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“Not always, I did end up living with a serial killer who I thought was just your garden variety pervert.”
There was no laughter that time. Jeremy’s face filled with a fury that wasn’t meant for me. It was meant for the man who had nearly taken me from this world and who had given other people access to my private life. It might even have been for his family who put me in the position to have to seek shelter with that type of person to begin with.
He took a moment to calm himself and then sat beside me on the couch. “I need to head back to Danville to take care of a few things with the business. I can do a lot remotely, but every once in a while, I’m needed for an in-person meeting that can’t be put off. The only other option would be to have the meeting close by, but since we’re trying to maintain a low profile for you, I think that would be too risky.”
My acceptance of the situation was given with a simple nod. “I don’t have a car here,” I reminded Jeremy. “What am I supposed to do if you don’t come back for some reason?”
“If I don’t come back, chances are, I’m dead, and you inherit my empire.”
“I inherit…?” I asked, though I couldn’t be bothered to form a complete, coherent sentence since that came as a complete shock.
“Yes, I cut my family off, remember? That meant I changed my Will, too. If anything happens to me, you inherit everything, and I put some legal safeguards in place to make sure no one could contest the decision. There’s a copy of it here in the house, my lawyer has one and his information is with the copy I left here for you. Plus, you always have the account I gave you, as a backup in case somehow someone manages to stall you getting your inheritance.”
“Jeremy, I’m not…” He flinched at me using his name instead of calling him ‘dad’.
“You are the daughter of my heart, Nova. Nothing will ever change that. I raised you. I was more hands-on than your mother ever was. Biology isn’t important, and if need be, when all this is over, we can make it official, and I’ll adopt you.”
“I’m an adult.”
“Funny thing, you can adopt adults into your family, too. If it’s what you want, then we’ll do it. I already know you’re my daughter, in my heart. A piece of paper telling everyone else it’s true is just icing on the cake.” He pulled me in for a side hug. “And I wish you would go back to calling me Dad. I hate it when you call me Jeremy.”
I smiled at him. “When do you leave?…” I paused, as if needing a minute to test out the rest. “Dad.”
“First thing in the morning. I should be back in about two days. There’s another car in the garage. Keys are hanging in the lock box and the code is your birthday. Two-digit month and day, kiddo.”
Again, I nodded my head.
“It’s probably best if you continue to lie low, but if you need to go out, you’re not being held prisoner here. This is an escape for you.”
“I know that, and I can’t thank you enough for showing up when you did.”
“Fate put you in my path from the beginning, kid. I was always meant to look out for you, and I’ll never be able to make up for the time where I slipped in my duties, but I want you to know that I will do everything in my power to make up for that going forward.”
“You have nothing to make up for. I understand feeling overwhelmed and needing to get away from your own life. Look where I am.”
We both chuckled at the absurdity of our current situation. “We used to be such boring people,” my father said.
“Maybe one day we’ll go back to being boring.” It was an honest-to-God hope of mine to be able to settle back into a normal life where people weren’t out to kill me and maybe one day I could find a man to settle down with and start my own family. It was a change of heart from what I’d imagined for myself immediately after my life fell apart the first time.
If being with Breakneck had taught me anything, it was that I didn’t want to go without love - especially a love I deserved. I just had to get over him first. You would think when a man cheats on you that he would immediately be erased from your heart, that the feelings would be replaced with ones of hate, and I don’t know whatever was worse than hate.
That wasn’t the case for me. Every time I thought about how angry and disappointed I was, my heart ached with the fact that he wasn’t wrapping me up in his giant arms and protecting me. He couldn’t protect me from himself though, so that was the thing I clung to most when I found myself missing him.
Chapter 38
Nova
~February~
“Where is my father?!”
Whoever the Savage Vipers had working their gate was a new prospect. I didn’t recognize him, and he certainly didn’t recognize me.
“Look lady, if your dad is here, then that’s too bad for him. Carry your ass back to the fancy side of town because this ain’t it.”
“Get Tripp or Kip out here right now!” I demanded. That finally caught the idiot’s attention.
“S-s-sorry,” he stammered, “didn’t realize Tripp had another kid besides the ones I’d already met.” I could have corrected him, but that would only delay the inevitable.
