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She forced her eyes open. She understood why the nurse had called him a gentleman. The black suit he wore wasn’t tailor-made for him, but it fit him well. The blue striped tie matched his eyes. She’d come to hate blue. He preferred eye contact when he had sex with her.
Gray sprinkled throughout his beard and peppered the sides of his dark, short-cropped hair. The gray, and the wrinkles around his eyes that weren’t laugh lines, were the main signs of his age. Her father had once worked for Andrew’s company, but that was a long-time ago now.
“My father?” Jami asked, her hand starting to sweat within his.
Andrew squeezed her fingers. “That’s not for you to worry about right now, Jami. It’s you that needs to be taken care of.” He leaned over her, and she stiffened as his hard lips grazed her forehead. “I’ve asked you to let me take care of you.”
“Today was an accident.” At least, Jami hoped it was still the same day. “Dad was confused.” Though, of course, he was confused more days than not anymore.
“And when he attempted to strangle you? Was that an accident as well?” Andrew asked, his eyes never wavering from hers.
Jami hated to remember the way her father’s bony hands had gripped her neck. His clouded eyes had been so blank. “He’s been confused,” she murmured the excuse again. Her tears flowed faster.
“Oh, my sweet Jami,” Andrew murmured. The brief kiss to her lips added to the numbness running through her body. “It’s time that you let go.”
“I can’t.” Her mind seized on its one constant. “My father needs me. Where is he?”
The thin, hard line of Andrew’s lips showed his displeasure. “Kevin no longer needs you, Jami. When he was left alone… I’m sorry, my sweet.”
“I didn’t leave him alone. I’m not even sure how I got here.” Jami reached for the cords sucking the life out of her in that damn hospital bed.
Andrew’s grip settled over her hand, too strong to deny. “I was the one that brought you here. I only left your side so that they could check on my smoke inhalation.”
“Smoke?” Jami’s skin felt clammier as his other hand, the one not holding her still, brushed over her short hair.
“I loved when your hair was so long and gorgeous,” Andrew murmured, his voice sliding toward a huskiness she dreaded.
“Andrew, you mentioned smoke,” she reminded him, her throat feeling like it was in a vise yet again.
“Kevin’s house was on fire when I arrived. It started upstairs. Kevin must have set it.”
“How could Dad have done that?” Jami’s lips didn’t even feel like they had moved. Her father couldn’t even use the microwave or dress himself. No, it wasn’t possible.
Andrew’s touch moved away from her hair. He brought her hands together, the scrapes along one drawing her eyes before he squeezed them again. She barely felt it. “My assistant called. He confirmed that Kevin’s house couldn’t be saved. My sweet Jami, everything inside it is gone. Including your father.”
Her father was dead. The tears wouldn’t stop, though they didn’t come from loss. The shell that had become Kevin Reece wasn’t the man she remembered from her childhood. No, she was crying for herself. After all the years that had passed, scared of him, caring for him, she should have finally felt free, but she didn’t.
Andrew tugged on her hands, pulling her eyes back to his. “Kevin never deserved you. You are so sweet to mourn.” His hand brushed over her hair again, and he leaned down to kiss her. The salt from her tears mingled with his hard lips. “But you will be so much better off now. Don’t worry. I’ll take care of you, my sweet Jami.”
Jami had to tell him no, that she didn’t want that, but the words clogged her throat as they always had, ever since the first night he had kissed her.
“Ms. Reece?” The voice this time seemed stern.
Jami’s eyes moved to the older woman in the white doctor’s coat.
“I see you’re awake, as the nurse mentioned. I’m Dr. Menose.” The doctor moved farther into the room.
Jami tried to tug her hands free from Andrew’s grip.
Dr. Menose eyed the movement, her gaze piercing the man. “If you’ll excuse us.”
Andrew straightened. “I’m her guardian.”
An eyebrow rose. “Ms. Reece appears to be an adult. Do you want this man here while we discuss your diagnosis, Ms. Reece?”
Jami kept her head from shaking, swallowing the unsaid ‘no’ as well. She was relieved when a tug freed her hands. “Go rest, Andrew. I’ll listen to the doctor, and then do the same.”
“I don’t think I should leave you,” he insisted. She’d seen the threat of those narrowed eyes before, and the stone on her shoulders pressed down more heavily.
