Page 121 of Bet On Me, Daddy

No matter what, she had Beckett. And that made all the difference.

“I’ve missed you, little doll.”

Little doll.Because that was all she’d ever been to him. A thing to be used and played with, sometimes trotted out for him to show off to his friends, but otherwise kept in a box. Alone. Abandoned. Unwanted.

No more.

“I haven’t missed you.” Her voice was stronger than she’d expected it to be, and she was grateful it didn’t falter or crack. “I thought I might. I thought, when I left, that I’d regret it. Because you had me so convinced that I would. But there hasn’t been one single second since I walked out of that gilded prison you built for me that I have ever regretted leaving your sorry ass behind.”

Preston’s lip curled up in a familiar snarl. Had she really found him handsome once? Now all she could see was the ugliness beneath the mask. “You ungrateful little bitch. I never should have wasted my time with you. Enjoy my sloppy seconds, Stone.”

“Oh, I’m not ungrateful at all, Preston. In fact, I’m more grateful for you than you could imagine.” Taking a step toward him, she tilted her chin up, locking eyes with his furious gaze. He’d always been so adamant that she keep her head down, her eyes on the floor when she knelt for him, and it thrilled her to know that such a small thing had him seething. “I’m grateful that you taught me what abuse disguised as love looks like. I’m grateful you showed me your true colors, so I would never again mistake red flags for roses.”

She stepped closer, ignoring the way he jerked against the guards’ hold. He couldn’t hurt her. Not now, not ever again. “I’m grateful you gave me a reason to grow a fucking backbone so I could look you in your eyes and tell you how incrediblyinsignificantyou are. I thought you took everything from me when I left. But I was wrong. You gave me hope for something better. You gave me a hunger to prove to myself that you didn’t break me. You gave me the life I have now, and I am so fucking grateful for that. And even more so that you will never be a part of that life ever again. Goodbye, Preston. I hope you have the life you deserve.”

With every word she spoke, the color in Preston’s face deepened, to the point she wondered if he might actually have a heart attack right there in Beckett’s office. “You can’t speak to me that way. I will ruin you, and your little boyfriend, too! You hear me? I willdestroyyou, Stone!”

Behind him, the elevator doors finally slid open, and she watched as the security team dragged him into the cab, still red-faced and screaming.

When the doors closed on his tirade, she simply stood there for a moment, staring at the spot where he’d stood. And she waited for the panic to come. For the fear she’d felt when she’d first seen him standing there with Beckett when she’d come barging in to confront the love of her life.

But it didn’t come. She simply felt… free.

Turning back around, she grinned up at Beckett. “Well. That was fun.”

Emotions, too many for her to define, swirled in his eyes. “Sonja,” he said, without taking his eyes off her, “hold my calls and clear my schedule for a couple of hours. I’ll let you know when I’m available again.”

Uh-oh. Now there was a hint of fear, not the debilitating terror she’d felt seeing Preston again, but the familiar flutter in her stomach that told her Daddy was not happy. “You don’t have to do that,” she protested as he cupped her elbow, guiding her back down the hallway she’d stormed through earlier with poor Jonas trailing behind her, begging her to stop.

Hopefully Beckett wouldn’t be too hard on him.

“Oh believe me, I do.” Pushing open the door to his office, Beckett nudged her inside. The second it closed behind them again, he had her pushed up against it, his lips slamming down on hers. Claiming her. Branding her.

Gathering her wrists in his hand, he pinned them over her head, using his knee to nudge her thighs apart as he lifted hishead to glare down at her. “You took ten years off my life when I turned around and saw you standing there. Where were you supposed to be, little girl?”

“I told you, I don’t listen.” Even as the words slipped from her lips, she felt that delightful flutter in her belly again. She was poking the bear, but now that some of the tension had faded, she was remembering why she’d come to see him in the first place. And her own anger was rising up again to match his. “And neither do you, it seems.”

Oh, he did not like that. “Excuse me?”

“The account you opened for me. I told you I don’t want any of your money. Take it back.”

“No.”

Yanking against his hold proved futile. His grip on her wrists only tightened, and she tried to tell herself she wasnotenjoying being so helpless. “Take itback, Beckett. I don’t want it.”

“Too bad.”

Infuriating man. “Did you listen to what I told you the other night at all, you arrogant, entitled, asshole?”

A slow, wicked smile stretched across his face. “That’s twice now you’ve called me a name since you came barging into my office looking like some goddess of vengeance. It’s going to cost you, Ruby Red.”

Again with that lovely, delicious fear swirling inside her. But she tried to push it aside, to focus on her own anger. “Answer the question.”

“I did listen. I listened as you told me about a man who used his money to control your every move. A man who forced you to rely on him, to the point you questioned if you’d ever be able to survive without him.” Lifting his other hand to her face, he cradled her cheek in a move so tender it had tears clogging her throat. “I never want you to feel that way with me, Ruby. I neverwant you to feel trapped or scared that you’ll lose everything if you walk away.”

“So, to make sure I don’t feel the way I felt with him, you decided to throw money at me. Exactly like he did. Make it make sense, Beckett.”

Understanding softened his eyes. “Ah. I see why you’re so mad now. The money isn’t… Hold on a second.”

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