Now I really wanted to kill him.
My finger had never been able to squeeze the trigger, but when my wife’s life was on the line, my finger wasn’t so hesitant.
Keeping up conversations with my guests was practically impossible because my mind was elsewhere. Arwen stayed at my side like I asked her to and did a better job pretending everything was perfectly fine. It was her mistake not to take my father seriously, but I wouldn’t let her pay the price for her stupidity.
I finally spotted him several feet away, holding a glass of champagne while engaged in conversation with one of my guests. He sipped his drink then laughed at whatever comment was just said, fitting right in with the festivities. I turned my lips to her ear. “Stay here.” My arms slid from around her waist, and I walked across the room as I approached my father, the notorious asshole.
“You have a lovely holiday as well,” my father said as he finished his conversation. He hardly looked at me but seemed to understand I was there. He took another drink of his champagne then faced me. “I noticed you haven’t had a drink all night. Expecting?”
After my horrific night on the town, I still hadn’t regained my appetite for booze. The scotch had burned a hole in my liver, and the idea of alcohol still didn’t seem appealing to me. I was a man with booze in my system nearly all the time, but I’d realized I’d hit my limit. Now it was time to take a step back and let my body cleanse itself. “It’s pathetic to stir up trouble at a Christmas party. I thought you had more honor than that.”
“All is fair in love and war, right?” He smiled before he took another drink from his glass. With one hand in his pocket while a perfectly tailored suit hugged his muscular frame, he behaved like this was a perfectly normal conversation.
“For cowards, yes.”
His gentle smile disappeared, and he turned his expression on me. “You’re the coward, Maverick. Your wife betrayed our family, and you allowed it to happen.”
“I didn’t allow it. I had no idea what her ambition was. If I had known, I probably wouldn’t have stopped her, but that’s beside the point. I didn’t know.”
“You know now, but you choose to do nothing.”
“Because I stand by my wife’s side. She did the right thing, and you know it. That’s what Mom would have wanted, it’s what Lily wanted, and it’s what I wanted. The three of us are still a family. You’re the one who’s dead—not Mom.”
He appeared crestfallen, punctured by what I’d said like a knife had been stabbed into his lung. He lowered his glass and stared at me with unblinking eyes, as if he were repeating my words in his mind over and over again. Speechless, he continued to stand there like he didn’t know what else to do.
It was the first time my words had wounded him. It was the first time I’d had any kind of impact on this heartless man. The fog around his gaze had finally dissipated, and he listened to something that flew out of my mouth. My speech came from the heart, but I didn’t expect it to have any kind of emotional impact whatsoever.
But it seemed to mean something to him…finally.
Once the party was over and the guests were cleared out of the house, Arwen and I headed upstairs to bed. It was nearly three in the morning, and she’d had too much champagne because she could barely walk.
She gripped the banister to steady herself as she carried herself up the stairs. When she lost her balance, she held on tighter and righted herself. Then a loud laugh escaped her lips, like she found the whole scene comical. “I thought I tripped, but then I realized I didn’t trip…but then I did trip.”
I turned around and came back to her. “Too much champagne tonight?”
“Looks like I’m a drunk mess just like you.” She laughed again.
I scooped her into my arms then cradled her against my chest. Even up three flights of stairs, she was like carrying a pile of feathers. I made my way to the second landing then proceeded to the third.
Her arms locked around my neck, and she rested her cheek against my chest. “Big, strong man…”
Even though my night had been overshadowed by the tense conversation with my father, an involuntary chuckle escaped my lips. “You’re just small.”
“I’m not that small.”
We reached the third landing, and I carried her into the bedroom.
“I’m so drunk right now, but I still want sex. Good sex.”
I set her on the bed then peeled off my jacket. “Sounds good to me.”
“You don’t mind taking advantage of your wife?” She rose to her feet then unzipped the back of her dress. It fell to the floor and revealed her naked form and her sheer thong. She peeled that down her legs and didn’t bother taking off her heels. She got back into bed.