Billionaire Bachelors 9 : Hidden Treasure(46)

"Wait. What test results?"

"For the prostate cancer."

The woman spoke as if Brielle knew all about it. Cancer? This had to be a mistake. Her father hadn't said anything about cancer. She wanted to shout into the phone, demand answers. But right then her father walked through the doorway, a smile on his face.

Brielle looked at him, really looked at him for the first time since she didn't know when. Yes, he seemed to have lost weight, but that was a good thing, right? There didn't seem to be any other signs of cancer. No hair loss, no …  Wait. She knew nothing of cancer, didn't know what the signs were.

The smile fell from Richard's eyes when he noticed that Brielle was holding his phone. Her eyes must have looked wild.

"Who is it, Peaches?"

Brielle couldn't speak, so she just handed her father his phone, barely managed to move over to the kitchen table, and dropped down into a chair.

She heard her father speaking into the phone, but it sounded more as if his voice were coming through a tunnel. Prostate cancer. That was bad, right? Didn't that take a lot of lives? Of course, all cancer was bad - it killed people every single day. But why hadn't he told them that he had cancer? Then the past year and several months slammed into her with the force of a sledgehammer.

He'd been so sad that day in his house when he said he needed them to make a difference in their lives. He'd spoken of changing before it was too late. When Brielle looked up, with tears filling her eyes, she found her father sitting next to her, his phone put away and a resigned look on his face.

She knew.

"You have cancer." It wasn't a question.

"Brielle-"

She cut him off before he could lie to her. "Don't!" she screamed, her voice coming back full force. "Why would you do this to us? Why would you make us care if you're planning on leaving us?"

"That's not what I've been trying to do."

Brielle wasn't listening. "You're going to leave us, aren't you?" When he was silent, she leapt to her feet. "Just like Mom. You're going to leave and never come back. You left us alone for years! For years, Dad! And then you bring us all together, and you make us care again! You did all of this just so you could rip our family apart permanently!" 

It was easier to feel betrayed than to deal with the ache, the certainty that he was going to abandon her. She couldn't bear it. Last year, she might have been able to - she'd never know - but now, now she'd never get through this. Now that he'd thrown down this challenge, now that he'd began the process of removing the wall around her heart. Now she'd really suffer!

"How dare you, Father?"

Tears streamed down her face, but she swiped them away angrily. She wanted to hold on to the fury; she needed to hold on to it. She couldn't let the pain in.

"Brielle. I'm trying not to leave you," he said, approaching slowly, as if she were a frightened animal.

"Don't touch me! Don't you even think of touching me!" If he touched her, she'd surely break.

His own eyes filled with tears, but he kept coming closer.

"Brielle. I'm so sorry you had to find out like this. I didn't want to tell you, because it doesn't change what I want for you and your brothers."

He seemed to be pleading with her to understand, but how could she understand? She'd lost one parent, and now she was going to lose the other. It was too soon. Way too soon.

"No! You lied to me, to all of us." Wanting nothing more than to run and hide, Brielle looked wildly to her left and then right. She felt trapped.

Knowing she was about to bolt, Richard breached the gap between them and pulled her into his arms. "I'm so sorry, Brielle. I'm so sorry." He kept repeating that as he held on to her. She struggled against him for a little while, then gave up, collapsing into his arms as sobs ripped from her chest.

"Don't go, Daddy. Please don't go," she cried when she was able to speak again. She'd just gotten him back, just begun to let go of her anger. He couldn't leave now.

"I'm doing my best not to, Peaches. I really am."

She didn't know how long she clung to him, hoping that if she just held on tight, he wouldn't be able to leave, but eventually she had no more tears left.

When she was finally calm enough to listen, Richard explained about his cancer, told her that the first doctor had said there was nothing more they could do, but that he wasn't giving up, that he was still hopeful for a solution.

He'd been seeing a new doctor, one who wasn't as pessimistic as the last. That's what the call had been about, his last labs. He had to get back and get tested again. Brielle didn't want to let him go, but after spending the afternoon with her, he assured her that he would keep her updated. He promised he wouldn't ever leave her in the dark again.