AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I cup the back of her neck and place a soft kiss on her forehead comfortingly. Instantly, she relaxes and sways into my body. “Nothing for you to worry about.”
Chapter Forty-two
DASH
“So you married my daughter today.”
Hardly many people catch me off guard or surprise me, yet this man has managed to do it twice in one hour. My mistake for underestimating him because I didn’t expect him to find out so soon. Though I keep my shock concealed by schooling my features in a blank mask. His ties go far wider than I predicted, which he confirms as he continues.
“Nothing happens in this city without my knowledge, especially when it concerns my daughters,” he explains, sitting in his high-back chair in his office while I sit with my legs crossed across his wooden desk. “Did you really think I wouldn’t find out?”
“I was counting on it.” My pleased voice makes a muscle tic in his jaw. “I had already told you my intention that day.”
“A very bold move on your part, son.”
I hold his scathing stare with one of my own and shrug. “Once I know what I want, wasting time isn’t in my nature. Bianca was always meant to be mine.”
“You’re smart.” He gives a non-sarcastic laugh, pointing his finger at me. “You knew I would ask you to end it with her, so you beat me to it by wedding her, well aware I’ll have to accept it in front of the world unless I want to be humiliated.”
He’s looking for a malicious reaction that he won’t find from me. It’s astonishing he’s more concerned about his own reputation than Bianca’s happiness or wishes. Had she truly fallen in love with someone else and brought him home, she would have been in for a rude awakening.
“Do you not trust your daughter’s choice?” I counter.
“A murderer is hardly a suitable choice now.”
Years of restraint holds me back from snarling and acting impervious as he attempts to rile me up. The ugly rumor is like a black mark painted on my back that I can’t scrub off my skin. Nobody gives a fuck that there’s no single evidence connecting me to my rival’s death or that I have an alibi at the time the murder occurred.
“The court says otherwise.”
“Kian is a man who knows how to pull the right strings. He wouldn’t let anything stand in the way of his ruthlessness and tenacity to beat his father by building his own empire. The merger is as important to him as it is to you.” Leaning back in his chair, he waves his hand in dismissal and threatens, “Besides, my concern is Bianca’s safety and well-being. Men like you always have a few skeletons in the closet and with the business you’re in, you’re bound to have enemies.”
He doesn’t miss my fists curling as he implies I could harm Bianca or let another human being hurt her. However, I also can’t deny his apprehensions aren’t entirely misplaced.
The defense industry is a game of monopoly with old and corrupt players who don’t take kindly to new people entering into their territory. Threats, intimidation, manipulation are all done to hinder growth, all of which I experienced and survived myself.
“No one is hurting my wife.”Because her worst enemy is her husband.
“What about your past?” He arches one eyebrow questioningly.
A tingling sensation forms behind my neck, an awareness prickling in my gut at his probing tone. “What about it?”
“It was clean. Too clean.”
Of course the bastard investigated my past. Though, he would not have found the truth. I had made sure no one knew of my father’s second family or my ties to them. Ensuring I cut and erased them after that god-awful night.
“In my experience, it’s always a red flag. So should I be worried about my daughter?”
The lie falls easily from my lips, tasting bitter and as though I’ve practiced it a thousand times. “My wife knows everything about me. The good, the bad, and the ugly. So, if you’re doubting her integrity, then you don’t know her at all.”
His gaze narrows and sharpens. “I’m protecting her and I have every right as her father.”
“Yet you haven’t asked the most important questions.”
“What could be more important than her safety?”
“Do I love her? Do I make her happy? How much does she truly mean to me?” I shake my head in disgust as I throw my words in his arrogant face. “All you’ve done since we sat down is worry about your own reputation rather than what she wants. Maybe it’s exactly why she didn’t tell you about us sooner.”
His jaw grinds and a vein pops in his forehead but I’m not finished. I smile cruelly, the one I give my rivals, and lower my voice as I shatter his illusion of control. “I wonder if she’ll even want your blessing if I told her you tried to marry her off to her best friend’s fiancé, Nova, despite knowing he’s already engaged. Imagine how badly your respectable reputation would be tarnished if it was made public that you basically tried to sell your daughter for some measly profits.”
