Page 72 of Wild Card

I don’t want that for her.

Or for me either.

His stare bores into me.

“You don’t deserve to breathe the same air as your sisters, Catriona. I’ve had no return on all the money I sunk into you. And that’s bad enough. But to drag Bridget into your depravity? What’s wrong with you?”

“Me? Depravity?” My voice is high and shrill. “This is all because of you. It was your shady dealing that got me abducted in the first place. You weren’t man enough to take responsibility for what you did, so you put Bridget in danger too. And you’re too much of a coward to face that.”

I remember Lorenzo kneeling on my stomach, and it felt just like this. Just like my father is making me feel now. The suffocating pain is unbearable.

“Always blaming someone else for your actions,” he says. “And why was it that you were the one who was taken, Catriona? Because everyone knows you’ll go home with anyone who even looks at you.”

It happens so quickly that for a minute I think I’m hallucinating again, but my father is suddenly pinned against the window, Gio’s large form pressing against him.

“You think you can talk to her like that?” he snarls. “You absolute piece of shit! You think you know a Goddamn thing about her? You’re an abomination, Carney, and this woman has more strength, more integrity, in her pinkie than you do in your whole rotten body.”

My father’s face is tomato red. Gio releases him, and my father squares up, trying to intimidate him.

“I’ll crush you,” he says. “You think I don’t have connections here? You think I can’t still hurt you?” He’s smaller than Gio, but it’s a bad idea to underestimate him. I want to say something, but I don’t know what to do.

Gio smiles at him. “I know people too. And last week, when I came to your office? I recorded our conversation. Some really interesting stuff on that tape. Would be a shame if the public found out and you lost all of that good will, now wouldn’t it?”

My father’s face is nearly purple.

“If anything happens to me or Catriona, well, I have colleagues who will release it. And that’ll look really bad for you, won’t it?”

I wonder what’s on that recording. He must’ve talked to my father before he ran into my brothers the evening Bridget and I were rescued.

My father shoots a vicious look at me but adjusts his jacket and leaves.

My breath comes in short, quiet gasps as I try to get a hold of the pain and hysteria building acutely inside me.

Gio settles in the chair my father vacated, his warm brown eyes taking me in.

“Hi Beauty,” he says. “I’m sorry it took me so long to get here. And I’m sorry your father is such a fucking piece of shit.”

I knew he didn’t love me like he loves my sisters. I knew he wouldn’t rescue me. But to have him show up here and attack me for Bridget’s nightmares? To insinuate that I invited my abduction? What am I supposed to do with that?

I let my head drop into my hands and cry, loud, heaving sobs.

Gio wraps his arms around me. “I’m sorry, cara mia. You deserve so much better.”

Do I, though? I want to believe it but interspersed with my moments of bold confidence are moments of terrifying fear that no one will ever love me for who I am.

Or because of who I am.

But no one’s ever stood up for me before like Gio did just now, not to my father.

Gio presses his mouth to my cheek, stroking my hair gently. “I’d rip his heart out if I thought he had one. But I know that’s not what you want.”

It’s not. I’ll never get the love I crave from my father. Ever. I’d always held out some hope for reconciliation, but if this didn’t bring us to some neutral ground, nothing will. I give into my grief, finally, crying as Gio holds me, whispering endearments in my ear. It feels good to have his strong arms around me, and I want to believe all the wonderful things he says about me.

He’s still holding me when Callan comes for a visit.

“What’s going on?” he asks. His voice is restrained, but I feel the danger beneath it, and I’m sure Gio does as well.

Gio cuts his eyes to me. I sniffle and he moves back slightly, giving me space to speak.

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