Page 52 of Courting the Consequences

Kara fought the urge to roll her eyes at his dismissive attitude. The sommelier poured two glasses half full before he left the bottle on the table with the label facing them. “Shall I leave the cork?” the sommelier asked.

“Yes, please,” Kara answered with a smile before her father could refuse.

The man nodded before he walked away, and Kara was left with the uncomfortable silence that generally settled between her and her father. Too much left unsaid after too many years of abandonment.

They made small talk and ordered their food, or rather her father ordered for her. The duck. Yuck. She didn’t argue. She only hoped that the dinner would pass quickly so she could get back into her pj’s and wallow in her self-pity again.

“How is the remodel going in the office?” her father asked, changing the subject.

She finally smiled, genuinely. “It’s going great,” she answered.

When she didn’t elaborate, he raised an eyebrow. “That’s good,” he deadpanned.

Kara fought the urge to snort. Was it always this stilted with her father? Or was she just in a particularly bad mood?Could be the fact that he’s embezzling from his own company and framing Mac to do it.The thought nagged in her head.

After their food had been delivered and they’d started eating, Kara decided she was over the farce that was their dinner. She boldly asked, “What is Case Holdings?”

Her father’s smile was slow and sharklike. “You know, I’m glad you brought that up. There was something I wanted to speak to you about.” He made a show of patting his mouth with his napkin and took his time.

There it was, she thought. Therealreason for this dinner.

Kara braced herself.

“Case Holdings is the company that is embezzling from Granger Ltd.,” her father stated, as if she didn’t already know this. “Thomas Granger reached out directly. He said that his current attorney, Ken Laraway, had recently found himself unemployedand was wondering if there was a way that I could assist.”

Kara used every bit of her courtroom mask to appear emotionless as she stared at her father. He took his time, dragging out her discomfort.

“Imagine my surprise when I found myself backed against a wall,” he drawled.

Backed really hard, I’m sure.

“And as you well know, the bylaws indicate we cannot release findings of internal investigations regarding employee misconduct,” he droned on.

She plastered a bored smile on her face. “Of course not.” She nodded.

“But as the man had also attacked my own daughter, well you can imagine, I found that I was unable to keep my mouth shut,” Vince finished.

Kara felt her heart plummet. Her stomach turned as she stared at her father. “I see,” she answered slowly and reached for her wine glass. She took a sip to buy herself time to think. Because she reallydidsee what was happening here. Every bad feeling she had felt over the past week since her guys left her home suddenly came to light, and she kicked herself for not seeing it sooner. She took another sip of her wine while her father’s crystal blue eyes were locked on her.

“Tom was appalled, naturally.”

“Naturally,” Kara agreed, nodding robotically and setting down her glass. Her hands were sweating. Her heart raced. She forced herself to calm down before the roaring in her ears caused her to miss anything the shark before her might say.

“When he asked that I handle the casepersonally,” he emphasized, speaking slowly, “who was I to deny him?”

Kara smiled wryly. “I wouldn’t expect anything less.” She nodded at her father.

His smile grew more genuine, less predatory. “So,” he drawled, “you’ll understand when I ask you, kindly, to stop digging into Case Holdings.” He said it so matter-of-factly, so nonchalantly, that she almost missed the veiled threat to his words. He was an expert at laying out opponents in the courtroom. He could wind a story up, work up the jury, and then deliver the final blow with a few simple sentences.

Kara smiled demurely and reached for her wine again. “And what is your relationship with Mac Taylor?” she asked.

Vince frowned and sighed dramatically. “I suppose he told you his version of events, did he?”

She didn’t even bother to ask how he knew she had visited Mac at the county jail. He had eyes and ears everywhere, even if he was supposedly retired. “He did,” she answered with a nod.

“Ah hell,” Vince groaned. The man was a good actor, she would give him that. “It must have been forty years ago by now. Ancient history, or so I thought,” he admonished. “Your mother was working at a strip club, a real dive of a place, but it made her happy, so I allowed it,” he continued.

Kara had to force herself to breathe. There was a reason they purposely did not speak of her mother in the years since she had passed. Her mother had been her whole world. She had been a hardworking woman from what Kara remembered. Whatever she had done before Kara, it wasn’t her business.

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