Page 97 of Ryder
“Why didn’t you do something about the fucker who raped her, if you care so damn much?” Ryder snapped, and my father’s face seemed to pale.
“The person who didwhatto her?” His tone was oh so cold. Icy, even. It made me shudder, and I wasn’t usually afraid of him.
“Are you saying that you were unaware of what had happened to your daughter before?” Reacher was trying to sound respectful, but he also sounded frustrated.
“I’m waiting for an explanation,” daddy said in that dangerously quiet tone.
I turned to look at him, finally telling him what I should have told him back then.
“Dom Casetti had been hunting me, ever since he raped me ten years ago.”
Ryder
The guy was likea fucking statue.He didn’t even look like he was breathing, and it was unnerving. Creepy as hell. It was almost as if he didn’t know about any of it, and how the fuck was that even possible? Big fucking Mafia Don, my ass.
“Why didn’t you keep that bastard away from her? Huh? Why didn’t you tear him limb from limb after the last fucking time?” I couldn’t keep my mouth shut. Daddy’s a big fucking deal, but somehow he let some bastard attack his daughter,not once, but twice.
Reacher cursed, and ran his hand over his face, probably wanting to chew me out, but he didn’t get a chance to speak though.
“Casetti? Victoria, this is who attacked you back then?”Oh hell.
I glanced down at Tori, who was still snuggled into my chest, her fists twisting the fabric of my t-shirt.
“Victoria, I asked you a question.” Her father used a firm tone that made me bristle, because he had no right to speak to my woman like that.
She swallowed hard though, and nodded.
“Why the hell didn’t you tell me that? You never gave me details or a name, or you know I’d have dealt with it.” He turned to look at Reacher then, probably wanting to try and prove that he wasn’t a fucking waste of space as a leader and a father.
“Believe me, all I wanted was the damn name, and I’d have made sure they paid with their life.”
Holy hell. Maybe I’d misjudged the smug bastard, just a tiny bit.
“Maybe she was worried about the fallout if you took out the head of another family,” I finally muttered, pressing my lips against Tori’s forehead. She nuzzled my chest, and that made me feel like a fucking god. This woman. This woman who’d been through so much, and had every reason to fear closeness with a man, was practically trying to fucking burrow her way inside me.
Her father leaned forward in his seat, watching his daughter.
“Victoria, why would you keep this from me? There are always ways to make someone disappear without a trace.”
The stern look he gave me then felt like a threat, a warning that he could just as easily make me disappear, and I felt a chuckle rumble through my chest, as Tori tilted her head to look at me.
“What? I’m starting to like your dad.”
She was still sitting in my lap, but she pulled back a little to look at her father properly.
“He was a monster, daddy. I believed him when he said he’d come after you if I told.”
He sighed, pulling at the tie around his neck.
“Any chance of a nice bourbon? I could do with something.”
Stitch got up, and returned with a bottle, and enough glasses for all of us, pouring a measure into each glass. Ugh. I was pretty sure he knew I fucking hated bourbon, and his smirk as he passed me a glass, was my proof that he remembered all too well.Smug bastard.
Massimo Rossi, the fucking mafioso, sat and drank a bourbon with us, and he was quiet while we drank, but finally he spoke again.
“Who finished off Casetti?”
“Why would you need to know that? It’s done, isn’t that enough?” Reacher asked, nursing his glass as he spoke.
