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Becca blinked. “Huh?”
“No one controls you, and no one can tell you what to do. Please remember that if anyone ever asks you to do something that makes you uncomfortable. Just…know your worth. And know that if the people in your life know your worth as well, they’d never ask you to do something you didn’t want to do.” Then I smiled as she continued to stare at me in bewilderment. Man, she really was new. “I’m just saying that you can be your own hero, because you have the power to save yourself from anything this world has to throw at you. Just believe in yourself. You’re stronger than you know. Okay?”
“Ohh-kay,” she said uncertainly.
“Right.” Not sure if my words took any sort of root, I offered a friendly nod before heading down the hall past the reception area.
Good luck, Becca.
While the layout hadn’t changed much—a new Ficus tree here, a framed photo of my father with dignitaries there—the color scheme had changed quite a bit. Three years ago the walls had been the palest blue, all the furniture white, and the massive, arched double doors leading into my father’s inner sanctum had been fronted with bars and scrollwork shining with gold leaf. My father’s deliberate nod to the gates of heaven, though of course once they were opened, those doors led directly to him, the only power that ruled HEG.
Nowadays, the heavenly blue and white motif was long gone. In its place was a spa-like palette, with deep cream walls, gleaming terracotta tiles, and mosaic swirls in bronze and gold on the walls to culminate at the double doors—doors that were still covered in gold leaf bars to resemble the gates of heaven.
What a surprise.
Not.
Sighing silently, I glanced up at the security camera outside the door. It was focused right on me. I gave it a wave the way I always used to, changed my face into one of calm serenity, and knocked twice before entering.
It took all my strength to not throw up as time seemed to lurch back three years. This was the place, the exact fricking spot, where my world had unraveled and I’d had to pick up the pieces of it—the pieces ofmyself—and start life over.
It had been the second worst day of my life.
But it had also been the best.
“There she is, the prodigal daughter returns.” All smiles and looking like not a single guilty thought clouded his mind—because it probably didn’t—my father rounded an antique desk that had supposedly once belonged to Kaiser Wilhelm II of Prussia. He wrapped me up in a bearhug, and all at once I was eight years old again, awash in a sea of tearful gratitude that he was there. He was my rock, my world, and as long as he was there, I was safe.
Only I wasn’t eight.
Or safe.
And this time, I was the one who had to save him from whatever threat lurked in the shadows.
No matter what he’d done in the past—done tome—I loved him, and I would save him.
“Hey, Dad.” I hugged him back hard, not even caring that he could probably feel how much I’d missed him. I couldn’t hide anything from the man who’d taught me everything I knew when it came to changing faces. “Thank you for seeing me.”
“You kidding? You know my door’s always open for you, sugar.”
“Uh-huh.” We both knew the reason I left HEG, so I pulled back to give him a chiding look. “I actually had to make an appointment just to see you.”
“What can I say, darlin’, your dad’s a busy man.” He grabbed my hands and held them out. “Now, let me take a good look at you. It’s been forever.”
“It has.”And whose fault is that, I wanted to snap at him, but instead did some looking of my own. We’d always been very much alike, both in coloring and in stature. He looked thinner than when I’d last seen him, like he’d cut down on his zealously attended gym schedule, but he was still as tall as ever, an inch or so over six feet. His blonde hair was thinner too, though it was still that same sun-kissed wheat color that his personal stylist maintained for him on a biweekly basis. I’d inherited that shade of blonde from him, along with the grass-green eyes that looked back at me with an intellect that had always fascinated me. For the majority of my life, I’d firmly believed that I’d never meet another person as smart or as cunning as my father.
Then I’d run into a blue-eyed monster who could read every stain on my soul, and realized intellect could be the biggest danger of all.
Gah.
I needed to get Luke out of my head, stat. I was dealing with my father now, so the last thing I needed was a sexy-as-hell distraction like Luke traipsing through my brain.
“You look beautiful, as always. Camera-ready, in fact.” Dropping my hands, he took out his phone and glanced at the time. “It just so happens we’re going live in about ninety minutes. Why don’t you join me? We’ll talk about what you’ve been up to, how many people you’ve been helping, boost some morale and get those donations coming in. It’ll be like old times.”
That’s what I was afraid of. Falling back into old habits and losing who I’d become over the past three years was one thing I’d never do. “Sounds like fun, but I’ve got to meet with a new client about an hour from now. You know what you’ve always said—every client should be treated like they’re theonlyclient.”
“I taught you too well.” Beaming proudly, he swept a hand toward the cushy chairs in front of his desk. “Well, girl, no need to stand on ceremony. Let’s get comfortable and hear what’s on your mind.”
“If you’ve talked with Kels, you know what’s on my mind.” I took one overstuffed armchair while he took the other. The move didn’t surprise me. Long ago he’d taught me that to sit behind a desk and separating himself from a target—or mark—kept that person’s guard up, and that would never do. But sitting beside a person, to share their burdens and give the impression that they had an ally who could be trusted, that was when real money could be made. “When did you start getting harassed?”
