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But as much as she might need him, he had a feeling that if he left now, the damage to his and Emmett’s relationship would be irreversible. And in the long run, that would be far more painful for Charlotte than crying alone in her room for a bit.
“Gambling?”
He winced internally. It wasn’t what he’d meant to say, but apparently it was what his brain had latched onto.
Grimacing, Emmett slid back down into his chair. “I have it under control.”
“Obviously not, if your daughter felt like she had to auction off her virginity to save your ass.” Shit. That definitely wasn’t how he’d meant to break that particular news. Hell, he’d never meant to tell Emmett that at all. But his nerves were scraped raw, and his filter had apparently been turned off by the absolute shit show the night had turned into.
All the color seemed to drain out of Emmett’s face. “Her… you… what the fuck is going on, Braden?”
“I think this conversation calls for something stronger than wine.” Rising from his chair, Braden made his way over to the small liquor cabinet at the far end of the room and poured them each a healthy shot of bourbon. Back at the table, he returned to his seat and slid one of the glasses over to Emmett. He wasn’t quite convinced that if he got within arm’s reach Emmett wouldn’t still deck him.
Not that he could say he wouldn’t deserve it. But he wasn’t really in the mood for a fist to the face.
“To answer your main question, no, I haven’t. Not yet. But I will, because I’m in love with her, Emmett. I know that’s a hard fucking pill to swallow, I do, but I am. I meant it when I said she’s my everything. I’ve never loved another woman the way I love your daughter, and I plan to do everything in my power to make her happy as long as she’ll have me.”
“Even Laura?” Emmett asked, his brows raising.
“Yes.” Laura had been his high school sweetheart. And while he’d loved her, the way only an eighteen-year-old boy could love the girl he was determined to marry, they’d never been quite right for each other. Laura had enjoyed a bit of kinky play in the bedroom from time to time, but she’d balked at submitting to him outside of that. It had taken them far too long to realize they could never be what the other truly needed.
But Charlotte… not only had she eagerly accepted his dominance, she’d blossomed under it in ways Laura never had. Where Laura had told him he was controlling and domineering, Charlotte gleefully pushed his buttons and then took her punishment like the good girl she was beneath the sass and sarcasm.
Lifting the tumbler to his lips, Emmett drained half the glass in a single swallow. “I can’t give you my blessing, Braden. That’s my little girl, and you’re literally old enough to be her father. You watched her grow up, for fuck’s sake.”
“I know. I’m not asking for your blessing, but I’d settle for… acceptance, I suppose. Anything less than open hostility. But for now, I assume you’d like to know exactly how all of this went down.”
“From the sound of it, you bought her at an auction, like a fucking cow.”
“I wouldn’t let her hear you comparing her to cattle,” Braden said with a humorless laugh. “But no, I did not pay for her. Well, I suppose I did, but after the fact. Killian O’Rourke bought her, originally.”
What color had returned to Emmett’s face immediately disappeared again. “You let a fucking mob boss take my daughter’s virginity?”
“No. Luckily for all of us, Killian brought her to the club. When I saw them together, I dragged them both to my office and told him she was off-limits to him.”
“I suppose you think I owe you for that.”
“Never. You would have done the same if it was Aria.” Perhaps not for the same reasons, exactly, but Braden liked to think he would have stepped in even if he hadn’t already been developing feelings for Charlotte. “But I made Killian a deal. I paid him back what he’d bid on Charlotte, she got to keep the money, and she came to work for me.”
“Lottie’s been working at your club? For how long?”
“A little over a week. I’ve been trying to get her to tell me why she put herself up for auction, but she’s a stubborn little thing.”
“Gets that from her mama.” A ghost of a smile graced Emmett’s face. “Once Nat made up her mind she was or wasn’t going to do something, even paddling her ass wouldn’t get her to change her mind.” As if suddenly realizing exactly how Braden had been attempting to extract information from his daughter, Emmett pulled a face. “That’s a rabbit hole I’d rather not fall down.”
“Can’t say I blame you.” Braden took a deep swallow of his bourbon. “All right. I showed you mine, you show me yours. How bad is it, Emmett? Really.”
“Bad. I’ve known it was bad for a while, but I didn’t realize just how fucked we were until the other day, when you came to visit. I think Lottie must have been on my computer, because when I logged in that morning some of the accounts were still up and I was finally forced to acknowledge how bad things had really gotten. It’s not ‘we’re going to lose everything and be homeless’ bad but bad enough. And I haven’t the first fucking clue how to dig myself out of the hole I’ve dug for us.”
“First things first, no more gambling, and no more drinking. I’m serious, Emmett. Whatever plan you make is just going to unravel if you keep pissing away your money like that.”
“I know. I do,” he insisted when Braden raised a brow. “I’ve already closed all of my accounts. Just wish I knew what the fuck to do next.”
“What you’re going to do next is accept some help.” That part was non-negotiable as far as Braden was concerned. Emmett could hate him all he wanted, but he wasn’t going to sit idly by as people he cared about struggled unnecessarily when he was more than capable of helping. “The money Charlotte received from the auction is going to be invested. I’ll call my guy in the morning and have him talk her through all of that. She deserves to know her future is secure, regardless of what either of us do. And then you and I are going to sit down and go through your accounts one by one and make a plan. I assume you have assets that can be liquidated?”
“Some. Not as many as I would like, but enough, I think, to plug the dam a bit.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do.” Draining the rest of his whiskey, Braden set the glass down and stood, feeling lighter than he had in weeks. “Come on. We should go check on Charlotte. Poor thing is probably locked in her room thinking the worst.”
