Chapter Seven

Robert was home one afternoon when he got a call from Grace’s father.

“Hello, Robert. How is my daughter doing?” Emmet asked.

Just the sound of his voice was enough to make his rage build.

He cleared his throat. “As far as I know, she’s doing well. Hannah seems to like her.”

“That’s good to hear. I’d like to talk to her, so I thought I’d stop by. I’m in the neighborhood.”

“She’s not here. She went with my daughter to some special book fair.” It was the first thing that popped into his head.

He could feel the tension through the phone.

“Do you know when she’ll be back?” Emmet asked.

“I’m not sure. I can call Taylor, she’s the one that took them.”

“If it’s okay with you, I’d still like to stop by. I can wait with you until they get back.”

“Sure, but it might be a while,” Robert said.

“I can stay for a bit.”

“All right. I’ll see you soon.”

Robert hung up and raced into the kitchen. “Where are the girls?”

“Out back, why?” Taylor asked with concern.

“Her father is coming to see her. I told him you had taken the girls to a book fair, and I didn’t know when you would be home, but he still wants to stop by. Can you hide them until he leaves?”

“Absolutely,” Taylor said. “You deal with the asshole, and I’ll deal with the girls.”

Robert relaxed and nodded. “Good.”

Within five minutes, the doorbell rang.

He opened the door and tried to smile, but it was next to impossible because all he wanted was to tear the man apart.

“Come in, Emmet.”

“Thank you.”

“Come into my office,” Robert said. He walked over to the small bar in the corner. “Would you like a bourbon?”

“I don’t mind if I do,” Emmet said and made himself comfortable in one of the chairs.

Robert made the drinks and handed one to Emmet before sitting behind his desk.

“So, tell me how she’s doing?” Emmet asked and took a drink from his glass.

Robert knew not to act too interested. “I think she’s doing fine. My housekeeper would tell me if there was a problem.”

“You don’t see her?” Emmet asked with raised eyebrows.

“Not really. I work a lot, and when I get home, I have dinner with my daughter.”

“Where does Grace eat?”

“With the other help, I suppose. I’ve never asked.”

Emmet studied him. “Do you find her attractive?”

Robert looked surprised and then repulsed. “God, no. Your daughter is still a teenager, isn’t she?”

Emmet shook his head. “No. She’s twenty-four.”

Robert looked shocked. “Hell, I never would have guessed that. She’s so small she looks like a child. I knew she had to be at least eighteen to get this job.”

Emmet laughed. “I know she’s quite unattractive and ignorant, but she’ll obey you. I’ve trained her to do that, at least.”

Jesus Christ. What kind of father talked about his child like this? The fact that she’s not unattractive but beautiful confused him. Robert can tell she had been educating herself, with no help from her father or a teacher, while reading everything she could get her hands on, which makes her quite intelligent, too.

Robert had to call on all his strength not to jump at Emmet over the desk and beat the living shit out of him, and to pretend he didn’t care.

He chuckled. “It doesn’t matter what she looks like, and all I’ve heard from my housekeeper is that she’s very quiet, doesn’t talk a lot but does her job.”

Emmet nodded and looked pleased. “So, you haven’t had a chance to talk to her?”

“Now, why would I want to do that? I’m a busy man. That’s why I needed a nanny so badly. I don’t have time to take care of a child.”

“I understand that. Fortunately, when Grace’s mother died, she was old enough to take care of herself.”

It just kept getting worse.

His phone rang. He wasn’t going to take the call but wanted to check who it was. When he saw Taylor’s name, he answered.

“What’s going on? Where are you? Grace’s father has been sitting in my office for a while, and we are busy men.” He kept his tone gruff and a scowl on his face.

“That asshole is still there?” Taylor asked. “Damn. Hannah has to use the bathroom.”

“Yes, well, you’ll have to deal with it.”

“Call me when he’s gone,” Taylor said.

“That’s fine.”

Robert set down on his phone and sighed. “That was my housekeeper. I asked her to go with the other two to make sure everything was okay. I don’t know your daughter enough to trust her outside the home.”

“That’s smart. Knowing her, they would be lost,” Emmet said.

Robert chuckled. “Yes, well, they aren’t lost, but they are stuck. The crowd at the book fair was bigger than they expected. Taylor, my housekeeper, said she tried to get them out early, but Hannah wanted to buy some things. They are just getting up to the cashier now.”

Emmet scowled. “Did my daughter buy anything?”

“I didn’t ask. I’m not worried about her. She has the money I put in her account every week.”

Robert studied Emmet to see if he showed any guilt at all in taking his daughter’s wages but found nothing but cold, empty eyes.

“Well, I don’t have time to wait. I’ll stop by again in a few days,” Emmet said and stood.

Robert walked around his desk and shook the man’s hand. “I’m sorry it didn’t work out. If you call next time, I can make sure they are here.”

“I’ll do that. I really need to talk to Grace. I hate to say this, but she’s had some mental issues in the past, and I want to make sure she’s doing well.”

Robert tried to look concerned. “I wish you had told me that before I hired her.”

“Oh, she’s not violent at all. She just gets so depressed that she needs professional help. Just call me if you see a change in her behavior.”

“I can do that.” Robert nodded but tried to look displeased. He showed the man the front door. He waited until he heard the car pull away from his house before he started cursing as he walked back into his office.

That motherfucker. God, I hope the Good Knight Society finds more damning evidence on the man. He wanted to bury the asshole so he never had to see him again.

He picked up his phone and called his housekeeper.

“Hello,” Taylor said.

“He’s gone. Come on back to the house. I’ll be waiting by the back door,” Robert said.

“We’ll be there in a few minutes.”

Robert walked out the back door and watched for them. When he caught sight of the three, he studied Grace’s expression and saw the fear she was trying to hide. Taylor must have told her why they were hiding. He smiled, lifted, and hugged his daughter when she raced to him.

“Daddy, I pottied on my dress.”

Taylor grinned. “We’ll have to get her in a bath. We tried to get her to lean against a tree, but it was a disaster.”

Robert chuckled. “That can be fixed.”

Taylor tossed her head at Grace, where she stood a few feet away, looking down at the floor. “I’m going to take her up. You need to calm the other girl down before she has an anxiety attack,” she whispered.

Robert sighed and nodded. “I’ll take care of it.”

He waited until Taylor and Hannah were gone before he cleared his throat. When she didn’t look up at him, he sighed. “Sweetheart. There is no way in hell I’d ever let that man around you again.”

Her head snapped up, and he saw hope take away the shadows of fear. He opened his arms and waited. It didn’t take long before she flew into them and let him hug her tightly.

“I promise you everything is going to be okay. This is your home now.”

She tipped back her head to look at him. “But what happens when Hannah doesn’t need me anymore?”

“I’ll still need you.”

Her brows puckered. “How?”

“It’s something we’ll discuss later. I don’t want you to worry about it.”

She nodded, sighed, and leaned her cheek against his chest. It made him feel content, and it was a feeling he’d never want to end.