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Winnie gasps when she sees her father and squeezes my hand so tight it almost hurts. Her mom throws her arms around her neck.
She just looks between her parents stiffly.
“I regret the recent unpleasantry,” Carroll says flatly, clearing his throat after a heavy moment where I’m not sure if he’ll ever speak.
Hell, I don’t know if he’s talking to Winnie or me, but it doesn’t matter. This stuffy turkey fuck has a mountain of apologies to make.
Winnie says nothing, lying there more guarded than ever.
She tolerates her mother’s presence while the older woman blubbers all over her, hanging on and wailing, but she’s still just glaring at her dad.
Waiting.
“Honey.” He clears his throat and steps forward, but when her expression hardens, he stops. “I mean it. You can’t fathom how truly, deeply sorry I am for how we’ve treated you. If I’d known it would lead to this…”
He swallows and shrugs.
“What? You would have treated me like a human being?” she asks coldly.
Silence.
My fist shakes at my side, hungry to grab this prick and push him right out of the room. I don’t care if it gets me handcuffed for assaulting a state official or whatever the fuck.
“I should have considered my choices more carefully, Wynne. I wish to God I had, but… I was proud. Too focused on doing what was best for the family, for—”
“For you,” Winnie spits.
Goddamn, that’s my girl.
I have to bite my cheek to avoid grinning at the way Carroll’s head drops.
“Almost losing you was the revelation I shouldn’t have needed,” he growls, swallowing thickly. “When you were lost out there, when everyone was looking, I had a lot of time to reflect. My anger, my pride, my arrogance, it almost got you killed. Regrettably, I never knew how foolish I could possibly be until my actions nearly cost me my own daughter.”
Guilt is pure sorcery, transforming the biggest assholes into weeping kittens.
I know it well.
Later, when they’re gone, I’ll show her how sorry I still am for making her feel like she doesn’t belong in my life.
“Holden told me what he did. He broke the law and our trust. I warned him there will be criminal charges if he ever comes near you again. I won’t be on speaking terms with Senator Corban for the foreseeable future,” Carroll continues after another long pause where there’s nothing but Winnie’s rough breathing and Linda’s awful sobs.
They may be bad people, yes, but they’re sincere.
Winnie never told me much about her parents’ marriage and I had to read between the lines, but now I’ve seen enough to understand.
I see why she couldn’t marry Holden, even before he came stomping around, clinging to her like a fucking comfort blanket.
“I don’t care about Holden. What about him?” Winnie whispers, nodding in my direction. “I care about what you’re going to do to the man who saved my life.”
“Yes, Archer Rory.” Carroll looks me full in the face for the first time.
He’s an egomaniac to the core, but I can see the toll this has taken. He looks old and shrunken, all the lofty authority he normally wields like a sword has turned into a giant limp noodle.
To think I ever felt threatened by this goon and his stupid damn antitrust probe.
“No man will ever be more worthy,” he says.
Huh?