Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 58747 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 294(@200wpm)___ 235(@250wpm)___ 196(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58747 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 294(@200wpm)___ 235(@250wpm)___ 196(@300wpm)
But I’m here now and we’ll figure this out together. Whatever this is. Whoever is trying to screw with our company. I take a deep breath and then push through the door.
Dad’s reading a thick tome, but he looks up at my entrance and his face immediately brightens. His once salt and pepper hair is now all white and I’ll still never get used to seeing him in the hospital bed we had installed up in his room, machines constantly monitoring his vitals.
“Daphne.” He sets the book aside. “I wasn’t expecting you today. To what do I owe this pleasure?”
“Dad, there’s a problem.” I rush to his bedside, trying to ignore how unsettling it is to see the changes in him. “Someone’s been stealing from the company. Or something. I don’t know how to explain what I’m seeing. But I need your help to figure it out or else we’re in trouble.”
I start to spread the papers out on his bed but when I next glance up at Dad’s face, it’s gone ashen.
“Dad?” My hands start to tremble. He doesn’t look surprised. He doesn’t look surprised at all by what I’m showing him.
“You knew?”
He doesn’t say anything. He just looks down at his lap.
My throat closes up. No. No no no. “Dad, tell me these are just accounting errors. It can’t be true. You didn’t… I mean, you didn’t really sell the patents.”
“Who told you that?” His head jerks up and there’s an expression on his face I’ve never seen before. He looks manic and angry and afraid all at the same time.
“Dad!” my voice breaks. “What’s going on? Please. You have to tell me.”
My father’s hand shoots out and clamps around my wrist. “Leave it alone, Daph. Walk away. Walk away now.”
My mouth drops open in shock. Is he serious? “This is our company, everything we’ve worked for.”
But his hands are shaking. “He’s too strong.” His cheeks had color when I came in but they’ve gone completely pale.
“Who?” I cry. “Who, Daddy? Who did you sell to? Who’s doing this to us?” I’ve never seen my father like this before. I was expecting him to tell me this was all nonsense. An accounting error, or that he’d never seen this before and we’d track down the culprit together.
But this? He knows my tormentor. Oh gods, how long has this been going on?
“Tell me everything,” I demand.
But he shakes his head vehemently. “This will never touch you.”
Oh Daddy, if you only knew. “What does he want? Tell me that at least if you won’t tell me who it is.”
A tear crests my father’s eye and rolls down his cheek. “I’m so sorry, bella mia. This is all my fault. I hope that he’ll consider my death payment enough.” He coughs a long, raking cough. “I don’t think it will be long now.”
“Dad,” I cry, reaching down and hugging his skin-and-bones body. Gods, when did he get so skinny? “Don’t say that! Never say that. What are you talking about? We can fight this.” I let him go only when another coughing fit hits.
Why didn’t Gemma tell me it was getting this bad? But one look at my Dad and I know why. He told her not to. My stubborn ass of a father. Always thinking he can carry things on his own. Always treating me as if I’m a little child, even though I’ve spent my whole life hurrying to grow up faster so I could share the burden with him.
And now he’s just given up. He’s not even fighting. He’ll never get better if he doesn’t even try. He had a stroke but plenty of people come back from that and live fulfilling lives. But this… I look down at his emaciated body.
Does he have pneumonia? And what the hell has Gemma been doing about it? We’ve kept her on because she gets on well with Dad but if she’s not giving him the care he needs, I don’t care if we need to get Nurse Ratched in here.
I grab Dad by his cheeks and force him to look me in the eye. “You are not giving up. You are going to fight, do you hear me? I don’t care about the company.” That’s a lie, but right now, all Dad needs to focus on is getting better. I repeat it out loud: “You just need to focus on getting better. That’s all that matters right now.”
I bite my bottom lip and then I do something I’ve never done before. I lie to my father. “And to ensure you can do that, I’ll do as you ask. I’ll go away. I’ll take an extended vacation so you know I’m safe, okay?”
All the tension leaves Dad’s body and he sinks back into the pillows. “Oh thank the gods. Yes, baby, get as far away from here as you can.”