Hollywood Prince (Hollywood Royalty #3) - Natasha Madison Page 0,87
but I have to say a part of me was hoping she would. “Erin set up everything already, and the transition should be smooth.”
“No surprise there,” I say out loud, not listening to my brain telling me to shut the fuck up. No. Instead, I dig the knife deeper into her. “She got what she needed from me.”
Ryan now sits up straight. “If you will excuse us.” He pushes back from the table, and Erin looks up at him. “Carter, I need a minute.”
I push away from the table and follow him to the room on the side. I walk into the room and take it in. It’s supposed to be the house my kidnapped daughter is staying at, but instead, it’s me who feels trapped inside these walls. The living room furniture is all set up. He slams the door closed, and I stand in the middle of the fake room. “We are going to get a couple of things straight.” I know he isn’t playing.
“Listen,” I tell him, putting my hands in the back pockets of my jeans, “I know that she’s your employee and all that, but . . .”
“My employee?” He shakes his head. “I’m not going to beat around the bush with you.” I watch him. “You fucked up, Carter. So big you have no idea.”
“I fucked up?” I ask, shocked. “Me?” I point at myself. “She used me.”
“Carter, if you say another word about my daughter, so help me God, I’m going to put you through that fucking wall,” he says with his teeth clenched together. And I stare at him in shock.
“Daughter?” I ask, confused.
“Erin is my daughter,” he says, “my only daughter. She didn’t want people to think she got the job because of me, so we never told anyone until Saturday when I had to go and get her because she couldn’t drive,” he tells me, and he doesn’t stop there either. “She couldn’t drive because of the pain in her chest.” He starts to come closer. “She couldn’t breathe and ended up having a panic attack.” His voice gets louder. “And you fucking did that to her.”
“Ryan,” I tell him softly. His words cut me, taking whatever little I had left, whatever pieces in me that weren’t broken. I had no fucking idea he was her dad.
“If you so much as fuck with her or look at her, and I don’t like it, I’ll fucking destroy you,” he says, and I know he isn’t joking. “I told her that I wouldn’t get involved, but when you sit at a table and spew the shit that you just did in front of me, all bets are off.” He turns and walks away, stopping at the door with the handle in his hand.
“You had something precious in your hands. Something that no money in the world can buy, and you threw it away without so much as a second thought.” He shakes his head. “You don’t deserve her.” He walks out and slams the door behind him.
“I know I don’t,” I say softly to the empty room. I walk back out and see that Erin is gone, but Sylvia and Jeff are waiting for me. “I have to get to makeup,” I tell them and walk away to the makeup chair. Mandy takes one look at me and doesn’t say anything. She just does her job, and I leave without saying anything. The day drags on. It drags on because I can’t get my lines right, and each scene has to be redone a hundred times until I finally get it right. Ivan spends most of the day swearing in Russian every single time I fuck up.
I drive by her house on my way home, and I see that the lights are off in her house. I wonder if she’s sleeping, but then I don’t spot her car. I sit here, looking up at the window that I know is hers. Pulling away from her house, I go home to my empty house, grabbing a bottle of Jack and going to the guest room. I haven’t been back in my room since she left. I kick off my shoes the same time I crack open the bottle of Jack and take four gulps before hissing out in pain from the burn. I lie on the bed, and I grab my phone, opening it up to the photos. I know I shouldn’t, and I should just delete them, but I can’t. Not yet.