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Biting back an angry retort of how he should be since it’s his fault, I just nod. I have bigger fish to fry, and picking random fights won’t get me what I want.
“Thank you,” I dutifully say as I sit down opposite him. “We both know what it’s like to have parents who let us down. My mom was amazing, unlike the disappointment my dad turned out to be. I guess the same can be said for your parents, except it was the other way around.”
Grayson’s expression turns wary, as though he knows I’m fishing for something. When I don’t lower my gaze or elaborate, he says, “I guess so.”
“Speaking of dads,” I say, doing my best to sound casual. “I have questions about the night of the funeral.”
Instead of using his words, he waves his hand in the air in a ‘go on’ motion.
“I was sitting outside by the pool with dad when he got a phone call. He went inside to take it, and while he was gone, I received the video you so kindly sent me of us fucking in the coatroom.”
I do my best not to sound bitter about the recording, because that’s not why I’m bringing it up.
“When he came back outside, he was panicking.”
“What’s your question?”
I pretend to consider his question. “Slayer and Slasher were already at our house watching us. So why did you and Gunner come? And how did you get there so quickly?”
At the time, I never thought to question the timing of it all. Everything happened so quickly, and afterward, well, I’ve been a bit fucking busy surviving the freight train that is Grayson Black.
Cocking his head to the side, he asks, “Why do you want to know?”
I wring my hands in front of me and suck my bottom lip between my teeth. It’s not an act, I really don’t want to talk about any of this. Especially not with him. But what other choice do I have? I need to understand.
“Because it makes no sense,” I murmur. Unable to keep his gaze, I look down at the table between us. “I’m just trying to understand what happened.”
“Rocco gets a notification whenever there’s activity in our online banking, Princess. Throughout the day of your mom and sister’s funeral, he got alerts about your dad logging in.”
Letting go of my lip, I gasp out loud, and my eyes snap up to meet his. “He what? But why would he do that?”
“It seems the Reapers were threatening him by targeting you,” Grayson says. He sounds so casual, like he isn’t giving me life-altering information. “The best we can figure is the Reapers wanted him to drain our accounts, but we think your dad was stalling, not able to bring himself to do it until they threatened you. Then he had no choice.”
I cough, the surprise from the revelation making me choke on my air.
“But no one came for me,” I whisper.
Grayson shakes his head. “Wrong again, Princess. When your dad came back out to the pool, there was a laser pointing straight at you, and you never knew. That’s why he panicked. It’s why he stole our money, all to save his precious daughter.”
There’s no emotion in Grayson’s words. No compassion, pity, understanding, or even anger. He’s stone cold in his deliverance.
While he’s as unmoving as a statue, I’m falling apart. My hands shake so badly I pin them under my thighs, unwilling to let him see. The scream I’m dying to let out stays inside, and I feel like it’s tearing me apart.
“But I… I…” I don’t know what to say, what to think, or how to react.
“You asked how we arrived so quickly, and there’s your answer. We were already on our way. It was pure luck we came when we did.”
Luck? Did he really just fucking tell me it was luck? I suppose that’s all about perspective. For my dad, it was the perfect timing. For me, it was the worst timing. Another two minutes, and I would have been fine. But that’s not how things played out.
“You are right about one thing, though,” Grayson growls. “Your dad is a piece of shit. What kind of man sacrifices his daughter to save himself?”
I tilt my head to the side as I consider his words, or rather, the ones he didn’t say. He’s angry my dad sold me out, not about the money he stole from the club.
Like a game of Tetris, I systematically rearrange some of my thoughts and reconsider a few memories.
Grayson feels bad for what he did to me at Dirty Diamonds and the way he choked me at the motel. Instead of handing me over to Rocco for judgment after shooting a King, he’s hiding me here. And right now he seems more angry my dad traded me, than about the money missing from the club.
Although I’m not about to rush to believe it, I have to consider the conclusion the arrows point toward. Is it possible I’m Grayson’s weakness?
