Standing there was possibly the last person she’d ever expected to see.
“You’re not still blind, are you?” Jed asked as he pushed past her and walked inside. “I heard you could see. Is that true?”
“Morning, Dad,” she said. “I’m fine. How are you?”
“Too busy for bullshit.” He waved his hand in front of her face. “Well?”
“Very sensitive. Yes, I can see.”
“Good. You’re going to get a call from a man I work with. His name is Bill. Don’t ask me anything ridiculous, like is he cute. How would I know? He’s a business associate and I need him to be happy right about now. So when he asks, you’re going to say yes. Understand?”
She wasn’t even surprised. After all these years she was finally useful to her father.
“I understand,” she said coolly, “but I won’t be going out with him.”
“Of course you will.” Jed stood a full head taller than her. He glared down at her. “I need this, Izzy. Things are bad and you owe me.”
“For what? Being born? I don’t think that was much of a hardship on you. So no. I don’t owe you.”
Jed puffed up like an irritated crow. “I raised you.”
“You paid nannies to raise me and you’ve pretty much ignored me all my life.” She pointed at the door. “Get out.”
“I’m not leaving until you tell me you’ll take Bill’s call.”
“That’s not what you want. You want me to sleep with him.”
“Why not? You’ve slept with everyone else.”
Anger built up inside her. She knew some of it came from a lifetime of being ignored by her father but a lot of it grew out of finding out about Nick. There was betrayal in her, and outrage.
“I’m not your whore to sell,” she told her father, practically spitting with rage. “I won’t do it.”
“The hell you won’t. Don’t push me, little girl. You won’t like the consequences.”
“Then stop threatening me.”
“You’re my daughter. I’ll do whatever I want.”
“I don’t think so.”
She reacted without thinking. Maybe it had been building for years. Maybe in her heart she believed he deserved it. Maybe it really was about Nick. Whatever the reason, she pulled back her arm and slapped Jed across the face.
The impact sent pain up her arm to her elbow, but it was worth it, she thought as he jumped back and yelped. Blood trickled down his face from a cut her ring had made.
“You bitch!”
“That’s me,” Izzy said, resisting the need to shake her hand. Instead she opened the front door. “You need to go.”
He dug a handkerchief out of his slacks pocket and dabbed at his nose, then swore again. “That’s it. You’re dead to me, girly. You’re not getting a penny out of my will.”
“Was I ever?”
He didn’t say anything. Instead he stalked outside and walked down the sidewalk.
Izzy closed the door behind him, then leaned against the hard surface. It took a few minutes for her heart rate to return to normal, but when it did, she was surprised to discover she was actually feeling much better about nearly everything. Apparently she should have hit her father years ago.
NORMA MIGHT NOT be talking to him, but at least she hadn’t left, Nick thought gratefully as he walked from the kitchen to his office. Unlike Aaron, who hadn’t been seen in days.
The kids due to arrive tomorrow would be fed, which was good, but he couldn’t confirm much else. It had taken him longer than it should have to confirm the cleaning crew, mostly because he didn’t understand Aaron’s filing system and hadn’t been able to find their phone number for nearly two hours. Rita wasn’t speaking to him, but she would have the horses ready. That was something.The house had never seemed bigger or more empty. He’d lived here alone for a couple of years before Aaron had arrived. He’d liked the silence and solitude. Not anymore. Now it weighed on him, dragging him into darkness even in the brightest part of the day.
Izzy would be pleased—her hope that the nightmares would haunt him forever had been realized. They came every night but were worse than before. Because now she was there, with him. Tied up, tortured. He wasn’t blindfolded, either, but instead gagged. He could see them coming for her with their gleaming knives, could hear her screams and see the blood but he couldn’t help her or even speak to her. He could only endure, hour after hour, waking soaked in sweat, writhing with agony, desperate to escape.
He couldn’t take much more of it. For the first time in his life he understood why people escaped into madness. Nothing was worth nights like those.