Page 89 of Stone
I sat back, uncertain what the hell to say. “I guess it’s possible, but we’re talking about your father here. Do you really want to know?”
Her brow furrowed, her nose wrinkling just like it always had when her mind had become determined. “Yes. I want to know the truth.” She sipped her wine and I allowed her answer to process in my brain.
She’d always been tenacious, struggling to get her way no matter what obstacle was placed in front of her, but if her basic accusations were true, they would haunt her for the rest of her life. I didn’t want to be responsible for breaking her any more than I already had.
“Okay. I doubt we’re going to find it on the internet. We can check.”
“What about your commander? Does he have any connections?”
As she’d been talking, I’d already thought about having another conversation with Gray. Although I feared the outcome wouldn’t be what either one of us wanted. “Yes, he does. I’ll plan on talking with him in the morning.”
“Okay, good.” She leaned her head against the wall and I could tell she was suffering.
Pushing my drink aside, I rose to my feet, taking the wineglass from her hand. She peered up at me when I did, her mouth twisting in frustration and worry. After putting the glass on the desk, I placed my hands on the wall beside her.
“I don’t want you hurt from any of this. I mean more than you already have been.”
“I know that, Stone,” she whispered and placed her hand on my chest. “You have no idea how many times I’d wished things had turned out differently. I shouldn’t have changed my number, butI was hurting and maybe a small part of me wanted you to try and contact me so that would make you suffer.”
“You have no idea how much I did suffer, Dani. Your father was insistent I keep away.”
Her eyes filled with tears. “The last night I saw you?”
“The worst night of my life.”
“I know he threatened you and was going to plant drugs in your truck. I overheard him talking to his attorney on the phone after he took me home. He was laughing about it. I confronted him and it was the first time he raised his hand to me.”
Bristling instantly, I could feel every muscle tightening as another wave of anger swept in. “He hit you?” Spots of blood formed in my eyes. I would fucking kill the man with my bare hands.
“Yes. I was shocked. He’d yelled at me several times, but not once had he hit me.”
“That’s why you didn’t come to see me off.”
“I knew what you’d do. You would have gone off the deep end and he would have been right there, having you arrested. I know how my father thinks.”
I fisted my hand, resisting pounding the wall. “You should have told me.”
She wrapped her hand around my shirt, arching her back. “I was afraid to. You were so excited to join the Navy. You had your entire life ahead of you. I wasn’t going to ruin that for you because I know exactly what you would have done. It’s what you’re thinking right now.”
A single tear trickled down her cheek. It was the most painful thing I’d ever seen. How many tears had been shed because of her father? How many times had we both lain awake at night wondering why things couldn’t have been different?
And how many times had I wanted to confront Bradford Vale? “Baby,” I whispered and rubbed away the tear with my knuckle. “I’m just so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault, Stone. I just wish things could have been different, but as you told me, we can’t relive the past.”
She studied me as I licked the tear from my hand. Her eyes continued to glisten and I was torn with everything that needed to be said. “There was never anyone else. I didn’t leave you for another woman. I left because I was selfish.”
“You weren’t selfish. You were practical.”
“He offered to pay me money, Dani. One million dollars.” While her eyes opened wide, she didn’t appear angry with me.
“That’s my father. He’s always thought he could buy the world.”
I slammed my hand into the wall without thinking. “I almost took it. Do you know what that makes me?” She should shove me away and completely out of her life. She should never talk to me again and I deserved as much, but she yanked on my shirt, rolling onto her tiptoes.
“That’s why you acted like there was someone else.”
“Yeah, I think so.”
