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“When you know, you know, Mr. Everly. I can assure you that your daughter is not property to me and is not being held hostage. Honestly, I hope you and your wife aren’t mad, but I want her to stay in New York with me. It’s that deep with me. I don’t expect you to like me, today, but I do want you to know that your daughter is in good hands with me. I can and will promise you that.”
He grunted in response before pulling out of the parking lot.We rode in silence until he pulled in the parking lot of the Grove. When I stepped out the car, the smell of citrus smacked me right in the face. I followed him up the stairs, into the building.
“So, how long you been working here?”
“All my life,” he bit out.
“Good money, I suppose?”
“By your standards, probably not.”
“I don’t—”
“She’s up those stairs. You won’t miss her.”
He didn’t give me a chance to tell him that I respected all businessmen no matter how much money they made. Up the short staircase, I saw her through a large glass. She stood outside, looking over the Grove. Walking across the room, I opened the door and leaned against it.
“Baby.”
She turned and looked at me. The rims of her eyes were red and swollen.
“Oh, good. You’re still alive,” she replied with a sigh of relief.
“Um, was there actually a chance that your father might kill me? Because I was never worried about that.”
She laughed a little. “I wasn’t sure. He was pretty mad.”
I walked further outside, letting the door close. Wrapping my arm around her waist, I turned her, making her look at me.
“What’s wrong? Tell me why you’re crying and bolted away from me like a bat out of hell.”
She swallowed and looked away from me.
“Baby, you can tell me anything. Know that.”
“I don’t like how Derek came over, trying to tell on me, while professing his love for me at the same time like…it’s been years, and he has a fiancée and a baby and how dare he do that? To me. I can take care of myself. And then I felt kinda mad at myself because he was right. I never gave us a chance because I never wanted to leave here. This is my home. I move to New York and take up with his boss. I can understand how it could make him feel, but he should be over that. He was acting like if I told him to break up with his fiancée, he would.”
I palmed her face, swiping at the lone tear that slipped from her eye.
She stared up at me with her big, pretty eyes.
“Tell me your thoughts? Do you want to end this?”
“What? No, Mr. Dymon. I love you. So much. I’m just upset that he did that to me. To us. To my family. Now, they are going to think that you’re a monster, and you’re not.”
“In my own defense, I don’t care what they think of me.”
“But I do.”
“Okay. The ball is in your court like it’s always been. What do you want to do?”
“I’m your girlfriend, Mr. Dymon. That’s not changing. Someone is going to have to pry your cold, dead body from my hands.”
“Hopefully when I’m a hundred years old.”
“Yes. And I’m going to die, like, twenty-four hours later from a broken heart.”
“Good. Even then, I don’t want a man to think he has a chance with you.”
