Page 32 of Blake

Pax looked at her father with a surprise for a second, her instincts telling her she should listen to what he had to say. Her father could be ruthless, but he wasn’t an idiot and with the press knowing she and Blake were here, they had secured their safety for now.

Pax felt Blake squeeze her hand gently to get her attention. She looked at him and he gave her a barely perceptible shake of his head. He didn’t want her out of his sight, the thought made her happy, happier than something so simple should. She gave him a reassuring smile and moved to kiss his cheek then slid her eyes to his before lifting them towards her mother. “It will be okay. Just keep on eye out for my mother.”

She knew he didn’t like it by the way his jaw tightened but he didn’t fight her on it, just nodded. Pax stood and followed her father from the deck into the house. An older maid walked across the hallway with her head dipped low. She wasn’t one Pax recognised, her mother had very exacting standards and didn’t particularly like the prettier maids; hence they didn’t last long.

Her father led her into his study and a flood of memories hit her as the familiar scent of leather and musk filled her nose. The melancholy pain in her chest was almost overwhelming. She rubbed the ache there and looked around the room she’d spent so much time in as a child and saw not much had changed. Large, high windows looked out towards the vast mountain, and a magnificent oak desk sat in the middle of the room with a brown leather desk chair behind it. The wall to the left was covered in a bookshelf, opposite that sat a drinks bar and stools. It was the original man cave and yet she had been happy in here. Painting and colouring as her father worked.

Pax pushed the feelings of sorrow away, straightened her shoulders and faced her father “What did you want to discuss?”

She watched her father flinch at the cold tone of her voice before his shoulders drooped a little. Pax didn’t want to acknowledge it, but she felt guilty. Considering what he had done, it was silly, but she wasn’t someone who enjoyed hurting others.

He walked to the bar and poured himself a brandy before turning to offer her one. She shook her head no and waited, her back ramrod tight wanting him to get on with it.

“Talk to me, Grace.”

“Talk to you?”

“Tell me what happened to you.” He stepped closer and she held her ground and fought the tears and the tender look in his eyes. “We were always so close.” He looked away as he turned to the window. “I don’t know what went wrong.”

Pax felt her heart rate increase as anger took over. His innocent act more than she could bear. Crossing her arms she leaned back on one hip as she tapped her foot in agitation. “How can you say that? You viciously betrayed me and then acted like it was nothing.”

Her father spun and stepped back as if she had struck him. “I made a mistake, Grace. Am I not allowed to be human?”

“A mistake? Is that what you call it? You let my friend die! That is not a mistake.” She threw up her hands in frustration. “A mistake is choosing the wrong school or forgetting a school play.”

“Which I never did. Not once did I miss anything you did at school or out of it. I love you. You are my only child and I would die for you.”

“And yet here I am with the bruises to prove that wrong.”

Her father blanched at her words. For a second, she thought he would pass out as he staggered to the chair behind his desk and fumbled in the drawer for something. He pulled out a bottle of pills and unscrewed the lid before washing two down with the brandy. She stepped forward as if to help and had to steel herself from going to him.

Her father looked old all of a sudden weak and despite everything she hated that she cared. “What are those tablets for?”

He looked up and she saw sweat bead his brow. “I have angina, it’s nothing serious.” She could see the colour was beginning to return to his cheeks. “What did you mean about the bruises proving me wrong?”

Pax felt incredibly tired all of a sudden. A headache was forming behind her eyes as she tried to keep up with the barrage of emotions she was dealing with. She was angry that her father insisted on keeping up this charade when they both knew he was behind it.

Rubbing the temples she sighed. He seemed determined to make this play out and she just wanted to go back to the hotel take a long shower and sleep. “Stop, Dad. Just stop. I know you were behind it. I know you sent the two men to warn me off pursuing this latest illegal drug test by your company.” She walked to the door and stopped, hand on the doorknob and turned back to him taking in his pallor and the despondency on his face. She hardened her heart. “It won’t work. I will get justice.”

“I don’t know what you think you know but I would never harm a hair on your head or order such a thing. I don’t know where this is coming from. I know you blamed me for Benny dying but I can assure it wasn’t my fault. All I did was try and help. Maybe I could have handled your accusations better than I did but I’m only human, and I lashed out at you. In doing so I lost you. I’ll take that regret to my grave.” He dipped the crystal glass and finished the brandy before he continued. “As for the rest, I have no idea what’s happening at Sana these days. The board voted to replace me when your grandfather found out about my health issues.”

Pax rocked back on her heels at the words. Sana was her father’s life. For him not to be in charge was unthinkable. She knew he and her grandfather—her mother’s father—had their issues but to vote him off was a shock. It also made her pause and consider that maybe things were not quite as they seemed.

Either way, it didn’t eradicate her father’s wrongdoing with Benny. He had all but admitted he had given the drugs to Benny. Pax thought back to the night she’d found out and the familiar feelings of betrayal rose. She and Henrietta had never had a touchy-feely mother-daughter relationship. Half the time her mother resented her, the other half she was distant, but Pax knew she loved her.

If it hadn’t been for her mother getting drunk and revealing the truth about Benny and her father, Pax would most likely never have found out what kind of man her father was. As much as it had hurt, and it had been the single most painful thing of her life, she was grateful for her mother’s honesty that night.

Pax took one last look at her father and left the room almost crashing into Blake who looked ready to commit murder.

Chapter Fourteen

He felt like smoke would start spewing out of his ears if he didn’t get out of this pretentious place in the next few seconds. How Pax could have grown up in such a cold environment with a praying mantis for a mother he had no clue. In fact, the only warmth and genuine behaviour stemmed from the man Pax thought betrayed her.

That was another thing that had his instincts humming—her father’s reaction to her injuries. While Henrietta seemed to criticise and almost blame Pax, her father had seemed genuinely concerned and that didn’t fit with the man Pax described. Either the man deserved a fucking Oscar, or he had no idea about the attack on her which threw up a whole host of questions. He needed to find Pax and get the hell out of here.

He had never hurt a woman but when Pax and her father left the patio and Henrietta had slid closer and started rubbing his leg, he had been tempted to break her hand. He had resisted and as she went to grab his cock, he had merely pushed her away and stood up.

The woman was not deterred though. As he had moved towards the pool to look out at the magnificent vista, she had sidled up to him and draped her body over his side, leaning her breasts against his arm. Not wanting to cause a scene and embarrass Pax he had stayed still.