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Shrugging a shoulder, I inhale a deep breath, holding it for a moment before I let it out slowly. “I could,” I reply. “The Simons are a flawed family, but she was and is a good choice for me, the daughter.”
“They are?” he asks.
Clearing my throat, I jerk my chin. “The oldest son has some wild idea that he’s going to do something to stop this wedding. Although, when pressed, it’s clear he will do nothing. He is soft.
“The father is weak, which I already knew, but he solidified that. For whatever reason, he thinks he’s holding something above me by not signing the loan forgiveness contract before the wedding. He attempted to threaten me with it but quickly backtracked.”
Dad chuckles, shaking his head. “It’s a funny thing what people will say and do when they feel backed into a corner. You and me?” he continues, “we will fight, claw, maim our way out of the corner. Men like that? They will forever dip their chins and cower.”
He’s right. That is exactly what they did. All three of them. Bryson tried the hardest to stand up, to fight, but it fell flat. He just isn’t man enough, and he’s got the same selfish traits as his parents.
“We will,” I agree with my father. “There is something else.”
I could keep it all a secret, not tell him, but I don’t want him to push meeting her before the wedding. I want it all to be a surprise. It’s a thought that came to me when I was flying here from Vegas.
I’m not sure why, but something inside of me is screaming to have her appear at the end of the aisle on our wedding day and look down it to discover that I am the man who not only took her virginity but also stalked her, broke into her parents’ casino condo, and fucked her again and again.
So there is no way around it. I have to tell my father exactly what happened. Which is what I do. But I don’t go into gross detail, just enough that he gets the gist of what’s happened. I fucked my bride without her knowing who I was. She was indeed a virgin. She is my prize, and I wish to keep her.
“Well,” he says. “Okay, then. I will give strict instructions that she will not be invited to the meeting tomorrow. Perhaps Parker can take her around the city and get to know her, considering they will be sisters in a few short days,” he suggests.
My lips twitch into a smirk. I can only imagine what Parker is going to tell my new bride. However, I’m good with that. I jerk my chin in nonverbal confirmation, and my father leans forward.
“Now that we’re done with that, and now that I’ve mentioned her, we need to talk about a note your brother received. Well, Parker received.”
“A note?”
He dips his chin in a single nod, then clears his throat. “Here,” he murmurs, digging his phone out of his pocket and sliding it across to me. I pick it up and look at the picture. It’s a handwritten one-line note.
Ask your fiancé’s father who killed your parents.
He knows.
“What the fuck?” I ask. “Who did this?”
Dad shakes his head in a quick jerk. “It wasn’t mailed. It was dropped in their mailbox. Whoever did this got into their building undetected and knew exactly where to leave that envelope.”
“Ray is dead,” I point out.
“But his men aren’t. Whoever the fuck they are.”
Crossing my ankle over my knee, I lean back a bit more and rub my chin a few times. “They are all big players. We need to sit down with Hendrick and see what we can find. It’s clear that this isn’t going to go away.”
“Clearly,” my dad mutters. “But whoever this is knows. This is more than just some government fat cat sitting in an office getting off on fucking unwilling, kidnapped women.”
“It is,” I agree. “There is something going on here, and I don’t like it.”
“Who could it be?” he asks.
I stand, walk over to the window, and look out at the Downtown Dallas sidewalks. They aren’t nearly as crowded as Vegas, but there is something to be said for the calmness it makes me feel to look at the people moving through my hometown.
“Don’t know, but if anyone can find out, it will be Hendrick.”
“It will,” he agrees. “They can’t get married soon enough.”
Frowning, I watch him for a long moment, then I turn around and look at him full on. “I think it’s about time to tell me what is really going on with Parker’s family’s death.”
He clears his throat, then stands to his feet. I watch him as he gathers his phone and shoves it into his pocket. “It doesn’t matter. What we need to worry about is this meeting, this letter, and getting Hendrick to work. We also have a few contracts that need to be looked over and scheduled for signings.”
