Page 114 of Stone
He immediately moved in between where Bradford was standing and arguing with Dani and the direction where I was coming.
“Get out of the way, Gray. This is between me and a very corrupt man.”
As expected, the bastard secret service moved in with guns drawn. This was definitely going to turn into either a standoff or a shootout at the OK corral.
There were clicks as they turned off their safeties and lifting their guns chest level high while I continued to storm toward the vice president, my movements catching Dani’s attention.
“Stop. No!” Dani yelled at the top of her lungs. “You will not do this.”
She turned in a full circle to glare at me before getting in her father’s face. “Call off your dogs.”
“Can we all just calm down. Allow Bradford to speak,” Gray encouraged.
Bradford was shocked by his daughter, his eyes open wide.
“Both you and the vice president had several opportunities to tell us what the hell is going on. But you chose not to,” I barked.
“It wasn’t Gray’s place to tell you a damn thing,” Bradford hissed. “As a matter of fact, I made certain he knew if he opened his mouth, I’d have him court-martialed.”
“You fucking bastard. You just have to control everything and everyone around you.” I glared at Gray briefly. He looked away, but he was furious as well and I didn’t think it had to do with my confrontation.
“He was hired to help return my daughter,” Bradford continued, now trying to weasel out of the reason he’d just dropped by. He motioned to the agents to lower their weapons. They certainly didn’t seem eager to do so.
Finally, they did.
Meanwhile, I kept the barrel of the weapon pointed at his face until Dani placed her hand on mine, giving me a stern look until I slowly lowered the gun.
“Don’t, Stone. Just breathe for me.” Her voice was soft, encouraging, but her eyes were imploring. “Are you ready to come clean, Dad? Is that why you’re here? To confess your sins and alleviate your guilt?”
Bradford appeared uncomfortable. “If we could talk about this in private.”
“Not a chance,” she said. “In fact, I want the entire world to know what you did. That you stole my baby from my arms, telling everyone he was dead and giving him away to a friend of yours in Congress.”
If Gray had known about that, I’d be surprised. He slowly turned his head toward the vice president, an incredulous look forming on his face.
Bradford was visibly upset.
“Go on, Bradford. Why don’t you explain that one,” I told him.
“I thought I was doing the right thing. Okay? Daniella had her entire life ahead of her and she didn’t need to be saddled with a baby from a man who…”
He obviously figured out he wasn’t talking to one of his cronies in that I was standing right there. “You mean since I was the spawn of a killer? Were you worried the trend would continue?”
With Bradford being nervous, I was hopeful the man would break. If not, I’d break him. I moved closer and he threw up both hands.
His nervousness was evident, but I just didn’t care. Maybe he didn’t know what I was made of after all. “Your father wasn’t a killer, Stone.”
Hearing his words caught me off guard. I lowered my weapon by a few inches. “Meaning?”
Bradford wiped sweat from his face. “What I told you about us being friends was the truth.”
Now Gray was completely unprepared for what the man was about to say.
Dani moved by my side. Her entire body hummed with anger. “Keep talking, Dad.”
“You need to know how sorry I am this was kept from you. From both of you.” If Bradford thought he could suddenly backtrack, he was dead wrong.
A single step and the barrel of my weapon was only inches from his face. “Who killed the man my father paid a price for?”
