Page 53 of Grim’s Angel

I reach him before anyone else rises. My hands close around his coat, and I drag him out of the chair.

“Explain.”

Fear flickers across his face. “I intended her to become your wife.”

I drive him against the wall hard enough to rattle the framed photographs.

“You bought a woman and put my name on the receipt.”

“She was already being sold.”

McKenna’s voice cuts through the violence roaring in my head. “Once the contract belonged to you, you could have destroyed it.”

My father looks at her. “I did not purchase it to free you.”

The cruelty of his honesty stills the room.

“You bought it to use me,” she says.

“I bought it because John had closed every door between us. You were a nurse from Black Pines, entirely outside his world and nothing like the women he usually kept near him. They accepted whatever part of him he offered. I gambled that you would make him want to offer more.”

My fist tightens in his coat. “You turned her into a key.”

“Yes.”

“To force your way back into my life.”

His gaze holds mine. “Yes.”

My hands want his throat.

I keep them buried in his coat because McKenna does not need to watch me kill an old man.

“I knew you would never force her.”

“You know nothing about the man I am.”

“I know more than you think.”

The answer sends cold through my blood.

“How long have you watched me?”

“Since your final year in the military.”

Striker swears.

My father continues before I can stop him. “I knew about the club, the shelter, your security work, and the men you brought into the Sinners.”

“You had me followed.”

“I kept my distance.”

“You invaded my life from a distance.”

His gaze drops. “Yes.”

I let him go before restraint runs out. Hound moves between him and the door while my father straightens his coat.