“I didn’t come to your rescue. If it was left up to me—”
“I would have died with my mother who you had murdered eighteen years ago. I’m familiar with the history.”
“You shut your mouth!” He stalked over to the bed, and I shrank back from him as he wagged a finger in front of my face. “I’ve done everything you asked at the risk of being questioned or everyone wondering if I was insane.”
“I told you it would work. I gave your people a list of murderers to make your case for pardon legitimate.”
“What I don’t understand is Detective Neely’s role in this. Why would you turn down the offer of witness protection to stay with him? What are you planning to do?”
I shrugged. “Well, let’s see, my first dad tried to have me killed. So did the second one. I figure I needed a new one.”
“One that hopefully succeeds where the two others failed.”
“I’ll take my chances with my new Daddy.”
“You’re sick.”
“Don’t you think you had a hand in making me like this? One day we must have an extended visit. Then I can enlighten you on all the ways you helped make me what I am.”
“He was supposed to do it in a humane way.”
I frowned. “There’s no humane way to kill your two-year-old child, Governor Roffe. How do you sleep at night? All the charities you donate to will never undo what you did. You’re a murderer.”
“Shut up!”
The door swung open, and Hunter barged in, his eyebrows raised. He glanced from me to the other man.
“Governor Roffe, this is a surprise.”
“Ah, well.” The governor stepped back from my bed and smiled at Hunter. It was fascinating how quickly he changed. Maybe I was a lot more like my father than I’d thought. “He was such a valuable resource to the FBI, I wanted to meet this brave young man in person. To offer my apologies for what happened to him in jail and wish him well in his recovery.”
“Yes, Governor Roffe has been rather kind, Daddy.”
Hunter’s face turned pale. “It’s not—”
“I’ve been made aware he’s been under somewhat of a very peculiar influence. Don’t worry about it, Detective Neely. Hopefully, under your care, he’ll bounce back and be able to handle life on his own.”
“That is my wish too.”
Governor Roffe slapped Hunter’s shoulder. “Well, I best be going. Good luck to the two of you. From my understanding, you’ll need it.”
“Thanks for coming, Governor Roffe,” I called after the man.
He walked out of the room, and Hunter closed the door. When he turned around, his forehead was creased in a frown.
“I told you to only call me that in private, Cosmo. That man’s the governor, and you just called me Daddy in front of him.”
“I’m sorry, Daddy. It just slipped out, but he didn’t seem to mind.”
He sighed. “Be more careful than that.”
“I’ll try, Daddy. Sorry.” I shuffled off the bed.
“Cosmo, what are you doing?”
I leaned over the hospital bed, pulled up my gown, and tugged down my underwear.
“What the hell, Cosmo?”