Page 139 of Wicked Games

“And that was by design.”

I nod slowly. My dad is all about appearances and how things look to people outside of our circle. Of course he’d pretend everything is fine even as he’s prepping to serve Jasmine papers.

He lets out a heavy sigh. “It’s complicated, but things haven’t been good for a long time. I was in a bad place when we got married, and I thought settling down again and going back to the way things used to be would help cure my grief over losing your mom.”

My throat tightens, but I don’t say anything. Dad doesn’t talk about Mom often, and he’s never opened up to me about any of this. There’s a reason he’s telling me this now.

“It didn’t, and the more time that passed, the more I realized I made a mistake. Unfortunately, ending a marriage isn’t a simple process, especially when you’re in my position, and I’ve been slowly setting things up so we’ll have a completely clean break once everything is set in motion.”

“And you’re doing that soon?” I ask when he doesn’t elaborate further.

“Yes. Today was the last straw, so to speak.”

“Today?”

“My nephew was shot saving my stepson from an assassination attempt. My son and all of my nephews were shot at and nearly killed, and she hasn’t shown even a moment of concern or worry. Not even for her own child.”

I slow blink at him.

“Family is everything, and she knew that when she married me. She knows I will always put my family above everyone else, and the blatant disregard for all of you that she showed today is unacceptable.”

“I…I don’t know what to say.” My stomach does a weird little flip-flop. “What about Felix? If Jasmine leaves?—”

“Felix is part of the family,” he interrupts. “Even if you weren’t together, he’s still my stepson. You divorce spouses, not children. He will always be my stepson regardless of whether I’m married to his mother.”

I blow out a breath. I can’t imagine what losing his home would do to Felix after everything he’s been through, and the selfish part of me is ecstatic that I’ll be rid of his mother while still getting to keep him.

“Now, before we discuss what happened this afternoon, I got an interesting update this morning from Jace about the situation with Natalie and her paramour,” he says pointedly.

I’m not surprised Jace told him about William drugging Felix, but it would have been nice to have a heads-up before I walked into this conversation.

I explain what went down at the party, leaving out the more graphic details about what happened between me and Felix.

“That explains the phone call I got from Lloyd this morning.” He rubs the bridge of his nose tiredly. “I apologize for pushing you into dating her.”

My jaw drops for the second time in twenty minutes. My dad doesn’t apologize, and I can count on one hand the number of times he’s apologized to me for something he’s pushed me into doing that’s backfired on him.

“I didn’t realize how manipulative she is,” he continues. “Or how little her father actually knows about her or her actions. She’s not the girl I used to know.”

I get why he said that. He’s known Natalie since she was a baby, thanks to his working relationship with her father, but he obviously still held that idealized version of her when she was sweet and innocent and a nice kid. He has no idea what she’s like now, and it’s not surprising her dad is clueless. He’s brilliant in business, but he has a major blind spot when it comes to his daughter.

“No, she isn’t. Not anymore.”

“How do you want to deal with her?” he asks.

“I’m not sure,” I say honestly. “I mostly just want her to fuck off and leave me alone, but I also want her to pay for betraying me and for what she’s done to Felix.”

“Do you think she was involved in what happened to him at the Rapture?”

I shake my head. “She wasn’t even there. Jace blocked her ID. I think William let his intrusive thoughts win and acted on his own.”

“You said you have proof of her cheating?”

“Videos taken over several weeks.”

“Have Jace hold on to those in case we need to use them as leverage. I’ll have a chat with Lloyd and let him know exactly what’s going on. If he’s smart, he’ll deal with her. If not, we’ll do it ourselves.”

“Yeah, that sounds good,” I say quickly.

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