Page 82 of Selling Innocence
Char tilted his head, his shrewd eyes taking in each detail. Then again, this was where he shone. He read people easily and knew exactly what to give them to get what he wanted. “How did it happen? Who did it?”
The pain in her eyes made me wish we could have not asked. I wanted to pull her back into my arms and call the whole thing off. It felt like when she’d seen my hand, when I’d wanted nothing more than to take it all back.
Except, as it turned out, she was a better person than me. Where she hadn’t asked me any questions, hadn’t pried even though I was certain she wanted to know about my hand, I was here forcing the answers from her.
Still, her being a better person than me wasn’t something that was ever in question, so I let the question stand, waiting for Kenz to answer.
“My father,” Kenz whispered.
The violence in the room skyrocketed. I wasn’t a man who knew much about violence, hadn’t been the sort to settle things with my fists, yet even I felt it in the air.
“What?” Hayden asked when no one seemed to know what to say.
Kenz nodded. “My dad did it.”
“On accident?”
“No. He pointed it at me and pulled the trigger.”
I’d had my share of issues with family, but this was on a whole different level. I couldn’t imagine any parent willing to kill their own child, but knowing Kenz, it seemed even more impossible. How could anyone choose to hurt her? Especially someone who was supposed to take care of her?
Suddenly, Kenz’s lack of self-esteem, her desire not to be a burden made more sense, given the person who should have looked out for her had failed to do so.
No one asked more questions, probably because what the fuck was a person supposed to say after something like that?
Kenz leaned against my arm, resting her head against my shoulder. “He never saw me as important. I didn’t realize it, because he was my dad, and I wanted to see him how I wanted to. I wanted to be Daddy’s Little Girl, I guess. He realized he wouldn’t get to use me, that I couldn’t benefit him, that he couldn’t bend me to his will. Since I wasn’t useful to him, I guess he didn’t need me anymore.”
“What happened after that?”
“He was killed.”
“Why do the records show he died in a car crash?”
She blinked slowly. I would have normally guessed that was due to a lie, but she seemed too drugged to come up with one. Hell, she was a terrible liar even when sober—I doubted she had any chance right now. Instead, she must have reacted strangely because she was nearly out. “It’s easier to fake a death than to face the truth.”
She’d said he was killed, not that she’d killed him.
“Who killed him?” I asked.
She didn’t respond, and I twisted to find her eyes closed, her breathing even. It seemed the meds had let her pass out.
At least that means she might get some good sleep for once.
I shifted, moving her head into my lap so she was more comfortable as I handed the rest of her drink to Char. Kenz wrapped an arm around my leg, grasping me as if afraid I’d get away.
“The bodyguards?” Hayden asked.
Char nodded. “That’s my guess. She said they were like brothers. If her father shot her, I can’t imagine that the men she talked about would just let it go.”
“So they killed him, faked his death to ensure she got all the financial help. If the law got involved in the case, it would probably take a lot of that away from her. It’d be easier to just make it all go away,” Hayden agreed. “I’ve never had a client that I’ve seen grow up like that, but when I’ve seen it with others? They become like family.”
I stared down at Kenz and stroked my hand over her head. When I’d first seen her, I’d assumed a lot about her. I’d thought her a spoiled rich kid who had never suffered a day in her life. I’d figured she’d fall for me immediately, that I’d bed her for fun and we’d go our own way when it was all over.
How wrong I’d been…
She was kinder than I’d thought, tougher than I’d known, and she’d suffered in a way she appeared too fragile to survive.
And despite how badly I wanted my revenge, a competing desire grew inside me.