Page 81 of Mile High Baby

My father brought me upstairs, taking me into his office and setting me on the couch as he went to the bar in the corner.

“Do you want water or something stronger?"

I really wanted something stronger, but I thought of the baby. Alex's baby. The tears burst out again.

My father hurried to me with a glass of water. "What did that bastard do to you? Do I need to take you to the hospital?"

It was interesting that all this emotion wasn't coming from the fact that a man like Pitney had kidnapped me but from learning the truth about Alex. He wasn’t here to help us. He was here to work for Pitney.

I gripped my father's hand and looked him in the eyes. "Alex is not the man you think he is."

My father tilted his head to the side. "Alex is the one who found you. He rescued you."

I shook my head. "No, he didn't. He was there, but he wasn’t saving me. I heard him, Dad. I heard them talking to Pitney. Alex took $500,000 to kill you."

My father jerked and shook his head. "That can't be. Are you sure?"

"They talked like Alex had worked for him before. Mr. Pitney asked him to do to you the same that he did to someone named Snyder.”

My father rose and began to pace, something he did when he was thinking. "Snyder. There was a Snyder who went missing nearly a decade ago. He’s presumed dead at the hands of Pitney." My father's expression was perplexed. "I've known Alex for a long time. He was protecting us."

I shook my head. "He was probably spying on us."

My father scraped his hands over his face. "Ever since he went to work for Saint Security, I'd always thought he was a little different. But I thought deep down, he was good."

"He told Mr. Pitney that all he cared about was the money. He said Pitney's money was as green as yours."

My father closed his eyes, digging the heels of his hands into the sockets of his eyes. When he looked at me, I saw a mixture of sadness and anger. "I'm so sorry, Tori. I can't believe that I had begged him to come and protect you, and all along, he was willing to sell us out to Pitney."

I let out a sigh of relief that he understood. But that relief was short-lived when I realized I needed to tell my father the rest.

"There's more, and you're not going to like it."

He came over, sitting on the couch and taking my hands. "Whatever it is, Tori, we’ll deal with it. I'm here for you."

I looked at him and finally understood the betrayal Alex had talked about, but now I didn't believe he wanted us to be a secret because he cared about my father. Now I believed that he wanted to keep my father from knowing about us so he could stay on the case. To continue to play both sides.

I swallowed. “Dad, I had a little thing with Alex.”

His brow furrowed. “What thing? A crush?”

I shook my head. “No. He was on the plane—” I stopped short as realization dawned. “Oh, God. It wasn't a coincidence that he and I sat together.”

“I’m still not following, Tori.”

“We were seated together on the plane. It couldn’t have been a coincidence, could it? I mean, what are the odds? He must have called Mr. Pitney after you called him, and he tracked me to the plane. Made sure we sat together. I didn’t know who he was. He acted like he didn’t know who I was, but he had to, right?”

“God, Tori. I’m so sorry.”

I closed my eyes. I thought I’d been an idiot before. Now I felt like the biggest dummy in the world. “Dad.”

“Yes, honey.”

“That thing with Alex wasn’t a crush. It was more than that. I mean, not love, but—”

“What are you talking about?”

I let out a shuddering breath. “I had an affair with him.”