And I’m going legitimate. I wouldn’t expect you to work with or keep money that came from my other sources.”

Like that made it okay? Did he honestly think she would want this? Even consider it, or…she didn’t know, be happy about it? He was insane.

He waved a hand impatiently. “I realize that you and I have a lot of things to work through. I can only hope that in time we can rebuild at least part of what we had. It will take effort on both our parts, but you have to know that even with all that’s happened, no matter what happens, I have always loved you and always will.”

It hurt. Hurt so bad it felt like her chest was being split open. Because she’d loved him too once. Loved him to pieces. To the point where had she and her mother not been driven from their home that awful night, she might have been able to forgive him for lying to her about everything else once she’d learned the truth.

Maybe. Though she would never know now. Too much had happened. She would never give him another chance.

“Who’s on the way?” she demanded now, desperate to change the subject because it was all she could do not to launch herself across the desk and attack him. “What did David mean?”

He hesitated a moment before answering. “My pilot.”

No. “What?” she gasped.

“We’re leaving.”

Like hell.

She shoved to her feet and took a stumbling backward step toward the door, afraid to take her eyes off him, her heart thundering in her chest. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

His jaw tensed, a sign his patience was growing thin. “Yes, you are.”

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