Lover in Lingerie (Lingerie 15)

“It wasn’t clear until Griffin explained the situation to me.”

That was a bomb I wasn’t prepared for. “Griffin told you?” So this entire time, my father knew, and Griffin didn’t care to mention that to me?

“Before you get angry at Griffin, understand he did it for a reason.” My father spoke so calmly that it was actually frightening, like he was considering his words very carefully so he would remain in control. “I grabbed my weapons and met up with Crow. I was prepared to march down there and shoot Bosco in the head. Griffin told me everything so I wouldn’t go through with it. He explained to me that Bosco didn’t give you the black eye, that you two actually had a relationship.”

I was still pissed at Griffin for leaving me in the dark, but now I didn’t feel completely betrayed. I wouldn’t have wanted my father to get himself killed or shoot the man I loved. It was probably the only option Griffin had at the time.

“I’m not gonna lie, sweetheart. I wasn’t happy when Griffin told me you were seeing Bosco.” He held my gaze, the pain burning in his eyes. “I understand you’re an adult who can make your own decisions, but…you couldn’t have picked a worse man to get involved with.”

His disappointment hurt me, much more than I expected.

“There’s something else I need to tell you, and you aren’t going to like it. But I don’t want to lie about it, regardless of how bad it makes me look.”

What did he do?

“Crow and I went to the casino so I could confront Bosco myself.”

Now I wasn’t breathing, taking in all this information without being able to truly understand it. My father and uncle were in the casino with Bosco…and Bosco never told me. I didn’t know whom I felt more betrayed by…Bosco or my own family.

“We spoke for about thirty minutes.” My father kept talking calmly, like it was all he could do to combat his true anger. “I told him I didn’t like him. I told him I wanted him to leave you alone. And I offered him a hundred million if he cooperated.”

I was punched in the stomach—again.

“He didn’t take it.”

“Of course he didn’t,” I said, my voice rising. “There’s nothing you could offer him to make him leave me. He loves me, Father.”

Pain moved into his eyes. “And I love you too, Carmen. I did it to protect you.”

“To protect me?” I asked incredulously. “So if he took the money and dumped me, you would have just never said anything?”

“If he took the money, then he never loved you anyway.”

I threw my hands down on my thighs. “That’s not the point! I can’t believe you interfered like that. You didn’t even know him. I’m twenty-five years old. How could you treat me and my personal life like you own me?” I’d never been more disappointed in my father, not ever.

He dropped his gaze, unable to look at me anymore. “I knew you would be angry…and I’m sorry.”

“You’re sorry?” I asked incredulously. “You’re sorry that you completely overstepped your boundaries and stuck your damn nose where it didn’t belong?”

“Don’t curse at me—”

“Don’t threaten my man.” I slammed my hand on his desk. “Who the hell do you think you are?”

“Your. Father.” He leaned forward, losing his calmness. Now his nostrils flared in rage, like a wild bull about to charge. “I admit I shouldn’t haven’t handled it that way, but I didn’t understand the extent of your relationship at the time.”

“Then why didn’t you ask me? Your daughter?”

“Because Griffin told me to keep it a secret. I thought I could fix this without you even knowing about it.”

“Fix it?” I asked incredulously. “There’s nothing to fix. I would have been devastated if I’d lost him.”

My father grimaced, like he didn’t like that reaction. “Carmen, look. I’m sorry. I’m apologizing to you for what I did. I was upset and emotional at the time, unable to think straight. You’re everything to me, and I just…snapped.”

I should pity him, but I didn’t. Now I was also pissed at Bosco because he knew about all this but didn’t tell me. “What happened when you were there? You know, after you tried to buy him off?”

My father ignored my sarcasm. “We talked.”

“About…?”

“He told me that you meant a lot to him, that he protects you and respects you.”

“Which he does,” I said proudly.

“But he also told me how you guys met, how you tried to leave him, but he wouldn’t let you, that he forced you to give him a chance.”

I admired Bosco for being so honest about it.

“Do you understand how much that pissed me off? Hearing some pompous little bitch say he forced my daughter to do something?”

“It wasn’t like that… I wanted to stay.” I couldn’t tell my father the extent of my feelings, not without making it extremely awkward. “I knew it wouldn’t work out with us in the long run…so that was why I wanted to leave. I didn’t want to get invested in a guy when there was no future. But I wanted to be with him a little while longer…and that contract was how I got what I wanted.”