Jax thrust his hands in his pockets, a thread of ice winding through him. “You’ve got nothing on us. We would have heard about it years ago if you had.”
“Perhaps I’ve been saving them for a rainy day. Waiting for when I could use them to my advantage.” That smile widened. “And I can see that advantage right now.”
Jax went cold. Of course there were secrets, there always were in a family like his, and it really shouldn’t surprise him that Garret would know about them. But still … it wasn’t like his father to leave such loose ends lying around.
“What do you want?” Jax forced the words out, anger and frustration beginning to burn away the cold. Jesus, where the hell was his usual detachment? His logic? Because he damn well couldn’t afford any stupid emotional reactions now, not with Nick Garret staring at him like a hungry snake.
“I told you what I want. An alliance with Sergei will give me territory but it won’t give me the protection the Morrow name could. Or the respectability. So, marry my daughter; make her a Morrow. Extend your respectable image to my family and in return I won’t tell the world about a few inconvenient murders here and there.”
Oh Christ. The guy was nuts.
“I’m not marrying any-damn-one!” Pandora folded her arms, angry tension in every line of her figure. “This is the twenty-first century, Dad! You can’t make me.”
“Oh really? And where are you going to go for help?”
She paled. “There’s the police. They’ll—”
“You think I haven’t got every police officer in the city in my pocket?” Garret’s voice was derisive. “No, sweetheart. You don’t get a choice.”
How had it gotten to this? How had a simple one-night stand gotten so complicated? Jax should have known not to trust the desire coiling in his gut. He should have held strong.
The anger spilled over and before he quite knew what he was doing, he’d walked forward, getting in Garret’s face. “If you think you can intimidate me—” he began.
The bodyguards closed in instantly, guns at his head.
“Easy boys.” Garret flicked his fingers and the men stood back. “I’m not intimidating you, Morrow. I’m blackmailing you. I want Morrow protection, respectability, and I’ll do what I must to get it.”
“So you can keep on doing what you’re doing?”
“Of course. You’ll keep the heat off. I think it’s a fair trade, don’t you?”
“Dad,” Pandora said quietly, though her vibrated with fury. “Don’t do this. Why can’t you just … leave me alone?”
“I’m a businessman, sweetheart. I always have been, I always will be.”
“Is that all I am? Just business to you?”
Garret stared at her, his expression unreadable. “I do what I have to do, you know that. And like I said, it’s for your protection.”
“Dad—”
“Well, Morrow? Do we have a deal?”
Jax glanced at Pandora, standing with arms wrapped around herself as if she were cold. Her dark eyes were huge, shadows from their eventful night marking her pale skin.
No wonder she hadn’t wanted to tell him who she was, when she had this bastard for a father.
God, he hated the look on her face, her expression closed up, all the heat and fire and challenge he’d seen the night before extinguished.
“It’s okay, Hunt or Jax or whoever you are,” Pandora said before he could speak, her voice not quite level. “I’m not dragging you into this. I’ll go home with him, it’s fine.”
“Very noble, sweetheart,” Garret said with a shrug. “I’m sure Sergei will appreciate you if Morrow isn’t coming to the party.”
Jax’s fingers curled in the pockets of his jeans. She looked so defeated. So what the fuck, what was he doing standing here? Saying nothing? Doing nothing? He always knew what to do, never had any problems with making the tough decisions. Cool and calm and detached, that’s how he worked it.
But you’re not cool and calm and detached now, are you?
No. He wasn’t. He was angry. No, shit, he was furious. And frustrated. And … possessive. Christ, he didn’t know where the hell that particular emotion had come from but it was certainly there. The thought of his Snow White being given like a thing to someone else was so not happening.
Jax looked Nick Garret in the eyes. “In that case, yes. I’ll marry your daughter.”
Chapter 6
Pandora gazed out of the window of the limo as it pulled up to Morrow Tower, the massive skyscraper that housed Morrow Incorporated. She was still in her red silk dress from the night before and felt vaguely ridiculous. The ultimate walk of shame.