Chapter 14
Paul tried to justify it.
Of course.
“The baby would have been safe.”
I stared.
“Safe from whom?”
“Instability.”
“You.”
He stopped.
There.
“Vale planned to use my granddaughter against my organization.”
“No.”
“What word do you prefer?”
He said nothing.
“Protection?”
Silence.
“Transition?”
Nothing.
“Family?”
His eyes hardened.
“You don’t understand what happens when one man holds power too long.”
I almost laughed.
“You’re planning to steal an infant.”
“For balance.”
There it was.
The clean word.
I stepped closer.
“My daughter has bruises because you wanted balance.”
“No.”
“Ryan did that.”
“You rewarded it.”
Silence.
“You received photographs.”
“Yes.”
“You knew she was locked up.”
“Yes.”
“You knew food was withheld.”
He looked away.
“Yes.”
“And did nothing.”
“She was never in danger.”
I thought of the bruise beside Emily’s belly.
“How close does danger need to get?”
No answer.
I returned to Emily before evening.
She was sitting by a window in the Bennett house wearing one of my old sweaters over her maternity dress.
No makeup.
No performance.
She looked younger than twenty-four.
“Did you find Paul?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
I sat.
“Too much.”
She smiled faintly.
“Sounds like your interrogations.”
“Usually.”
Then her face changed.
“Was the baby part of it?”
I hesitated.
She knew.
“Daddy.”
“Yes.”
She closed her eyes.
One hand covered her stomach.
“They all keep talking about her like she belongs to them.”
I nodded.
“What if Ryan comes back?”
“He doesn’t enter unless you ask.”
“What if Linda sends people?”
“She can’t.”
“What if Vale—”
I took her hand.
“Emily.”
She looked at me.
“You do not have to solve every threat tonight.”
Tears filled her eyes.
Ryan had trained her to anticipate punishment before it arrived.
I understood that now.
Then she whispered:
“I thought you’d be ashamed of me.”
“For what?”
“For staying.”
My heart broke.
“No.”
She looked away.
“He said you’d call me weak.”
I stared at the window.
Ryan had used my reputation as another weapon.
May you like
And I realized my daughter had spent six weeks fearing not only her husband—
but what she believed her father would think if she asked to be rescued.
