Page 69 of Betrayed

He couldn’t be corrupt. Even after talking to AJ the night before, and hearing they had circumstantial evidence against him, I refused to believe he was on the wrong side of the law.

Not my dad. He was a good, law-abiding guy. A good father. A respected District Attorney.

He was the type of dad who always found time to spend with me, no matter how busy he was. He was the type of husband whobrought my mom flowers, just because, and always told her she was beautiful.

He was the type of man other men looked up to. Honest. Generous. Successful.

Sure, he wasn’t perfect. He worked a lot of late nights, more so after we lost my mom to cancer, but that was to be expected. He still came home most nights and had dinner with me before retiring to his office. With us, after he married Priscilla.

She complained he was never home, but she was prone to exaggerating.

In the last year, she’d complained a lot about money. I’d thought it was because she didn’t like Daddy spending money on me, but maybe there was more to it. Had she spent them into debt with her extravagant shopping sprees, luxury vacations, and ‘upgrading’ the interior of the house? Her words, not mine.

I loved the house as it was—every room held memories of my mother.

I never understood why my father married her. It wasn’t for love, that’s for sure. He only bought her flowers for the obligatory holidays and only told her she looked nice when guests were around.Or when she fishes for compliments. He showed her off at dinner parties and political events, but rarely did anything fun with her. She was nothing like my mom; and I could tell he didn’t love her.

Priscilla was probably the one doing stupid illegal things, not my dad.

I was still struggling to believe he was in financial trouble, even though AJ said it was true. He may have had an investment or two not do well, but we weren’t hurting for money. No matter how much Priscilla carried on about it.She’s just a greedy bitch who wants my grandfather’s money.

When I’d told AJ that a lot of my father’s guests gave me the creeps, I wasn’t lying.

I thought back to a recent dinner party. It was a formal event, and my attendance had been required. Daddy loved showing off his honor roll, law-student daughter, and bragged about my desire to work for a not-for-profit.

“Thank you, Daddy.” I said, desperately wanting to get away from the man he was introducing me to. He was the kind of guy who made your skin crawl with nothing but a look.

Men like him were the reason I didn’t want to get into politics like my dad.

“Such a waste to push paperwork for a not-for-profit company when you could make a fortune working with your father,” the guy said while swirling the expensive bourbon in his glass.

“Blake doesn’t need the money.” I’m sure he said it to get the guy off my back, but it had the reverse effect.

“That’s right, you’re set to inherit a fortune. No need to work at all.” I burped a little in my mouth as he spoke. “You should find yourself a handsome man and settle down, start a family.”

I held back the shiver of disgust that wanted to run from my head to my toes. I held back my snarky responses too, knowing my father would get mad, and excused myself.

As I was escaping the room, I overheard, “It’d be a shame if he goes back on his word. I’d hate to have to enforce our agreement.” The hair on the back of my neck stood up.

I didn’t know who they were talking about, but it didn’t matter. I didn’t want to hear anymore.

Pretending I hadn’t heard anything, I rushed to the stairs and up to my room. My father’s dinner parties were rarely fun for me, but that one had been downright awful.

I snapped back to the present and sat up on my bed. That party was a week before I got the note.

Were they talking about my father?

I convinced myself I didn’t need to tell AJ since I didn’t know who the men were, or if they were talking about my dad.No point in making things worse.

Needing to wash my face, I left my room and went to the bathroom. I pretended not to see AJ reading until he lifted his eyes over the paperback.

When I finished in the bathroom, I returned to my room without saying a word.

Chapter 35

AJ

The urge to check on Blake had me going stir crazy, but I wanted to respect her privacy while she processed everything. At least that’s what I told myself. In truth, I didn’t want to see the accusation in her eyes. She was in a shoot the messenger mindset and unfortunately; I was the messenger.

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