Page 25 of Ugly Truths (The Veiled Truths Trilogy #2)

My father's black SUV idles in the pull-off at the front of my house, the tinted windows reflecting the afternoon sun. We came through the back street and straight into the garage, avoiding the front entrance entirely.

I had no intention of William finding out Elena was here. The fewer people who know, the better. I don’t trust that Peter doesn’t still have someone hanging around Chicago, and if the wrong person hears Scarlett Page is back in town, it won’t take long for him to come sniffing.

I let the curtain drop and turn my attention back to my most immediate problem .

William sighs, setting his coffee mug down on the side table. “I came here to talk to you about your meeting with Jeremy yesterday,” he says, his gaze sharpening. “But now, I see there are more pressing matters.”

I drag a hand over my jaw. “I’m not discussing my dating life with you,” I say flatly, leaning back against the window frame and crossing my arms. “But I’m happy to talk about how Jeremy and Brenden are disrupting the audits. Let's start there.”

William doesn’t so much as blink at the change in subject. “You’re a fool to fall for this woman’s schemes a second time.” His voice is clipped.

The words don’t hit like he thinks they should. I roll my shoulders, forcing the irritation down.

“Jeremy is still insisting on the nomination,” I say instead. “Even though I’ve told him multiple times that it’s not on the table.” I tilt my head, watching him. “What’s the point of making him promises you know I won’t keep?”

Annoyance passes over William’s face, but he doesn’t take the bait. “You do seem to have a type, don’t you?” He almost sounds amused. “Women who know how to get the kind of attention they want. You can’t possibly think you’re the only person she’s played like this.”

He leans forward slightly. “She was on a date with another man, kissing him in the middle of that restaurant, right before she landed in your bed. Then she ran off the second I questioned her motives.” The way he shakes his head drips with disapproval.

“You can dress it up however you want, but at the end of the day, a woman like that only has one goal.”

This isn’t the first time he’s brought up that date. He tried to use it against her back in the spring after hearing about it from several acquaintances, slipping it into conversation when he wanted to convince me she was a gold digger.

Back when I thought I witnessed a real date between Elena and that asshole Harrison, I was furious. When I found out it was staged and I assumed she was a willing participant, I was murderous. But now, knowing someone forced themselves on her?

I exhale through my nose to tamp down the rage .

Straightening off the window frame, I uncross my arms. “Jeremy will not be allowed in the satellite office until the audit is complete.” My tone is calm, final.

“He has no authority to be there, is delaying Davey, and makes the temp workers uncomfortable. If he has any questions or concerns, he can come to me and I will facilitate them.”

The moment I say it, the shift is immediate. My father, who had been playing his part well enough up until now, goes rigid.

I hit a nerve. Good .

The silence settles, and I watch him try to reconcile what I just said with how he can change it, but he can’t. If any other board members catches wind of a non-employee trying to involve themselves in the company’s operational authority, the consequences would be dire.

Almost as quickly as the realization sets in, he recalibrates. The fury in his expression fades, replaced by something that's somehow even more insidious—pity.

“So, this is how it’s going to be?” he asks. Then, with a breath like the words pain him, “Your mother would be so disappointed in you about all of this.”

My skin heats just as my blood turns to ice.

Caroline Wells was compassionate, endlessly so. Even when she had every excuse not to be. She could have handed my siblings and me off to nannies like so many women in her position do, but she raised us herself. She believed in kindness, in fairness, in taking care of the people you love.

She instilled that in all of us, but Natalie is the only one who carries it the way she always hoped we would.

Me? I work for it. Relentlessly. I never wanted her to see me as anything less than a son she could be proud of.

I still think about what she would want, what her advice would be—admittedly more than I’ve thought about my father’s in recent years.

He knows that and highly I regard her, even in death.

The anger I’ve been holding back ignites, clawing at my throat, demanding to be unleashed. But I don’t let it. Because if I do, I’ll say things I don’t mean. Or worse, I’ll say things I do. I’ll admit truths I have no intention of giving him.

So I force it down and squeeze it into submission until it’s nothing more than an irritating ember somewhere deep inside me, if only for a few minutes.

“You can leave.” My voice is devoid of any emotion. “This conversation is over.”

William studies me, his gaze measured, searching for a crack. After a long pause, he adjusts his cuffs like this was just another business meeting.

“Suit yourself.”

Then he stands and leaves. I count the seconds until he’s outside, his back visible through the window as he walks towards the SUV where his driver is already standing with the back door open. Only then do I let out an uneven exhale to cleanse myself of his words.

However, the anger and resentment stay.