AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The only saving grace and reason she could draw breath again was that she didn’t see Heath mixed into the bunch, but that didn’t necessarily mean anything. He could be just as embroiled as the rest of them…or he could be completely ignorant.
Jumping back as the men passed her, Victorjia held her ground and her chin firm under the lecherous eyes of her father’s suited friends and the scrutiny of his leather-clad ones. None of them appeared the least bit friendly, which made her shudder.
Maybe coming here hadn’t been the best idea after all. Her grandma had begged her not to go, but as she’d explained as she’d packed her bags and walked out the door, she was an adult now and free to travel and forge a true bond with her flesh and blood. Just as with any child, she was curious to see who she came from. It was bad enough she hadn’t been able to grow up with her own mother to care for her, but at least she had a father who seemed to love and cherish her. Distance had been an easy thing to fix.
“My men will see you out,” she heard her father say as he pulled up the rear, his face a mask of malevolence. He was upset, barely keeping his anger in check. “And, gentlemen, the next time you want a meeting with me, pick up a phone and schedule it,” he called after the Spartan men. “I don’t do drop-ins, especially when I’m already seeing to far more important things.”
The one with the snow-white hair and glacial stare stomped to a halt and swung a look over his shoulder. “It’s better to catch a kid with his hand in the cookie jar unawares than giving prior notice.” He lifted his chin. “We’ll be in touch again shortly.”
Her father’s eyes slitted. “I’ll count the hours.”
As soon as the men were gone, Victorjia turned wide eyes on her father, who merely cast her a bored look and turned away to return to his office. She was quick to follow.
“Who were all those people?” she demanded to know, reverting to her native Spanish language.
“No one to concern yourself with,” he deadpanned in kind as he seated himself behind the large, cherry wood desk and picked up an expensive silver-plated pen that probably cost as much as her college tuition.
“I’m living here,” she asserted, “so I have a right to know. They didn’t look like good guys.” Although the ones with the Spartan patches appeared marginally more benign than the suits. At least they just looked pissed. The suits looked calculating.
“You’re myguest,” he enunciated, reducing Victorjia to a fraction of her actual size with that one sharply delivered word. “This is my home, and I don’t answer to anyone but myself, least of all my daughter.”
“So I don’t have any rights?” she asked, folding her arms over her chest in a show of bravado that she most definitely wasn’t feeling.
He actually looked shocked by her assertion. “You have more rights than any other under this roof.”
“Except the right to ask questions.” As far as she was concerned, he was trying to run a dictatorship, if that was the case, and she wasn’t of the mind to be told what to do by him any more than she was by her grandma. “I’m not a pretty bird to be placed on a pedestal and shown off to your friends or business partners or whatever you call them.”
“No, you’re not. You’re my daughter, and that means you take the highest priority—”
“Then tell me who those people were.”
His eyes shuttered. “It’s not your business.”
“Then this isn’t my home,” she said, switching to English again. “I’ll start looking for better accommodations, but since I’m short on money and connections, I’ll ask you to be kind enough to give me a couple of days.”
“Totally unnecessary, mija. You stay put, enjoy this lovely home I’ve provided, and treat it as your own.Because it is. What’s mine is yours.”
What good was a roof over her head if she wasn’t trusted by the person who owned it, her very flesh and blood father? “Thank you for the offer, but I don’t think this arrangement will work out in the long run. It’ll be better for me to leave and let you carry out your business in peace, with the knowledge that no one is trying to pry.”
Somehow, the look he passed her was at once disparaging and scolding. “You’re so much like your mother was—prone to overreacting.”
Victorjia took offense to his words. “Is that how you remember her? Well, I’d rather overreact than be cold as ice like you.”
She didn’t give him time to respond. Storming through the mansion, Victorjia flew up the stairs to her bedroom and locked herself away with no intention of leaving until she was certain he was in bed for the night or had left the premises so she wouldn’t have to risk running into him again.
The way she was feeling, she was liable to slap him. The anger pounded thick in her veins, demanding she fight back with both words and fists, but she went over to stare out the bank of windows instead, finding the serene view of the valley below calming.
If she was prone to overreacting like her mother, then she was quick to anger like her father. Neither was something she wanted to be, but if she had to choose, she’d pick the former over the latter every day of the week. As a girl, she’d always looked up to him, but today she’d finally grown up, because she’d seen and heard enough to know she never wanted to be anything like him again.
***
Rena had been out doing laundry and eating ice cream when Manuel called, wanting to see her. She couldn’t say no. Sheliterallycouldn’t say no. That’s what Angel hadn’t understood, but how could she tell her sister that she had an agreement with the FBI to take down a big crime/drug/whatever lord? So she’d lied. Just another one to add to the already long list.
One day she’d make it up to her. Although she’d been saying that to herself for years. She’d meant it each time, but something always came up to prevent it from happening. This time she swore things were different. Shewouldmake it up to her. She’d find a way to prove to Angel that she had turned over a new leaf. It just took…time.
Sighing, Rena padded up the brick walk to the stone steps, her flip-flops slapping the ground. The door opened before she reached it, and she smiled a friendly smile to the guy manning the entryway who she’d jokingly nicknamed Fester.
“Thanks for the assist.”Fester. “Is the old man in his study today?”
