Delilah

I probably should have left good enough alone, but I just couldn’t leave things the way they were with my dad and Ethan. I waited until after Ethan had left for his office, since he had a couple meetings he said he couldn’t miss, and I got dressed to go out. Ethan had left me a set of car keys, so I grabbed them and went out to the SUV they belonged to. Then I headed to my dad’s office. I was hoping that the element of surprise would be enough to get him to really listen to me.

Getting in to see him wasn’t as easy as I had expected it to be, though. The receptionist’s job description must have included the term “guard dog.”

“I’m sorry,”—except she didn’t sound even the tiniest bit apologetic—“but without an appointment, there really isn’t any way you’ll be able to get in to see Mr. Wentworth today.”

“You don’t understand,” I breathed out heavily. “He’ll definitely want to see me.”

“It’s okay, Sandy,” an unfamiliar masculine voice said from behind me. “I’ll handle this.”

I turned to find a short, portly man standing there. He had a receding hair line, and a shifty look in his eyes that were in contrast to the expensive suit he was wearing. He offered me an insincere smile and lifted his hand to wrap it around my elbow.

“Miss Brooks, is it?”

“Yes,” I replied warily.

“Thanks for coming in. You saved me a phone call and a trip out to see you.”

“Um, okay.”

“If you’ll follow me this way.”

He didn’t really give me a choice, not without causing a disturbance, so I allowed him to lead me into a corner office down a long hallway. After he settled me into a chair, he walked around his desk and plopped down into his own seat. While his back was turned I sent off a quick text to Ethan, letting him know where I was since there was something about this man that made me uncomfortable.

“I’m Marcus Chesterton, Samuel’s lawyer.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” I whispered, in an attempt to be polite since it most definitely wasn’t nice. My dad apparently had a slimy lawyer on staff. How wonderful.

“I wish I could say this was going to be a friendly conversation,” he sighed. “But what I have to tell you isn’t going to be pleasant.”

What the heck? I didn’t appreciate his patronizing tone, and I had literally no idea how he could have something unpleasant to discuss with me. “Pardon me?”

He yanked open the top drawer of his desk, pulled out a sheaf of papers, and laid them down in front of me. “This is your father’s will. If you’ll read through it, you’ll notice that there’s no mention of you anywhere in it. Lola, as his fiancée and eventually his wife, is his sole beneficiary.”

I shoved the papers back towards him. “Not that the money matters to me, but he didn’t even lay eyes on me until four days ago. It’s not as though he’s had the time to think about changing his will.”

“I can understand why you’d like to look at it that way,” he conceded. “But he’s known about you since your mom turned up pregnant. Yet, in all these years, he’s never made any arrangements for you in the case of his death.”

“He didn’t?” I wasn’t willing to admit it to this man, but that part hurt. A lot.

“I’ve drawn up each and every one of his wills, and there has never been mention of his possible offspring in any version. Samuel’s worth millions of dollars, and I’ve done an excellent job making sure you would never be able to lay claim to a penny of it . . . at his repeated request. I’ve tried to talk him out of it time and time again, but he wasn’t willing to listen to reason.”

“No,” I cried, shaking my head. “It isn’t possible.”

I wasn’t upset about the money. I couldn’t care less about that. But I felt sick knowing the extent to which my father had gone to cut me out of his will. I’d convinced myself that my mom must have been mistaken somehow, that my father would never have done what she’d accused him of. But this new information made me question my decision to let him into my life.

“Look, Ms. Brooks. I’ve known Samuel his entire life. He’s never wanted children. It doesn’t make him a bad man, he’s just not the fatherly type. You’ll do much better on your own, out of this town, and away from his influence.”

“I can’t leave town. This is where Ethan lives. He has a business here. We can’t just pack up and go.”

“Ethan?” he parroted with a stunned expression on his face. “Ethan Parker?”

“Yes.” I held up my left hand and turned it so he could see the ring. “We’re engaged to be married. Surely you can see why what you’re suggesting is impossible.”

“It’s even worse than I thought, you poor girl.” He heaved a deep breath, stood, and walked around to my side of the desk. “Ethan is Samuel’s best friend, and quite protective of him. He’d do just about anything for him—including taking care of the potential issue of the long-lost daughter who suddenly turned up.”

“What? No!” I shouted, jumping out of my seat. I shoved Marcus in my attempt to get around him. I almost made it to the door, too, until he grabbed my arm and yanked me around.

“Where do you think you’re going? We aren’t done!”

“Out of here,” I cried. “You’re a lunatic if you think I’m going to believe a word you’ve told me. I might have fallen for it for a minute, but only because I haven’t had the chance to get to know my father well enough yet.”

“It won’t matter how well you get to know him. Facts are facts.”

“Yeah, and the fact is that Ethan loves me. He’s going to marry me. And he’s going to be an amazing dad to our baby.” My free hand dropped protectively over my belly. “If you’d kept Ethan out of it, I might have believed you about my father. But there’s nothing you can do or say that will convince me that Ethan is a bad guy.”

“It’s like déjà vu all over again,” he growled. “You and your mother. You’re two of a kind.”

“My mother?” I gasped.

“Bonnie?” my father asked from behind me.

I swiveled around and found him standing in the doorway. I tugged on my arm, trying to get the lawyer to let me go.

“You’re the reason Bonnie disappeared all those years ago?” His eyes darted between us and lit with rage. “And you’re trying to do it again, but with my daughter this time?”

Marcus sputtered, and I used his distraction to pull away from him, taking a couple steps backwards. It was good timing since Ethan barged in right behind my father. He took one look at my tear-streaked face and charged towards Marcus. “Nobody makes Lilah cry and gets away with it!” he roared, punching him square in the jaw.

Marcus fell to the floor, knocked unconscious. I rushed towards Ethan and threw myself into his arms. They wrapped around me tightly, and I felt safe once more.

“Marcus was behind it all,” my father rumbled. “Scared Bonnie off, convinced her I was going to try to take Lilah away from her.”

“Fuck, Samuel. I’m so sorry.” Ethan turned me in his arms so we were both facing my dad. “But we’ll make sure he pays for what he’s done.”

“It wasn’t illegal, so he won’t go to jail like he should. But I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure he loses everything that matters to him.” My dad paused and shifted his gaze to me. “Just like he tried to do to me again, by scaring you off, the same way he did your mom. He would have succeeded, too, if it weren’t for your complete faith in Ethan’s love for you.”

Ethan gave me a gentle squeeze and kissed the top of my head.

“I only wish your mom’s faith in me had been as strong, but I didn’t manage to give her the same confidence in our relationship that Ethan has done with you,” my dad sighed, flashing me a smile before looking Ethan in the eyes. “You’re a good man. My best friend. A better man than me. You’ve proven it time and time again, but it’s something I forgot in my anger.”

“It’s okay, Samuel.”

“No, it’s not, Ethan,” my dad disagreed. “I didn’t react to the news of you and Lilah well, and for that I owe you an apology. You were right. She’s not the little girl I missed growing up. She’s a woman who makes me so damn proud. A woman in love with my best friend, and I’m damn lucky for it because I know you’ll treasure her the way she deserves.”