Page 52 of Girl in the Water
“Stop acting like you’re my father!” She didn’t exactly snap, but her tone was tighter than it had been so far.
Then, as he opened his mouth to answer, she stopped moving and just stared, the light slowly going out of her eyes until she looked stricken. “Is that how you see me? Like a stupid kid? Because I have never thought of you as a father figure, ever. I’m an orphan. I’ve always been an orphan. I don’t need a father. I don’t want a father. I don’t want a big brother. I want…”
He waited for her to finish, but she didn’t. She looked out the passenger-side window, away from him.
A black limo cut in front of them, diplomat license plates. Typical midday DC crazy traffic, everybody in a rush, tourists darting across the road to provide an extra level of difficulty. Ian focused on that to keep himself from saying something he might regret later.
“I didn’t go behind your back to be sneaky,” Daniela said. “I just— I wasn’t sure if I’d get in. I didn’t want to tell you until I did. I wanted you to be proud of me.”
She still wouldn’t look at him.
He’d hurt her feelings, and he hated that he had. But he hated the idea of her overseas, on dangerous assignments even more. “You don’t know the first thing about this kind of work.”
“Karin has been giving me an orientation for the past three hours.” She tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. “And you can teach me the rest. You’ll be with me every step of the way.”
“No.”
She finally turned to look into his eyes. “I already have an idea how we can approach this. When you and I get into Manaus, you could get in touch with the local trafficking network. We could pretend that you’re selling me to them. We’ll lie about my age.”
His turn to look away. He stared straight forward. He pressed his lips together so hard, he was losing feeling in them. And he didn’t say another word to her all the way home, which made him feel like a fricking drama queen, but he didn’t trust what he might say if he opened his mouth.
Selling. Her. To traffickers.
The acid in his stomach grew into a lake. With piranhas that chewed on his stomach lining.
He pulled into the condo parking. She could probably tell that he was having a silent shit-fit, and she was waiting him out, maturely. And hetriedto calm down as they marched up to the third floor. He didn’t succeed.
He rented a two-bedroom condo for them in a safe neighborhood. Each bedroom had its private bath. Lots of sun, big kitchen. Lots of IKEA furniture, because she loved the store. She was like a kid at a playground there, trying every armchair and every bed. And she’d put together most of their furnishings, loved the puzzle, loved building things, her face shining with the pleasure of accomplishment.
He loved watching her when she was like that.
Right at this moment, however… The top of his head was about to blow off. He couldn’t remember ever being this scared and mad at her.
We could pretend that you’re selling me…
“Can we talk now?” she asked.
“We. Are. Not. Pretending to sell you to anyone.” He ground out the words. “Ever!” His voice rose on that last word.
He wanted to grab her by the shoulders and— The tension in the room was throwing enough sparks to catch the curtains on fire.
Before he could say or do something he might regret later, he marched off. “I’m taking a shower.”
He needed time. He needed some ice-cold water to cool his anger. He needed a lobotomy.
He let that cold water pound him.Okay. No big deal.She was an adult. She was a very capable person. He’d always known that eventually she would assert her independence by refusing his advice. He could live with that. He wanted that for her. He wanted her to be happy.
He just didn’t want her anywhere near a human trafficking case in Brazil.
By the time he was toweling off his hair, padding naked into his bedroom, he almost convinced himself that they could have a reasonable conversation, after which she was going to make the reasonable decision.
She was waiting for him inside the bedroom door.
They never entered each other’s bedrooms.
He hadn’t set it as a rule, but he never entered hers, and she’d taken his lead. Until now.
“What the hell, Daniela?” He snatched the towel from his shoulder and wrapped it around his waist as he jumped back into the bathroom.
