“It would’ve helped if the first words you spoke to him weren’t, ‘Get your hands off my daughter and put on some clothes.’”
Trevor leaned closer and cocked a brow at her. “It also would’ve helped if I had met my future son-in-law before he was my son-in-law, Morgan. By secretly eloping, it seemed like you had something to hide.”
“I did. I was hiding him from you, because I knew that you wouldn’t allow us to get married.” Morgan’s gaze dropped sadly to the hands she had folded in her lap. “You’ve controlled every aspect of my life since I was a child. The moment I tried to live my own life as an adult, you shut it down.”
“You got married, Morgan. This wasn’t a nose piercing or some other type of harmless youthful rebellion. You married a boy you’d known for less than three months. Without your family. Without a prenuptial agreement. Letting you live your own life was starting out as a disaster. You were only nineteen years old.”
Morgan’s head snapped up as his words fanned the fire of anger heating her cheeks. “Stop it right there. Stop twisting this conversation into a lecture about what you think I did wrong with my life. We’re here to talk about what you did. You lied to me. You manipulated my feelings. I’m almost thirty years old and sometimes I think you’re still pulling the strings of my life like I’m some marionette puppet.”
“I think that’s a little overdramatic, Morgan.”
“Maybe, but I’m allowed to feel however I want to feel. You’re not in charge of that.” She took a moment to collect her thoughts and figure out what she wanted to say to him. “I think t
hat perhaps having you as my father and my boss has given you too much control in my life. Perhaps some space would be healthy.”
Trevor chuckled dismissively at her words. “You can’t quit being my daughter.”
“Technically, I could. I’m sure the Nolans would be happy to see more of me. I haven’t gotten to spend as much time with them as I’d like to, but I’m pretty certain they would never tell me who I could love or decide who was good enough for me. But I couldn’t do that to the rest of the family. Or to you, no matter how badly you’ve hurt me, Daddy. But I can quit my job.”
That caught his attention. He sat upright in his chair, no doubt thinking of all the loose ends she would leave behind if she walked out the door at that exact moment. “Are you serious?”
Morgan took a deep breath and nodded. “Yes. But don’t worry, I’ll finish this year’s project. It’s too late in the game to turn it over to someone else. But after the key ceremony is over, you can consider this my notice.”
Her knees were shaking as she pushed herself up from the chair and turned her back on her father. She tried to walk to the door without losing her cool and made it as far as grasping the handle when her father spoke again.
“Does he know about Dawn?”
Morgan froze on the spot, her hand gripping the doorknob for support. She couldn’t make herself turn around or face him, because they both knew the answer to his question was no.
“You kept that from him, didn’t you? Because you thought it was for the best. That he would be hurt by the truth.”
She felt her father’s presence behind her as his hand came to rest gently but firmly on her shoulder. She didn’t flinch away from his touch, as even in this moment, it was a comfort to have him there. He was always there for her, even when she thought she didn’t need him.
“You justified keeping your daughter a secret in your mind, but if he found out about her now, don’t you think he would be angry with you?”
“Yes.” Somehow, she knew he would be. She had punished him for a crime he hadn’t committed and now they would all suffer for it.
“Now you see where I’m coming from, sunshine. I’m sorry that what I did hurt you. It was the last thing I wanted to do. But we all make choices and sometimes the right answer isn’t so easy to come by. Sometimes we end up hurting the ones we love in an attempt to protect them.”
She did understand. She didn’t want to, but she did. There was a part of her that had kept the truth about their daughter from River to protect him. But she’d also been angry with him. Now that those excuses were gone, what was keeping her silent? It was knowing that finding out the truth now would only hurt him. And that he would blame her.
“Do you think he’ll ever be able to forgive me?” she asked quietly, the words barely a whisper.
The hand on her shoulder tightened into a gentle squeeze of support. “For your sake, I hope so, honey.”
Ten
Greg straightened the bow tie provided by his temporary employer and took a deep breath. This was it. Weeks of planning and years of frustration were going to culminate tonight. Not in a payoff, no, but in some sweet revenge.
As he carried around a tray of full champagne flutes, he noticed how the rich partygoers hardly paid any attention to him. Like he wasn’t good enough to be acknowledged as a simple waiter. They saw the champagne, though. They snatched that off the tray and continued their conversations, dismissing him once they had what they wanted.
It took everything he had not to say, You’re welcome, in a mocking tone. He only had to hold it together for a little bit longer.
As the last drink was taken, Greg turned back to the kitchen where the catering team was working. Black Tie Affairs had hired on a team of servers for the event with surprisingly few background checks. They hadn’t even realized his ID was a fake. They thought his name was Carl. And they hadn’t really looked at him, either. He was just there for the grunt work.
Boy, were they all in for a surprise. If they’d paid more attention, they would’ve noticed the strange boxes he unloaded into the ballroom with the rest of the catering equipment. Soon, those carefully placed explosives hidden beneath the linen table skirting would rip this ballroom and everyone nearby into tiny pieces. And that waiter, the one they never even looked at, would disappear in the chaos as a presumed victim of the blast. They wouldn’t be able to pick “Carl” out of a lineup. Their own arrogance would see to it that he would get away scot-free.
“Carl, take this bag of trash out, please.”