She started up the tree. The rope ladder made it easy and she climbed until Nick yelled at her that she was there. Then she felt her way onto the rope ladder.
“Who’s next?” she yelled down.
No one answered.
She laughed. “Come on, guys. This is team building at its best. Face death with the person in the next cubicle. Are you really prepared to be shown up by a girl?”
“I’ll go,” someone muttered. “It can’t be that hard.”
“Hey, Izzy.”
The voice came from in front of her. “You must be Ethan.”
“I am. Come on. I’ll talk you in. It’s about twenty feet. The bridge sways the most in the middle. Keep a steady pace.”
She couldn’t really make out the details of the rope bridge, but she did have a sense of the ground being way down below.
“Is there a net?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“That’s no fun.”
Ethan laughed. “If we kill them, they tend not to rebook.”
“Oh. Good point.”
She stepped out onto the rope bridge. She had to feel for the thick bands and place her foot there. It was slow work, but she moved fairly quickly. Before she expected it, Ethan was telling her she was only a couple of feet from him. Then strong hands pulled her onto a platform.
“Like a pro,” he said. “Good job. Are you really blind?”
“Enough that they won’t let me drive.”
“Impressive.”
“Thanks,” she said, heading down and wondering why Nick couldn’t be more like him. Supportive and complimentary. But, no. Nick was only interested in pushing too hard.
Once she reached the ground, Aaron took her back to the barn. She climbed out of the Jeep and headed toward the entrance while Aaron drove back to the retreat. She’d barely stepped into the shadows of the doorway, when she heard a familiar voice say, “Hello, Izzy.”
CHAPTER NINE
IZZY TOOK A STEP BACK, so she was in daylight. It seemed safer. “Dad.”
Jed Titan stood up from the bench by the door. “How are you doing?”“Fine.”
“Still blind?”
She shook her head. “I suppose the real miracle of this is you asked how I was first. No. I haven’t had the surgery.”
“What are you waiting for?” he demanded. “You’re no good to me as you are. You’re nothing but a liability. At least if you could see, you’d be worth something.”
“I’m sorry to hear my stock is down,” she said, determined not to let him upset her. She would see the ridiculousness of the situation, nothing more. She wouldn’t think about how he hadn’t bothered to visit her in the hospital. That she was nothing to him but a possible means to an end. She wasn’t anyone he cared about. Certainly not a daughter he had ever loved.
“Are you getting the surgery or not?” he asked, sounding annoyed. “If you don’t, you’re an idiot. At least if you can see, you can marry well. You weren’t ever going to inherit the family business, but you could have done something.”
The words weren’t a surprise, but they still hurt. Her mother hadn’t left her anything, either. Apparently she was quite the disappointing child.
“You’re only interested in what I can do for you,” she said.
“What you could have done for me. You’re stubborn and difficult and now you’re blind. What a waste. That’s all you are. A waste.”
“Then you shouldn’t be standing here, talking to me,” she told him. “Get out, Jed. I don’t have time for this.”
“Right. Too busy learning Braille. All three of my daughters are a disaster. Don’t bother moving back to Glory’s Gate. You’re not welcome there.”
Glory’s Gate had been the Titan family home for generations. Izzy had grown up there with her sisters. She hadn’t been back since Skye had moved out after Jed had threatened to have her declared an unfit mother and lock her away. Izzy had no plans to go back now.
But knowing it was no longer her choice bothered her more than she wanted to admit. Rather than listen to any more of Jed’s vicious words, she retreated into the barn, thinking that for the first time since she’d arrived at Nick’s ranch, the shadowy space felt like a sanctuary.
Jed didn’t follow her. She hoped he left, but refused to find out. Instead she led Jackson out of his stall and quickly saddled him. Then she walked him outside, swung onto his back and let him pick his way.
She didn’t know where they were going and she didn’t care. As long as it was away from here. Away from her father and Nick and the jackass who’d attacked her the previous night. Men were becoming a serious problem in her life.