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His incredulous gaze raked her face. ‘You had nothing to do with that story.’
‘You believe that?’ Ridiculously pleased, she gave a wobbly smile. ‘Are you suddenly learning to trust, Rafael?’
His fingers tightened on her arms. ‘No. Well, possibly, but only you,’ he added hastily, drawing her against him. ‘I know that story had nothing to do with you so why on earth did you suddenly go into hiding?’
‘Because you don’t need a man like my dad in your life!’
‘That’s enough from you, young lady!’ Speaking for the first time, her father stepped forward, a scowl on his face. ‘I’ll have some respect when you speak about me. You both seem to have forgotten I’m here!’
She heard Rafael’s sharp intake of breath but she pulled away from him and stepped towards her father. ‘We haven’t forgotten, Dad. Hardly. A
nd as for giving you respect—’ her voice shook as she looked at him, seeing for the first time the mean lines that pulled at his mouth, the coldness of his eyes ‘—respect is something that has to be earned. And you’ve never done that. You’ve never done a single thing in your life to warrant my respect.’
Her father gave a grunt of anger and his shoulders hunched. ‘You watch your mouth, girl! No one talks back to me, especially not my own daughter. You’re not too old for me to put my hand across your backside!’
Rafael stepped forward with a low growl of warning. ‘Lay one finger on her and I’ll send you somewhere you’ll never need money again,’ he promised in thickened tones and Grace put a hand on his arm in an instinctive gesture of restraint.
‘You’re not going to stop me from saying what needs to be said, Dad. I won’t let you threaten me. I’ve had all week to prepare for this meeting and I’ve got things to say to you. And you’re going to listen.’
Her father sneered. ‘Oh, you’re all very big and brave with your Brazilian bodyguard there, aren’t you?’
Grace felt the mounting tension in Rafael’s frame and kept her hand on his arm. ‘You won’t intimidate me. Not this time. Nor will you make me feel guilty. You’ve made a fortune from me. I know exactly how much, to the last penny. You stole from me—your own daughter,’ just saying the words made her want to cry but she forced herself to plough on and say what needed to be said, knowing that if she didn’t say it now then she might never have the courage again, ‘and I’ve finally allowed myself to acknowledge the truth. You are not a good father and you never have been.’
Her father took a step towards her but must have caught something in Rafael’s eyes because he suddenly stopped and simply glared. ‘I did my best for you, Grace. You’ve always been difficult and ungrateful.’
‘No.’ She shook her head. ‘I was neither of those things and you did not do your best for me. You did the best for you. You only ever thought about you. At school you didn’t care about helping me, you just cared about your image. About what people would think about you having a daughter who couldn’t even add up. And then when I started the business and I was doing so well, you weren’t proud of me because you didn’t care enough to be proud. You just exploited my weakness and you stripped my business bare. How could you do that, Daddy? How could you?’
Her father looked about to bluster his way out of it and then seemed to think better of it because he shrugged and then glanced at Rafael, a glint in his eyes. ‘Well, I’m proud of you now. You’ve hit the jackpot, that’s for sure. And good for you, Gracie, that’s what I say.’ He gave an unpleasant smile. ‘We’ll all benefit.’
Anger exploded inside her. ‘No, you will not benefit from anything! How dare you take money from those innocent people? We were doing something good with Café Brazil, Dad. And you tainted it. You took food from the mouths of innocent people.’
Her father made an impatient sound. ‘You always were a drama queen! Well, you’ve had your say so you can go now.’
‘I haven’t finished.’ Her knees were shaking and she wasn’t even aware that her fingers were digging into Rafael’s arm. ‘You stole from me, your daughter, and that’s terrible, but the final straw for me, the final straw, was when you made money by talking about Rafael in the papers. How could you stoop so low?’
Her father shrugged dismissively. ‘If the papers are willing to pay, let’s give them a story, that’s what I say.’
Grace turned away, distaste almost choking her. ‘You have no morals. You are a greedy, sad little man who isn’t even prepared to put the effort into making an honest living.’
‘And you’re so high and mighty!’ Her father’s temper finally exploded and he stepped towards her, his expression ugly. ‘Why should I take a lesson on manners from a thick, stupid girl who can’t even add up?’
In one stride Rafael reached him and punched him so hard that Patrick Thacker hit the wall with a sickening thud that made Grace gasp.
‘Rafael, no! You mustn’t.’ She grabbed his arm, frightened by the volcanic fury she saw in his face, and he turned to her with disbelief, barely contained anger shimmering in his dark eyes.
‘After everything he’s done to you, you still care about him?’
‘No.’ She shook her head quickly and then hesitated and her narrow shoulders slumped. ‘Well, yes, I suppose I do. He’s still my father. His behaviour has been awful and that’s really hard to come to terms with but he’s family and—’ she broke off and looked at her father, tears misting her gaze ‘—maybe I wasn’t the easiest of daughters.’
‘You’re doing it again, making excuses for people,’ Rafael growled, a frown on his face as he rubbed his bruised knuckles. ‘You always do that. People throw bad at you and you sift through it looking for the one grain of good that might be lying at the bottom.’
‘Yes—’ her voice was choked ‘—well, that’s who I am, Rafael. Sorry. Can’t change the person inside, wasn’t that what you told me? And anyway, if you hit him again you might seriously hurt him and I don’t want you in trouble because of me.’
A faint smile touched his mouth. ‘I’m already in trouble because of you, meu amorzinho,’ he said softly, his accent suddenly very pronounced. ‘Big trouble.’
Was he talking about seeing his name in the papers again? Unsure what he meant, Grace hesitated for a moment and then turned to her father, who was staggering to his feet, his hand pressed to his jaw. She stepped forward, blinking back tears. ‘Don’t even think about telling anyone about that punch or I’ll come after you myself and punch you harder. And then I’ll report you to the police for fraud.’
Her father moved his jaw gingerly. ‘You’d never be able to prove it.’
