AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Nice makeup. Hides it well,” Ian comments, and I sigh.
“Unfortunately, I have had some practice, so I know what brand to buy and what works,” I admit. The whole thing makes me feel sick to my stomach.
My dad is so different now. When my mom was alive, the two of them were madly in love, our family happy. But when she passed, his grief consumed him. Still does to this day. His resentment from that was placed on my shoulders as the eldest daughter, where it has remained ever since. When he pushed me to be with Daniel, I did it for him. I did it to keep him content, hoping and praying that his ongoing anger at the world would subside. And it did for a while. But then, when I first went to him to explain that Daniel wasn’t the man for me, the anger was back stronger than ever, and he sided with Daniel instead of me.
“How can someone do that to their own fucking daughter?” Ian almost growls, which is so unlike him. He’s been so upset for me since the second he saw the bruise.
“I wish I knew. I don’t even know if we can ever come back from it,” I whisper quietly, trying to keep my breathing steady and the tears at bay. The thoughts of Dad not ever going back to the kind, loving father he once was nearly breaks me from the inside out.
“Maybe Carter can fix him up?” Ian suggests, lifting his eyebrows in question, fishing for something. I wonder if he has been chatting with my sister.
I roll my eyes. Yeah, Ian has definitely been gossiping with Maggie. The grin on his face tells me he already knows what went down at the gym last night.
“Enough of this chit-chat. Let's get to work, aye?” I say, standing, putting an end to any conversation about Carter. I need to try to stop thinking about him.
“Okay, I hear you, no more talking about the Adonis today,” Ian says cheekily as we both step out of my office and into the hall. As I do, I slam into a body of rock, and Ian needs to catch me so I don’t fall.
“Oh I’m so sor—” I start to say as I right myself and straighten my jacket, but the words get stuck on my lips as I look up to find it is Daniel's eyes staring back at me.
“A word with you please, Doctor Wakeford?” he asks, ever the professional in a medical environment, and I am sure seeing Ian standing tall and firm behind me squashes any thoughts he had of storming into my office unannounced. I’m sure that’s exactly what he had intended to do.
Not only is he not meant to be within 200 yards of me, but he has never stepped foot into my workplace before. My heart races and my palms begin to sweat as I see his arm come up to grab my elbow out of my peripheral vision.
“Not today,” Ian says forcefully as he positions his body at my side, standing between Daniel and I, effectively knocking his hand away from coming in contact with me.
“Oh, we will only be a moment,” Daniel says with a fake, placating smile, trying to be pleasant, but I can see the steam coming from his ears as the vein in his temple throbs.
“Daniel, you need to leave,” I state, now having found my voice. Although it doesn’t come out as confident as I had hoped.
“Will you stop being so stubborn? We need to discuss you coming back to New York. I am sure your father has told you of the plans.” His hands now sit on his hips, and his eyes lock onto mine, fierce and filled with restrained rage.
“As Doctor Wakeford has said, you need to leave, otherwise I will call security,” Ian says, and I can see Daniel visibly holding it together. I know he wants to explode at being told what to do, especially in a hospital, which is usually his domain.
He pauses for a moment, looking between Ian and I before his eyes land on me again. “Fine, I will leave, but, Catherine… I will come for you, and you will come back to New York with me. You have had your fun now, so it’s time you be the good wife I know you can be.” His voice drips with venom, and my grip on my clipboard tightens to prevent him from seeing the trembling working its way through my body.
He looks Ian up and down before turning on his heel and striding down the hallway. We watch him until he exits the building, and it is only then that I can breathe.
“Oh my God,” I whisper, as full understanding washes over me. This is going to be a lot harder than I first thought. How naive was I to think that I could get a lawyer, draw up some papers, and go and live on my merry way? The first warning was my father and the hit that still marks my skin today. Daniel today was obviously a second warning, and by the look on his face, I will not get a third.
“What an absolute asshole,” Ian grits out. “C’mon.” He opens my office door and we both step back inside. I barely make it to the sofa before my legs give way and I start to panic.
“I need to get Ivy somewhere safe. There is nothing else I can do. They are going to come for me, and they are going to make sure I comply with everything they want. My life is no longer my own.” The nightmarish possibilities of what this could turn into flick through my mind like a movie on fast forward.
“You can do this. He is an asshole, a very wealthy one, but I am a witness now, and I am sure you have other witnesses too. Other proof, documentation, voicemails, emails?” Ian says, and he is right. I have kept a log of everything for the past nine months since I moved, and even have some from before I left. Everything is in Donovan’s hands now, with him and his team working through the details.
I nod to Ian, calming down a bit. “Donovan has it all.”
“What does your lawyer say?” He now can’t keep still, walking a path into the carpet, his adrenaline moving rapidly through his body too.
“He thinks I have a solid case. It won’t be easy, but there is certainly good evidence of his financial and verbal abuse and intimidation tactics, all of which has been backed up in a variety of different places because we don’t doubt that him and my father will stop at nothing to erase everything I have once they know I have a file on him,” I say, the confidence I was lacking before now is beginning to bloom.
“You’ve got his, Cat. I know it. It is going to be tough, but be smart, stay away from him, and I know that your lawyer will make things happen for you,” Ian says, coming to stop in front of me. “But I think you need to think about getting some security.”
“I don’t need—”
“If I wasn’t here just now, what would have happened? He would have walked in here and done God knows what with you!” Ian implores me, and I have to admit, I don’t like thinking of the what ifs.
“I’ll think about it. Maybe my lawyer knows someone,” I concede, looking at Ian with a small smile of satisfaction growing on his lips that I agreed to his suggestion.
