Page 78 of Broken Empire
“That’sgoing to be a long as hell conversation.Onethat we’ll get into much later because we have a common enemy thatI’dlike to get rid of,” he says andIknow he’s talking about my dad andEmilia.Idon’t care what he does withEmiliasince he was married to her, butI’mgoing to be the one to deal with my father andItell him as much.
“Youknow she’s going to be hurt and pissed at you right?She’llprobably react badly to your presence and hate you.”
“Wellthen,I’llbe in the same position you’re in right now, won’tI?” he tells me matter-of-factly andIwince in my seat.
“Whatdo you know?”
“EverythingandIhave to sayInever expected you to do all the shit you did, not to her…”
“Well,Inever expected you to fake your own death, while leaving her alone with that viper and yet here we are,”
“Canyou two not turn this into a pissing match on who has betrayed her the most?Youboth fucked up so you’ll both need to beg for her forgiveness.Andyou dragged me into your shit dad, so she’s going to be pissed at me too, when she finds out thatI’veknown the whole time,”Huntergrumbles while pouting.
“Wellat least you’ll be in the club,”Imutter.
“Whereis my daughter anyway?Imade it here a minute before you walked in soIdidn’t get to see her yet.Bythe way when this thing is over with your father, me and you need to have a talk son,”
“She’ssleeping and you’re not going to disturb her.Waituntil she wakes up because she’s not been sleeping well.Thecouple of sessions with the therapist we forced on her while we were at the cabin didn’t help much because she didn’t want the help.Andyou’re going to hide out somewhere in the house until we ease her into the fact that you’re still alive before you see her.Andsure,Iknow we have to have a talk sooner or later, but just know thatIlove her.Iwon’t give her up no matter how longIhave to wait until she forgives me.Itruly hate myself for everythingIdid to her and wishIhadn’t, butI’llmake it all up to her.”
Hedoesn’t say anything after my long speech, just sighs and nods his head.
“Evenif she hates you now, she’ll eventually forgive you.Shealways did love you more than what’s sensible.” he tells me and then walks out of the living room.
Thinkingthat he went somewhere to stay hidden until we told her that he was still alive, that's how we ended up in the den playing games to pass the time.It’sabout an hour after we came to the den when we hear the screaming.
Irush to my feet just as she enters the doorway.She’sblubbering incoherently and whenIget the gist of it,Iwant to kick her father in the ass.Hecouldn’t have waited until we told her first, before letting her see him?WhatImanaged to get through her sobs was that she saw her father and thought she was seeing a ghost and losing her mind.
Amoment later, he’s standing there in the doorway and her face flits between emotions as she stands there and watches him.Fromrelief, to hurt, to anger, to betrayal, and a whole host of other ones.
Soonshe’s on one side of the room with the rest of us on the other as she demands answers from her father.Hegives her the quick version and she yells and screams at him.Iunderstand what she’s feeling right now andIwishIcould stop this from happening, butIcan’t.Itseems like it’s just another thing thatIcan’t protect her from.
Whenshe looks atHunterand asks him if he knew, he doesn’t answer and that’s answer enough.Thelook of intense hurt and betrayal that crosses her face guts me.Ican see thatHunterpretty much feels the same wayIam right now.
Itry to get her to calm down but she just screams at me.LookslikeI’mbeing lumped in with these two.Atthis rate she’ll never forgive me.Beforeany of us know what’s happening, she flees from the den and runs.
“Shit!”Imutter before leaving the room as well.She’sfucking fast, by the time we follow her out the doors she’s already in the vehicle and pulling out of the driveway.Iquickly radio the guys at the gate and tell them to open it because at the rate she’s goingIdon’t think she’ll stop.
Hunter,Gray, her dad, andIall jump into another vehicle and take off behind her.She’sdriving pretty fast andI’mtrying not to chase her and just follow at a decent pace.Idon’t want her to go faster.
Shegoes in the direction of downtown andI’mpretty sure she’s heading for the apartment building.AtleastIknow where she’s going.Aminute laterIsee a car speed through the intersection and head right for her.
Isee my life flash before my eyes, asIwatch the scene unfold before me.Hercar spins a few times and when it stops the driver in the car that hit her slams into her again, which tells me that it wasn’t an accident.Thiswas deliberately done.
Hercar slams into a tree and my car comes to a screeching halt, as we all hop out of the car to get to her.
“Doeshe fucking know that we’re here?”Iyell out. “Fuck!I’msure he does because this was no fucking accident!I’mgoing to kill him!”
I’mthinking either someone ratted us out or my father had his eyes out everywhere.Hecould have had someone watching the airport twenty-four-seven and if that’s the case then they definitely saw us when we got here.
Theycould have also followed us to see where we were going and then camped out somewhere in the streets just waiting to ambush any one of us.Ifthat’s the case then my father is more of an asshole thanIgave him credit for.Plus,Ialso know how he thinks a little bit, since that’s exactly whatIwould have done.
“Keepa cool head for now,”Graysays.
“Yeah, we need to get to her and get her to a hospital before we think about him.ListentoGrayand keep a cool head brother.We’lldeal with him when the time comes,”Huntergrowls.
Inod, just as we get to her car and all work at getting her out of there.She’sunconscious and there’s a long as fuck, deep gash on her head that’s bleeding, which makes me concerned.
Ican’t tell if anything is broken but we gently ease her out of the car.Wequickly get back in our car and floor it to the hospital.Hunteris driving this time andI’msitting in the back with her in my arms praying that nothing life threatening happened to her.