“I don’t have a father, you must be mistaken.”
He laughed. “Oh, I’m sure that’s what your mother told you.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Who are you?”
He walked toward me, his stature showing that he thought very highly of himself. Shoulders back, chin lifted. He held his hand out to me, predicting I would shake it.
I didn’t.
I saw his face turn from amusement to anger, quick smart. “My name is Edward Keaton.”
The name sounded familiar like I should know it from somewhere.
“Owner of Keaton Records. One of the biggest recording firms for musical artists in the United States.”
My eyes widened. Keaton Records. Now I knew why his face and name sounded familiar. We had taken a short class on recording artists, agencies, and firms. They taught us about what it took to get to that stage. And what we needed to do if that was the path we decided to take with our music, which was the case for many of the students in my class. They all wanted to be famous, I just wanted to play and since Kit had started playing with me, he had fueled a passion for teaching that I didn’t know I had.
“Ah, so you do know.” He smiled smugly.
“I study music, I’ve heard of you.”
He nodded. “Of course you would study music. It’s in your veins, your bloodline, just like it is mine.” He paced the room, but it was in confidence, not because of nerves. He looked like he was standing in front of a boardroom full of people. “You sing? I heard you before, your voice could use some conditioning, but you could be very good.”
I tried not to take that as an insult. Kit had told me he loved my voice. “Not really, I play guitar. Have since I was little. Traveling with Mom I was around a lot of bands. Fell in love with the guitar.”
He nodded. “I remember your mother very well. She was stunning, independent.” He screwed up his face like the words left a sour taste in his mouth. “It was only by chance I was looking for a new maid and your face popped up. I couldn’t stop looking at you. There was something familiar so I requested your details.”
It didn’t sound like there was a lot of love lost between him and my mom. He didn’t seem heartbroken and she had spent the last twenty-three years of my life keeping the knowledge of this man from me. There was obviously a reason.
“Where exactly did my face pop up?” I frowned.
He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter now. You’re here.”
“It does matter. I didn’t ask to be here. I would actually like to go home now.”
I watched as his fists balled up at his sides. The anger that was on his face made me want to crawl into a hole. He was livid.
“I have rights. You are my daughter,” he said, pointing his stupidly well-manicured finger at me.
“I am twenty-three. You can’t hold me here, father or no father,” I growled.
“That’s where you’re wrong, child of mine. I want to get to know my only child and you will be staying here until I see fit.” He adjusted his suit now his temper had receded. “I’ve also been informed that you are spending time with a well-known motorcycle gang. That will also be ending. I will not have any child of mine mixing with the likes of them.”
“Motorcycle…Club. They are not a gang,” I gritted out between my locked teeth as I climbed off the bed and stepped closer to him, ready to defend my family.
He laughed softly. “They are criminals.”
“And you’ve kidnaped me! What does that make you?” I yelled.
My face jerked to the side, my body following it with the force of the blow. I steadied myself on the bed, my head spinning and pain shooting through my jaw. Silence filled the large room. After a moment, I managed to gather my wits and pushed myself back up, turning to face him.
“You will never speak to me like that again.”
I don’t know what came over me, but I started to laugh. He stared at me like I’d gone crazy. Maybe I had. I was locked in a house, with this man who was claiming to be my father. A very rich man. A man who could possibly tear the club to shreds if he had the right contacts, which I assumed he did. I wasn’t sure how long I had been gone. How many hours had it been? How many days?
But what I did know was that Kit would be looking for me – the whole club would be. I needed to control my emotions, keep myself in check until they found me, but I also refused to be weak and cower under his extreme actions. Edward Keaton was powerful, he was dangerous and as he had just shown, he wasn’t afraid to use force if need be.
“I can’t wait,” I said, my laughter slowly subsiding. “I can’t wait until the club find out who you are. Men like you, you have something to lose, a reputation to uphold. The club doesn’t. They will do what it takes to bring you down. The joys of hanging out with criminals.”
He stormed toward me, not even stopping as he wrapped his hand around my throat, lifting my feet off the ground before forcing me back onto the bed. “Learn your place, Harmony. I don’t want to have to warn you again. Learn it, and learn it fast, because next time I won’t be so forgiving for your ridiculous outbursts.”
He tightened his grip on my throat, squeezing the last little bit of air from my lungs and causing my head to feel heavy like a brick. He held me like that until I slowly started to see black spots clouding my vision. At first they were small, but they grew as they joined with others. It was kind of a mesmerizing thing to watch as you felt the life slowly slipping from your body, your brain not getting enough oxygen and starting to close down. It was only then he released and my lungs strained as I gasped for air. I coughed and spluttered, rolling onto my side in the soft blankets of the bed and lifting my chin, attempting to open my airway again.
Oh yes, he was a pro. He knew how far he could push to make the pain feel, oh so real, and then when to pull back. It made me sick to think that this man’s blood could be running through my veins. That he was a part of who I was. I guess it was that same old argument, nurture versus nature.
Edward stepped back and I forced myself to stand, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of seeing me lying down and scared. My legs wobbled, but I gripped one of the large posts of the bed to steady myself. I caught a silent smirk pass over his face before his glare once again returned.
“Dinner will be in a few hours. I will have some things brought up for you to wear.” With that, he turned sharply and left.
My body sagged, sliding down the post of the bed and landing with a light thump on the floor. My mind couldn’t compute what was going on.
Why the hell did he want me here? To force his awesome parenting skills on me? To make us into one big happy family?
I scoffed.
I looked around the room, once seeing it as beautiful, gorgeous even. Now I did see that dark, damp cell. It was just disguised with frilly curtains and floral patterns.