with all that Garth had accused him of, there was going to be one big mess to clean up.
“Let’s change the subject,” he said, pouring her more wine. “How’s your father? Florida is a great place, this time of year.”
If she’d been swallowing, she would have choked.
How much did he know about her? And there were variations on the question-who had told him and why? How had he known to go digging? And was he just playing the odds or did he have actual information?
“I wouldn’t know,” she said coolly. “We don’t keep in touch.”
“I’m not surprised. You never confronted him. Some children do-go back as an adult. Face the devil, so to speak. You just wanted to put it all behind you.”
She didn’t know if he was asking or telling and she didn’t care. She could go the rest of her life without seeing her dad and be very happy. There had been too much one-on-one time when she’d been younger.
Her mother had died when Dana had been young-too young to remember her. Dana’s father hadn’t been all that interested in his baby daughter and a series of girlfriends had offered indifferent care. Later, when she’d been six or seven, she’d become a liability. The women who came and went didn’t like a “brat like her” hanging around. Annoyed with Dana for making trouble, her father had started hitting her.
Or maybe he’d just hit her because he liked it.
The beatings had dominated her young life. There were always bruises she had to hide, sprains she couldn’t explain. Maybe her teachers had known, maybe they’d simply looked the other way, but no one ever asked questions.
He’d left one day, without saying a word. She’d been sixteen and so grateful, she hadn’t told anyone. She’d practically moved in with Lexi and her sisters who might have suspected the truth but had never discussed it.
Eventually she heard the old man had settled in Florida. She’d gone to college and never looked back. But how had Garth known?
“You did something with the fear,” he said. “I respect that.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
They stared at each other. There was no judgment in his eyes, nothing to make her uncomfortable, save the fact that he’d obviously uncovered her deepest, darkest secret. Which meant she had to learn his.
She remembered the scars on his body, scars he’d gotten while a prisoner, blindfolded constantly and tortured on a daily basis. Maybe Garth didn’t have any secrets. Maybe he wore the truth on his body every day.
“I would recommend revenge,” he said, “but you’re not the type.”
“I believe in that old Chinese saying. The one that says before you begin a journey of revenge, first dig two graves.”
“Not a problem. I’m sure there’s a Titan mausoleum somewhere.”
Jed had created this enemy, Dana thought, almost able to feel sorry for the old man. He had earned whatever happened to him.
After getting Kathy, Garth’s mother, pregnant, he’d set her up with enough money to take care of her and her baby. It beat marrying her, at least from Jed’s perspective.
Everything had been fine until Kathy developed a brain tumor. Aggressive treatment and surgery burned through her insurance and Jed’s money. Fourteen-year-old Garth had been desperate to save his mother and had gone to Jed to beg for enough to cover a last-chance surgery. Jed had refused and had thrown his bastard son out on the street.
That fourteen-year-old boy had grown up into the man sitting across from her. A man determined to exact painful vengeance. Garth had finally found a doctor willing to do the surgery for free, but by then it had been too late. While Kathy had survived, she’d been left mentally challenged. A friendly, simple woman who adored Garth but in no way realized she was his mother.
“What happens if you win?” Dana asked. “What do you want? The company? Your name on the letterhead? Are you going to run Titan World?”
“No. I’ll break it up and sell it off. When I’m done, nothing Jed worked for will exist anymore.”
“It’s not about the glory?”
“I was never in it for that. I want Jed to pay for what he did, nothing more. You should respect that. It’s all black and white. You like absolutes. It’s why you’re a cop.”
A lucky guess on his part, she told herself. He didn’t really know her that well.
“You’re breaking the law to get what you want,” she told him. “That makes it gray. And going after the sisters is pretty sad. Come on. They’re girls.”
He laughed. “Would you let them hear you say that? They think of themselves as powerful women.”
“They’re powerful in ways you can’t understand, but what you’re doing is wrong.” She eyed him over her glass. “And you know it.”
“Now you’re reading minds?”
“You claim to know me. Why can’t it work both ways?”
“Because I’ve been studying you. Can you say the same?”
“You’re not that interesting.”
“Now you’re lying. You find me very interesting.”
Was it hot in here or was it her? Dana put her wine back on the table and grabbed her fork. Only she wasn’t that hungry anymore and the sensations in her stomach had little to do with the food she’d eaten.
She knew he was playing her. He was good at it and she wasn’t. She didn’t do the game thing. She was direct, maybe too direct. In her personal relationships she said what she wanted. If the guy didn’t want to hear it, he was gone.
But being with Garth was anything but straightforward. Like a perpetual game of cat and mouse.
“Are you in for the night?” she asked as she came to her feet.
He stood. “Yes.”
“Then I’m going. I’ll be on your tail tomorrow, annoying you. You’re heading to the office at the usual time?”
“Yes.”
His dark eyes seemed to see more than they should. Talk about unnerving.
She reached in her jeans pocket for her keys and turned to leave.
“Or you could stay.”
Four little words. Four syllables. Taken apart, they meant almost nothing, but together…
Was he asking what she thought he was asking?
Stupid question.
It was a joke, she told herself quickly. It had to be a joke. He wanted her to say yes, so he could laugh at her. He wanted her to consider for even a second that he wanted her. Because men like him were never interested in women like her. It was one of life’s rules and didn’t bother her a bit.
She turned back and met his dark gaze, then raised her eyebrows. “I don’t think so. But thanks for asking.”
Nothing about his expression changed. “If you’re sure.”
Sure that she didn’t want to have sex with him? Oh, yeah. She was beyond sure. She had very specific rules and one of them said she was always in control. He would never allow that and she would never accept anything else.
There was also the issue of not being sure if he’d tried to blow up Izzy and knowing he was doing his best to ruin his sisters, which she probably should have thought of first, damn him.
“I’m sure,” she said.
“Another time, then.”
“Again, I don’t think so.”
He gave her a slow, sexy smile. One that spoke of confidence. It was the smile of a man who knew women.
“I do.”
He was trying to rattle her. He wanted her to react, to question herself, to engage. That so wasn’t going to happen.
