Page 21 of Watch Me Burn
It’s unfair the way I punish her for indiscretions that I trick her into committing. The injustice of that should bother me, but all I can think about is her in a gown and the feel of her on my arm as I introduce her to my world. She may be an easygoing wildlife veterinarian who saves every broken creature she finds, but she has an innate elegance that puts most socialites to shame.
She’s a far better person than most of the people who will attend the gala.
For the first time in my life, Damien Wolfe feels like more than the mask I wear during business hours. With Luna at my side, he might actually become real.
The soft murmur of Cade’s voice draws my attention away from the bank of monitors displaying feeds from around Estes Park. He uses that voice only with one person.
He’s seated at the breakfast bar, laptop open, speaking into his headset.Through the floor-to-ceiling windows of our rented Stanley Hotel residence, snow continues to fall in lazy spirals, adding to the already thick blanket covering the streets.
“I know you want to go to Cancun with your friends, MJ, but winter break would be a perfect time for you to visit Colorado.” Cade’s tone is gentler than I’ve heard it in months, the harsh edge softened as he leans back in his chair. “When’s the last time we spent more than a weekend together?”
I glance at him from my position at the dining room table to see something I rarely witness—the stoic mask slipping from his face. Twenty-two years old, and his daughter still has the power to make him vulnerable. It’s both fascinating and unsettling.
“Dad, I’m an adult now.” Mary Jane’s voice carries through his headset, tinny but animated. “Besides, you’re always working. What would we even do for two weeks?”
Cade’s jaw tightens, but his voice remains controlled. “I could take time off. We could go skiing, or—”
“Or I could get a tan in Mexico with my girlfriends.” She pauses. “Please, Dad? Spring break is forever away, and this might be my last chance to travel with everyone before we graduate.”
Cade’s shoulders drop, revealing the disappointment he’s trying to hide in the set of his mouth.
“Fine. But you text me when you get there. And every day you’re gone. Cancun can be dangerous for tourists, especially a group of twenty-something girls by themselves. If a day goes by that I don’t hear from you, I’ll fly down there. And you don’t want that, MJ, trust me.”
“I will! Thank you, Dad. Love you!”
Cade sits motionless for a moment, staring at his laptop screen. The harsh lines return to his face like armor sliding back into place, but I caught that glimpse of the father beneath the soldier, the man who would move mountains for his daughter but settles for phone calls and brief visits.
He closes the laptop and turns toward me, his expression once again unreadable.
“I’m sending two men to Cancun to keep an eye on her.”
I nod. Part of his compensation package allows him to use members of Wolfe Group’s private security force when needed. Our teams provide security for some of the wealthiest, most influential people in the world.
“Why don’t you take a couple of weeks off and go down yourself?”
“Because MJ doesn’t want her uncool father cramping her style.”
My mouth curves into a smirk. “I don’t blame her. You are completely uncool.”
“Fuck you.”
“Don’t feel bad, old man. Kids grow up. They move on. It’s what they do.”
He reaches for his tea, his movements sharp with irritation. The man’s a former Army Ranger who chooses oolong tea over coffee. I’ll never understand it.
My attention shifts back to the monitors. Luna stands in front of a boutique mirror, holding up different scarves. First a dark one, then something lighter. The black and white feed makes it impossible to tell what colors she’s considering.
Maren hovers behind her, pointing at something off-camera. Luna shakes her head and puts the scarf back on the rack.
She’d mumbled something about shopping today while I carried her sated, exhausted body to bed last night, boneless and still trembling from what I’d done to her on her kitchen counter.
So, I hacked into Estes Park’s public webcam system. Perks of having Wolfe Technologies wire the whole damn town, and I always build backdoor entrances into every system my company touches.
“Why are you doing this from here? You could have hacked the public cameras from your house in Aspen Ridge.”
I keep my eyes on the screens. “Range limitations.”
“It’s the internet. There are no range limitations.”
