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“Cassandra!” When Jude shouted, I sat up, and Sasha bolted out of the study and down the hallway. She probably realized Jude had the situation under control. I did too, so I quickly got up, but Jude glared in my direction. “Stay.”
“Case in point. You don’t treat her much better than you do your dog.” Cassie shook her head. “None of this is directed at you, Emmie.”
It didn’t feel that way.
“I will not allow you to disrespect me.” Jude lowered his voice. “Say what you need to say, but do it in a way that won’t infuriate me.”
“I know what you did to Josh.” She scowled. “Bristol has been with him all day, taking care of him. His jaw is broken, and he can hardly walk to the bathroom.”
“Sorry to hear that.” Jude leaned against his desk. “Sounds like he did something he shouldn’t have.”
“Don’t mock me,” Cassie shouted. “Bristol said that Josh won’t tell her what happened. He said someone mugged him, but he won’t give any details and he won’t go to the police.”
“That’s awful.” Jude shrugged. “You have to be aware of your surroundings at all times.”
“Daddy!” Cassie clenched her fists. “Josh has been ignoring my phone calls, and Bristol said he didn’t call out of work. You and Luke didn’t even call to see where he was, which tells me you knew he wouldn’t be coming to work.”
Jude’s daughter got her instincts from him. Her temper too.
“Why did you do that to him? Why would you hurt him like that?” She paced the area in front of the fireplace. “We’re not even that serious.”
“As usual, you think this is about you, because you think everything is about you,” Jude said. “You couldn’t be more wrong.”
It was about me, and I didn’t like it.
“You’re admitting you did this?” Cassie looked at me. “Do you see how twisted this is?”
I didn’t want to get in the middle, but this spoiled, entitled brat had no idea what her father had done for her. How he kept Josh close so he could keep an eye on him. Josh couldn’t be trusted, and Jude figured that out from the beginning.
“You came here for an explanation, and I’m going to give it to you.” Jude pointed to the chair by the window. “Sit down.”
“I’d rather stand.” Cassie put her hand on her hip, but Jude wasn’t going to let her have any control.
“I wasn’t asking.” Jude moved toward her until she backed up and took a seat. “Because you’re too absorbed in yourself to see that Emmie was injured, I’ll tell you what you need to know.”
When Cassie glanced at me, I looked down at my lap, remembering how dumb it was for me to hit Josh. If I hadn’t lost my temper, we wouldn’t be talking about any of this today, and no one would be looking at my swollen lip.
“Josh did that to her,” Jude said. “This man—and I use that term loosely—that you insist on defending hit Emmie.”
“Why would he do that?” Cassie asked.
“That doesn’t matter right now.” Jude stood in front of the window behind the chair. “I took care of business. A business you cannot ask me about for many reasons. You brought a fucking scumbag into my house and asked me to give him a job. You asked me to allow him to sit at our table and eat with us, and look how that turned out.”
“I didn’t know.” Cassie got up and sat on the couch with me. “Emmie, I’m sorry that happened to you. I don’t understand why he would hurt you.”
“It’s okay,” I said.
“No, it isn’t.” Jude stood in front of us. “Josh humiliated Emmie by using something you told Bristol. You violated confidences.”
“What are you talking about?” Cassie looked up at her father. “I didn’t tell anyone anything about your business.”
“Bristol told Josh I was teaching Emmie to read. Why would that even come up in conversation?”
“Jude.” I didn’t want to be the topic of this discussion. “Can we not do this?”
“I’m sorry,” Jude said to me before addressing Cassie. “You are not to speak to Josh anymore. You will not share your suspicions with Bristol that I had something to do with his unfortunate mugging. I also want Bristol to take a break from this house.”
“Daddy? She’s my best friend.”
