Fraud (Antihero Inferno #2) - Lily White Page 0,45
a good guy. And he’s been with my family for as long as I can remember. But I get the sneaking suspicion that he enjoys the drama just a little too much.
I guess I’ve always kept things interesting for him.
Emily finishes drying her hair, and we hand the soaked towels back to Harrison before hauling ass upstairs to face my dad.
Bracing myself as I approach the double doors to his office, I cringe to hear the clipped tone of his voice. Judging by the conversation, he has other problems besides me, but I’m sure I haven’t made things easier for him.
Emily and I look at each other, her expression grim as I lift my hand to knock on the door and flinch when my father barks for me to walk in.
“Take a deep breath,” she whispers. “We can do this.”
Sadly, I don’t believe her, but the effort to believe it will all turn out okay is admirable on her part.
My hand lands on the handle to the door, and I shove it down to let the wood swing open. The second my dad’s eyes land on my face, the tension in the room explodes out so that I’m crushed beneath it.
This is not going to go well.
I already know it.
“Let me call you back, Stewart. I just had another problematic situation walk into my office.”
He slams the phone down onto the cradle and crosses his arms over his broad chest as Emily and I practically crawl into the room like children begging for mercy.
“I didn’t do anything wrong this time, Dad. I promise. I wasn’t anywhere near Gabriel Dane, and he set the entire thing up to cause problems.”
“Is that so?” he asks, his voice far too calm to be comforting.
“Well, he did a damn good job of it considering I’ve been on the phone for the entire day explaining to my colleagues that my daughter is no longer welcome in my house since she can’t keep her fucking legs closed.”
My jaw drops at his words.
Emily steps closer to me and wraps an arm around my back. She might need to keep it there because I’m not sure my legs will hold me upright given how bad they’re shaking.
Rounding his desk, Dad leans against the front. His suit jacket is missing and the top buttons of his white dress shirt are undone. As usual, his hair is styled back, the peppering of grey obvious in the dark brown color.
I inherited my blond hair from my mother. My blue eyes as well. She must have cloned me rather than half my DNA coming from this man. I look nothing like him.
“If you’ve had nothing to do with Gabriel, then explain to me why I saw you talking to him at Emily’s engagement party.”
Swallowing the knot of fear in my throat, I try and fail to steady my voice.
“He approached me. I was just trying to be polite. How would it look if I caused a scene in front of everybody by running from him?”
Truthfully, I’d wanted to run. There was just the pesky problem of the price I owe Tanner. Not that I’ll tell my dad that. He’d lose his shit. Probably kill me right here and now and bury me in the garden out back.
Dad smiles at that, but the look isn’t friendly. It’s the attorney look he gets. The one that tells me he’s cornered me easily.
“Is that so?”
Fuck. He has his attorney voice, too.
I’m screwed.
“Then why were you out on a date with him a week later? Was that just you being polite, or is there something else you’d like to explain to me?”
Not good. I have no explanation for that beyond the truth that I was trying to get out of another fuck-up, namely owing Tanner anything.
Plus, it was fun screwing with Gabriel. I can’t help myself with him, though. He has the annoying ability of being able to pull me into the game with the crook of his deceitful finger.
The war we have is a drug, and I’ve always been an addict. It’s caused an insane number of problems, but I just can’t stop.
All of my problems, every single one, has Gabriel’s name plastered all over them.
It’s one of the reasons my dad is so mad right now. He knows what I’ve done in the past because he’s the one who had to fix it. And I have no explanation for why I went out with Gabriel that night when he’s the person my dad has