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I pinched the bridge of my nose to fight back the extreme emotion. “Turns out, you are my dad.”
Even though I’d raged at Griffin, I didn’t believe Kalen or Connor would try and dupe me. They’d done so much to help me when they didn’t have to.
“I’m sorry if that hurts you,” he said.
“Why would it? Grant’s always been a big brother to me. Now he’s my real brother. You’ve always been my dad.”
“So what’s wrong, son?”
“In order to save the woman I love, I needed Royce to talk to her father.”
It was easy to admit the truth. I loved Natalie. And it meant more to me than Royce kinging me as his. Yet I needed the man to make her mine.
“Why?”
He ushered me back inside the house, and I told them most of the sordid story.
My dad, my real dad, said, “I can call Royce and beg a favor.”
When he spoke, it all came together.
Eighteen
Natalie
Pinning down Shawn to ask more questions would prove to be harder than expected. All the while I silently cheered for Valentina for getting out. Though I hadn’t liked how she’d treated me in the beginning, it wasn’t like I couldn’t understand where she was coming from. Now I could only pray that she would escape the net my father cast to bring her back in the fold.
With the first step done, it was time for me to do what I could to help my situation. I had no idea what kind of evidence to look for that could be used against my father, short of large quantities of drugs.
My father could be heard bellowing Spanish in steady streams. Since I’d never spent time with him, I hadn’t ever heard him speak Spanish. I had to assume he was extremely pissed over something.
The door had slammed before the house went silent. I took a chance and walked the halls, tentatively calling out for him just in case. I hadn’t exactly planned for that moment. If he answered, I’d have to think quick on my feet with a plausible reason for why I needed him.
As I walked, I didn’t get a response, not even from the house staff. There were parts of the house I’d never been in due to his security. I explored the wing I assumed led to my father’s personal quarters. I peeked in each door along the way until I came to an office.
The room was made up of dark wood and leather. Whatever had set my father off, he had left in a hurry based on the scattered paper on the desk in the far back of the room.
I darted in, hoping I wouldn’t be caught. I passed four leather chairs arranged facing each other, which I assumed were for potential meetings before I reached the heavy wooden desk that looked like it cost a fortune.
The papers left behind looked as though they’d been tossed in a fit of anger. I didn’t start my search there. I wanted to find my phone. If I could call Liam, I could get answers, and ask what I could look for—not that he knew what I was doing. I went for the drawers. One by one, they proved useless to me until the last.
I stared at what I’d found for seconds while I decided what to do. There was a gun. I didn’t pick it up because I didn’t think I had it in me to use it. I helped save lives, not take them. If I had it, I’d likely have to use it, or it would be taken from me and used against me. So, I left it there.
I turned my focus to the papers on his desk. Would Father leave something damning lying around? Unlikely, but I checked anyway.
“Looking for something?”
He startled me and sent my heart into my throat. I hadn’t heard anyone come into the house. Slowly I set the paper I’d been examining down before I looked up to face my father. “I’m looking for my phone since I was left alone.”
It was the truth, though it didn’t explain why I was going through his papers.
“Trust me, you weren’t alone.” He moved into the room and I stood frozen where I was. I hadn’t forgotten the gun. “Whatever you thought you would find, you wouldn’t have found it here.” His eyes settled on the mess on his desk before meeting my eyes again.
“I want my phone,” I demanded.
He pulled it from his pocket. “You certainly haven’t earned it. When I was growing up, my father made sure I earned everything I got from him, including a pot to piss in. If you hadn’t been taken from me, you would have learned the same. Unfortunately, you didn’t. You will learn now.”
“Sounds like your father was a bully.” I couldn’t bring myself to call a man I’d never met my grandfather.
