Page 214 of The Reluctant Hero

Gabriel

I stare at my father, waiting for his first salvo.

I thought dinner had gone too smoothly, and I was right. When he couldn’t see her, he decided to manipulate his way in and try to frighten her into complying with whatever plan he had in mind.

The current security team is fired. Once Mikael and Ace get hold of them, they’ll be lucky if they make it out alive.

We’re at an impasse. He doesn’t speak, and neither do I. Usually, I’m the one that breaks. That’s what he’s waiting on. Tonight, I’m not in the mood.

I’ve done everything I can to get away from his clutches. Jake screwed that with his victim delivery. I hope he realizes that mistake now instead of continuing to push us out.

“She has to go.”

I’m surprised he broke so quickly. It isn’t like him to give in.

“No.”

He leans back into the couch cushions with a sigh at my refusal.

“Jake?” I glance at him, letting him see the rage he’s conjured up in me for this farce. He ignores the look, meeting me head-on with his shark stare.

“Go with Amanda? Make sure everyone knows that if anyone else bothers her, I kill them on sight? Yes, sir.”

He turns, still hefting his MP2 in obvious threat and saunters away.

That wasn’t what I meant. At all. I’m not fighting him on it. Who knows how many people have infiltrated my home at this point? I can get my apology later. If Jake is even capable of giving me one.

The two people Father brought with him are new to me. Not new recruits, though. Cade waits behind them, ready to disarm them if they cause trouble. Ace takes Jake’s place at my side, his guns held loosely. That can change in a snap of time, and Father knows it.

“Do you see what’s happening right now?” His cold, familiar tone returns as he relaxes.

“Enlighten me,” I reply with as much frost as he’s giving me.

“She is using all of you, and you are falling for it.”

I don’t care. She can use me up and throw me away. I did it to her. Turnabout is fair play. Until then, she’smine. I’d like to believe I’m capable of letting her go, but insanity is deeply entrenched in my DNA. I thought the gene had skipped me. I was wrong.

“Disband the company, and I’ll let her leave.”

Cade’s gaze snaps to me in disbelief. Ace’s hands tighten over his pistols. Mikael is the only one that doesn’t have a reaction to the deal.

Father scoffs at me, surprised. “Like she’s worth my mission? If you want her dead that badly,I’lltake care of it. At least I have it in me.”

“You have it in you to kill an innocent woman?” I ask with a raised brow. “Have you gone that far down?”

His lips close, firming up angrily. “How do you know she’s innocent? What proof do you have?”

“Perhaps the information you’ve been getting on this situation hasn’t been looked at properly.”

“It’s in her name.”

Odd that he already knows that when we only found out last night. And Shade found it and shut it down. I doubt he told Father about it. He despises him.

“Itwasin her name. Now, there’s no account at all.”

“She’s setting you up for this meeting you’re planning. She’s already taken the money, and she’s using you for more,” he leans forward intently, focusing on me with relentless force. I would have folded under that stare a year ago. I won’t now.

Being away from him has been more of a relief than I imagined it could be. Shade saved me from myself by convincing me to stay in town. I’ve gotten to know Andi better in my own stilted way. I’ve seen Shade as a person instead of a mindless killing machine. Things are not the way my father painted them to be out in the cold of harsh reality. I’m out of my ‘gilded’ cage now.

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