“Think about it. With your past, is it any wonder you went out and found a knight in shining armor? A man who spent the last decade or more serving in an elite military unit? A man you think could save you if need be?”
She opened her mouth to protest but couldn’t find the words. She hadn’t fallen for Angus because he was like a superhero version of one of her bodyguards.
Had she?
No, she told herself firmly. Absolutely not. She’d fallen for his sense of humor, his gentleness, his intellect…
“It isn’t fair to twist a man around your finger because you’ve refused a security team.”
The accusation stung. She hadn’t done that—
“Is that why you turned Leif away? Because he’s not built like a linebacker and toting a gun around all the time? I’m sure he’d work on that if you asked.”
“Dad!”
“You should remember it wasn’t muscles or guns that saved you, was it? It was your mother’s inheritance. You’re behaving like a child. A selfish, thoughtless child, going around ruining everyone’s lives because you don’t appreciate what they’ve sacrificed for you.”
“That’s not fair!” She felt like she was thirteen again, newly freed and blinking in the blinding glare of the news cameras.
“We’ve been unhappy with your choices for a long time, but we held back, thinking you’d come around. Grow up a little. But we can’t wait for you to come to your senses anymore. Your mother might die, Win, and if she can’t have you back home to help her get through this—to know you’re safe while she’s undergoing treatments and to have your help guiding Manners Corp and the foundation—then we’re done with you.”
“Done with—What are you talking about?” The glare of the fluorescent lights seemed overbright in the little bathroom. The whole conversation was surreal.
“Done. Finished. We’ll wash our hands of you. Cut off your allowance. Strike you from our will. Disown you. You can marry your Navy SEAL and take his name, because you won’t be welcome to ours anymore.”
“Dad—” He couldn’t mean it. They wouldn’t just walk away from her—not now—
“You have cut us to the bone with your behavior. Acted so selfishly we don’t even recognize you anymore. Your presence on that television show puts my career—and the entire family—in jeopardy, and it puts your own life at risk every day. Did you ever think about that? How it feels to be on our end, watching you flaunt your whereabouts to everyone? Knowing no one’s there to protect you? Knowing someone could take our little girl at any minute, and we’d have to live through that nightmare again?”
Shame sliced through her. She had known it, and she’d done it anyway, ready to do whatever it took to stay with Angus.
To stay with a man who, despite her protests, did make her feel safe.
Was her father right? Had everything she’d done been born of selfishness rather than love?
“Someday you’ll have a child of your own. You’ll understand what we’ve gone through, because that child will be as much of a target as you are.”
She dropped a hand to her belly again as another wave of vertigo washed over her. She did have a child—protected within her for now but one day free to walk the streets on her own, innocent and sure of herself, like Win had been before—
As memories flooded her mind, dark memories, she clutched the phone, trying to find the air she knew was all around her but somehow couldn’t get into her lungs. Her father was right; she’d made herself more of a target now that she’d participated in Base Camp. Her child would be just as vulnerable. Without her parents—without their money—what would she do if the worst occurred? Trust the police?
She knew firsthand that wasn’t good enough.
Julian’s voice softened again. “Come home. Make your mother happy. Stay until she’s well again. Until we’re past this battle.”
“I can’t. The men will draw straws tomorrow. Angus might get the short one.” If he did, he’d have to marry in forty days. Win paced the restroom, where the walls were beginning to close in on her. She was too distracted to leave its confines, though. She needed her wits about her if she was going out in the world.
“Your mother starts chemo tomorrow. Are you telling me you refuse to come home?” When she hesitated, he added, “I need you, princess. Don’t make me face this all alone. I thought I’d lost you once. Now I might lose your mother.” His voice cracked, and shame lanced through her again. What kind of an ungrateful daughter denied her dying mother what she wanted?
“I can’t today,” she managed to say. First she had to tell Angus about the baby. She had to be bridesmaid in her friend Savannah’s wedding tomorrow. Had to see if Angus drew the short straw. If he didn’t, maybe she could go for a little while.
“Tomorrow night is good enough. I know you have a wedding to go to. Bring your things, though. You might be here a long time. Your mom has quite a fight ahead of her.”
“I have to come back when it’s time to marry Angus,” she asserted.
There was another long pause, so long Win thought her father might have set down the phone and walked away.
“You’re prepared to leave your mother in the thick of her treatments? For a television show?”
He wasn’t listening to her. “For the man I love.”
“If Angus loved you, he’d come to California, too, wouldn’t he? Strange it hasn’t even occurred to you to ask him. That speaks volumes, as far as I’m concerned.”
Another hit below the belt. “I can’t ask him to let everyone down—”
“Yes, you can. Family sticks together before all else. That’s what we did for you. Hell, Win, if you don’t mean to stay, don’t bother coming at all. Losing you midtreatment could kill your mother. Just go ahead and break her heart right now.”
Win knew her father valued loyalty above all
