Page 41 of Beautiful Revenge

The threat of me attacking him for my keys must have waned, because he drops them on the desk between us. “Kidnap your father.”

“I didn’t kidnap him. I took responsibility for him—there’s a big difference. It needed to happen for a while, but Janie wouldn’t reason with me. Hell, she wouldn’t even listen to me. Then his doctors shut me out when I tried to discuss his condition, which was her pulling her medical power of attorney. He’s comatose. Even before when he was lucid, he demanded to know things about his health and Stonebridge. Janie offered him no real answers. She said it was because shedidn’t want to cause him stress. Then he got worse. I’m no doctor, but I know they weren’t doing enough. Something has been off for weeks. Now, more than ever, I need his health to improve, so I took matters into my own hands and hired a team of doctors I trust.”

“So you waited until you were supposed to sayI doand had a medivac whisk him away?”

I defend myself. “It was the first time I had the opportunity. Janie was always around. It wasn’t easy, by the way.”

He shakes his head. “I doubt it was.”

“Why does it feel like you’re judging me?”

“I’m impressed, Harlow. And now wondering if I’m the one who needs to worry about sleeping in the same suite as you.”

“Hardly,” I mutter as my stomach growls.

He changes the subject. “Now that we’ve got this out of the way, are you running away or are you staying?”

“Are you going to keep my secret?”

“Until I have a reason not to. The way I see it, I have something to hang over your head. If you run off into the night, I may have to call Janie,” he threatens but he does it with a smile.

Still, there’s a bit of truth there.

And not in the sixty-forty way.

It’s definitely fifty-fifty.

I stand to reach for the key fobs. “I’m hungry, and I want to see my new car.”

But he’s faster than me and swipes them up. “I could eat. And I haven’t been off the property since before you got here. We could both use a change of scenery.”

“Where to?”

“To town.”

I can’t help the excitement. This is what I was looking forward to when I decided to stay in Winslet. “I need to run upstairs and get my purse. I don’t have my license or my wallet.”

Devon pulls the heavy door open with one hand and tosses my keys into the air before catching them. “No need. I’ll drive.”

“Butit’s my car.”

“There are a lot of things to learn about me, Harlow. No one drives me but me.”

“That’s so ... I don’t know. Controlling.” After I move through the door, Devon shuts and locks it behind us. I can’t help but think about his case that ended his career. “I have a feeling therearea lot of things to learn about you.”

He puts a hand to my back and gives me a nudge. The next thing I know, he leans forward enough that his lips are only a few inches from my ear. “Says the woman who dumped her fiancé on the world stage and kidnapped her father out from under the medical staff in his own home.”

Well.

I can’t argue with that.

Plus, I’m starving, and I can’t wait to go to town. I haven’t been to downtown Winslet in years.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

STARVING

Harlow