Page 75 of Cage

He rises from his chair and holds his hands up as if to stop me. “Ember?—”

I shake my head. “No. Shut up. Just shut up. You gave me a necklace with a bug in it so you could spy on these men to gain top-secret information that might sway the election.”

His face goes ghostly white, and it takes every bit of me not to break down into a puddle on the floor and bawl.

“Did you get what you wanted,Dad?”

My father runs a hand over his face and sighs. “Ember, you’re making this out to be more than it is.”

Is he freaking serious right now? Is he really making it seem like I’m overreacting?

“No, I’m not!” I shout, stomping toward him. “I’m really not. On the day I was supposed to get my final college transcripts, you decided to devise a plan to scare the hell out of me. You sent me away with a stranger to spy for you. He could have been a cold-blooded killer. He could have raped me. He could have done anything he wanted to me. You didn’t care about that, though. All you thought about was your own personal gain.”

“Now you’rereallybeing dramatic, Ember. Do you really think I would send you with someone who would hurt you?”

I laugh. It’s more of a cackle because this is so fucking unbelievable. There isn’t a single humorous thing about it.

“Where does Ruth come in to play on this, Dad? How long have you been fucking her? What’s in it for her if you take office?” I demand.

Cage’s body heat warms me, but he says nothing. He’s letting me take the lead because he knows Ineedto. It says a hell of a lot about him. A man as dominant as him letting a woman take the lead.

“Now, let’s just calm down and talk about this. There’s no need to shout and act crazy,” my father says as he rounds the desk and gets within a few feet of me.

I throw my hands in the air and practically explode. “Are you kidding me? Crazy? Me? Yeah, I’m sure you think I am after putting me in secret therapy because, God forbid, the public finds out your daughter needs a doctor for the shit she’s been through.”

“I did everything for you, Ember. Whatever you needed, you had. Quit being an ungrateful brat.”

This time, Cage steps in front of me, his broad body blocking my view entirely. “You call her a name again and I’ll break both your fucking legs right here, right now.”

“Oh, that’s rich. I’m paying you, and you’re turning against me.” My father huffs.

I move to the side so I can face the asshole who was supposed to love and support through all my life. “Did you kill my mother?”

He glares at me. “She died in a helicopter crash, Ember.”

I might as well have been slapped. That isn’t a direct answer. It’s what he does when he’s lying. He’s always done it. How can he even keep a straight face? No emotion. No regret. Meanwhile, I might be sick because my own father caused my mom’s death. I was so young when it happened, but there are still bits and pieces I remember. How much I loved her. How much she loved me. Why did he take her away from me?

“You did,” I murmur. “You had something to do with that crash.”

My father takes a step forward, and almost instantly, Cage has a gun pointed in his direction. It should scare me. I should tell him not to shoot my dad. Yet, it’s strangely satisfying seeing the black handgun pointed at his head.

“Do not take another step toward her,” Cage warns.

My bottom lips trembles. I thought if I came here and confronted him he would deny it and have a perfectly good explanation. Maybe it was more of a wish that my own fleshand blood wouldn’t have done something so awful to me. To my mom.

“You make me sick,” I whisper as a tear slips from my eye.

“I could say the same about you, sweetheart,” my father sneers. “The disgusting shit you’re into. That you’re doing with this piece of scum. I raised you better.”

Grabbing a paperweight from the end table close to me, I throw it at him. “You didn’t raise me at all!” I shriek.

The glass object hits him in the chest, and he staggers back slightly, letting out a grunt of pain.

A couple of the guys behind me chuckle.

“You’re dead to me.” I turn to leave the room, but my father’s next words stop me in my tracks.

“You were supposed to be dead a long time ago, right along with your mother, sweetheart.Youwere supposed to be in that fucking helicopter, but you were with your nanny. Instead, I was stuck with you for years. I couldn’t get rid of you after questions were raised about the crash. You should have been with her!” he shouts, jabbing his finger toward me.