Total pages in book: 29
Estimated words: 27242 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 136(@200wpm)___ 109(@250wpm)___ 91(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27242 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 136(@200wpm)___ 109(@250wpm)___ 91(@300wpm)
10
BROOKE
Ryker holds my hand as we walk through the hospital’s automatic doors. We’re greeted with a rush of cool air and the astringent smell of antiseptic.
He squeezes my fingers lightly in the elevator, ignoring the fact that Agent Swanson and his men are here. Gabe and Gary are already turning on Lionel, sharing everything they know about him and his business dealings.
“I’ll be by your side,” Ryker promises.
I turn to Agent Swanson. He’s in his mid-thirties with a square jaw that makes it look as if he’s perpetually clenching his teeth. Still, he’s been nothing but friendly toward me. He insisted on accompanying us here. I think he and Ryker were worried that there could be an ambush waiting for us. “I want a few minutes alone with my dad.”
He nods. He’s not here to arrest him. I made him promise. He told me while he couldn’t say the day wouldn’t come, that it wouldn’t be today.
Outside the hospital room, I try to tell Ryker to wait for me.
“It doesn’t work that way. If you’re going, I’m going,” he growls right before he kisses me. It’s an intense, possessive kiss that has me wishing we were alone. There will be time for that later though. For now, I have to confront the monster that’s held me hostage since I was a little girl.
“What is this, you’re bringing the feds in here?” Uncle Bruce asks as soon as I step into the room. He hasn’t shaved and his silver five o’clock shadow is getting thick. He scratches at it as he scowls at me.
I expected to see more fire in his eyes, but all I’m sensing is a bone-deep weariness. It’s funny how this world sucks in people like Bruce. People just looking to make a living, people that are honest and good and kind and true at the start. But they slowly begin crossing lines. Until one day, they wake up and don’t recognize themselves in the mirror anymore. I wonder if that’s Bruce’s story.
“They’re not here for you,” Ryker grumps at him. He’s put his arm around my shoulders, tucking me close to his body. I think he’d pick me up and put me in his pocket to keep me safe if he could.
I nod to my dad who’s sleeping in his hospital bed. I’m not even sure what I’m supposed to say to this man. I approach the bed cautiously, Ryker by my side with every step. “Is he going to be OK?”
He blinks open his eyes as I come closer. His blue gaze so much like my own is filled with recognition. At least, he remembers me. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not.
“Hi,” I whisper the word. We weren’t close in that father-daughter way. We were close in the mentor-mentee type of way. But all we ever talked about was business. I don’t know much about the person who is Lionel Lancaster, other than that he was cruel to a scared little girl who lost her mom.
Dad says nothing in return. He blinks at me again, almost like he’s keeping time with all the machines that are chiming in the room. The IV in the back of his hand makes his skin look wrinkled and old.
Bruce moves closer to the bed, wiping drool off my dad’s chin with surprising gentleness for such a hulking, ruthless man. “Doc says he had a stroke after the heart attack. His speech is affected but he’s here cognitively. They’re doing more tests tomorrow. Said some type of aphasia maybe.”
There are too many emotions for me to sort through right now. Anger, fear, sadness, compassion. I force them all away, relying on the detached calm that Lionel taught me to embrace years ago. “Can I talk to him alone?”
Ryker stiffens beside me.
I pat his chest and mouth the words, “He’s frail. I need this.”
He levels my dad with a stare that would make any other man wither from the sheer weight of it. “We’ll be outside. You scream if you need me.”
I listen to the door clicking closed behind them before I sigh. I don’t know where to begin. I don’t know how to confront a monster. Finally, I decide to start with the truth. “I don’t want to be you.”
Just admitting those words out loud makes it feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I step next to the bed and stare down at this man who loved ambition and power above all else. “I never want to be you. You were ruthless and cruel. You delighted in hurting other people, just for your own sick amusement.”
His mouth pulls down into a frown.
“I’ll never understand how you could make the choices you did. You put too much on a little girl’s shoulders.” I blink at the unexpected moisture in my eyes. “How could you do that to me?”