Page 124 of Shattered Veil
Balor
There’s only one reason a father pounds on a man’s door the way Corvin Snow is beating on mine right now.
He knows.
Either that, or he’s the stupidest motherfucker on the planet if this has to do withanythingother than me sleeping with his daughter. For that, he gets a pass.
My brothers are fathers now. I get it, and pity the men who will show interest in my nieces in the future. Lachlan’s daughter in particular.
I roughly throw on jeans and a T-shirt. Once Ella is fully dressed, I grasp her hand and walk down the steps with her.
I now get the massive flaw in the design of this townhome. It doesn’t have a vestibule. The front door, made of all glass inside black-leaded panels, gives a perfect view of the stairs to anyone standing at it, as Snow is now. I should have put a curtain panel on the door or changed it to a full wooden craftsman door.
Too late now.
I won’t hide my relationship with her. I will offer a bare-bones apology for not telling him sooner that I met her on the plane and that my interest started on that flight.
That’s the damn honest truth. It wasalwaysher.
“Let me handle this,” I say to Ella.
“He’s my dad.” Her voice is even, not demanding, and perhaps it’s because she doesn’t know how he’ll react.
If he’s smart, he’ll be fucking thrilled abillionairemafia boss loves his daughter and will protect her for the rest of her life.
Love...
Fuck, I do love her. Staring her father down, it’s so clear to me. While I want to admit that to her first, if it diffusesthe situation, if Snow is so off the rails in anger, I will use my admission to calm him down.
“Please, letmehandle this.” I kiss her forehead, knowing he can see me.
Her eyes are nothing but pools of panic. She ran circles around what Wesley had done to her. Managed him. Managed her father. Managed her job. All to keep her secret. God, that must have been so fucking exhausting for her.
I reach for the doorknob and make a point to look Snow right in the eye. He’s not the man I’m trying to destroy right now. He’s the father of the woman I love. A man she loves. A man who I’ve seen no evidence of hurting her.
My only beef is that he didn’t kill Brennan when he found out. But when she came to him for help, he gave her shelter for six months. They were in Australia all that time and putting a hit on someone twenty-thousand miles away would leave a trail.
Even for him.
He had other things on his mind, though. Like robbing the richest people on the planet. He didn’t steal from us. But he damaged our firewalls.
Which begs the question I consider for the first time, where is all that money he stole?
“Corvin,” I say, leveling a stern glance at him. “Can I help you?”
His eyes fall on our linked hands and then up to Ella. “Estella? Do you have something to tell me?”
Everything inside me screams to take control of this. It’s what an O’Rourke does. But seeing her father’s expression, I realize I can’t devalue Ella. Even to her father.
“I do.” She glances my way. “I planned to talk to you when you got backtomorrow.”
“I took early flight.”
“Come in, Corvin. Let’s discuss this.” I turn my back on the man, expecting him to follow me.
Something hits me in the back of the head, and I whip around. Hundred-dollar bills lay scattered all over my kitchen floor.
The money I paid Ella.