Page 22 of The Betrayer
Angela’s startled exclamation followed me, and I heard her heels scrambling on the hallway floor as she hurried to catch up.
“Paul, where are you going?”
“I’m going to tell my father what I should have told him years ago.”
This was it. I was done biting my tongue. I was done waiting for a miracle. I was done hoping he would change and wake up and become a father.
“Paul, you can’t. Not tonight.”
Angela’s hand snaked around my arm, but I freed it with a jerk. The tap of her heels quickened as I lengthened my stride, servers and other staff members stepping out of the way of my forward motion and the storm brewing on my face. The room’s noise, music, and heat hit me full force as I moved from the chilly hallway into the museum’s central atrium.
“Paul.”
I nearly ignored my name, but Angela caught up to me at the last moment.
“It’s Mr. Johnson,” she hissed in my ear. Her words stopped me dead in my tracks. I turned as quickly as I had toward the door in the alley, pasting a smile on my face as I faced the president of the board.
“Allen.” I took his offered hand and shook it as he put his other hand on my shoulder.
“Fantastic job up there, Paul. The crowd loved you, and I saw more than a few impressed faces in the crowd when you announced our takeover of INT.”
“Thanks, Allen. I appreciate it. But if you’ll excuse me—”
Even the praise from the older man couldn’t cool my anger. I was intent on giving my father a piece of my mind. The older man’s hand on my shoulder grew firmer, denying me my escape. He leaned forward as though to give me more praise, but his words were anything but.
“Your father is making a spectacle of himself. Get him under control now, or we’ll all see consequences. Especially him.”
My blood ran cold, but when the board president pulled back, he had the same jovial grin on his face. His eyes were as chilled as his words as he gave me a firm pat on the shoulder and turned away.
“Paul?”
Angela was beside me, her expression concerned and curious at the same time.
“Paul, are you okay?”
It took her repeated question to shatter the ice holding me still, but I didn’t answer her. I surged ahead, weaving my way through the crowd, my sights set on my father and the young woman with him.
Neither saw me coming, and my father looked startled as I pulled him and his girlfriend for the night away from the conversation he was having with someone I didn’t recognize.
“What the hell are you doing, Paul?” my father asked, yanking his arm away from my hand. I kept dragging the surprised young woman after me, though.
“I need to talk to you. Now.” I herded us to a dark corner off to the side of the hall hidden by heavy draping curtains. A few people wandered nearby, but I didn’t intend to get loud.
“Are you going to tell me what the hell this is about?” My father scowled at me as he extracted the blonde from my hold.
“Me?” I demanded, seething. “Me? You’re askingmewhat the hell this is all about? I want to know what the hell this is all about.”
I indicated the young woman with a sharp gesture of my hand, and she took a step back, her blue eyes widening with surprise. She was even younger than I’d imagined, and I had definitely never met her before.
“Don’t talk to her that way.” My father’s eyes narrowed.
“I’m not going to talk to her at all. She needs to leave. Now.” I turned to her, and she stepped away from me. “You need to leave. You can take my limo home, but you can’t stay here.”
The young woman’s blue eyes flickered with apprehension and shifted toward my father. I was being rude, and part of me felt bad about it. But the board president’s words still rang in my head, and I was so angry I could barely see straight.
I was not going to let her or my father be our downfall.
