Chapter 143

Dominic

I wasn't sure what type she could simply be taking. Something for health, I suppose, but not looking like that. Unless she was surviving on them and that was something different, it was dangerous either way. I followed her back to the much nicer apartment.

Then I got another notification that Andrew was leaving the club.

I got back into the car and waited, tracking Andrew through the city, only to see that he was heading towards me. I had my driver back into an alleyway so I would be hitting, but there was no doubt about it. Andrew got out of a rental car. Parked in a parking lot across the street and headed into the building.

His tail followed him. Not too long afterwards. But I didn't need to know exactly where he was going. It was obvious.

My stomach dropped. Andrew be coming to the same building where my daughter was staying? Tyler's father must be employing her somehow, but to do what? Maybe she was just passing information.

I sent a message to the team. I wanted. Andrew to be tracked. And I wondered how much time he'd spent here to be recorded. I also wanted information about everything Vivian had been doing for the past three weeks. I wanted her bank records. I wanted her apartment contacts and visitors and I wanted any scrap of security footage in the city that they could get of her.

They told me they 'd handle it, but I didn't move. I felt sick. There was no way Andrew was just stopping by to meet my daughter, And there was no way that my daughter was looking the way she was because of good choices. I couldn't save her from her own bad decisions. She made it clear that though I had always treated her like a daughter, she never really considered me her father. At least not. After she found out that she wasn't my daughter. She made it clear that I was little more than A tool. But it was almost impossible to distance myself completely from her.

I hope that whatever she got entangled with with Tyler's father and Andrew was something that maybe she could recover from. Maybe I should have just sent it her to jail. At least she wouldn't be getting into trouble like this. She definitely wouldn't be living off potions. My head hurt. I had no idea how to move forward with this. But there was nothing really I could do for right now, short of storming up there to figure out what was going on, which would ruin all the hard work of my investigative team was doing.

"Take me back to the office."

The day dragged on in a way that I couldn't explain. My mind kept going back to Vivian, back to Andrew, back to Tyler's father, back to all the things that I didn't know and was slowly finding out were completely wrong in Brightclaw. At least the company was doing better financially, whether that was because we'd stopped. Most of the embezzling going on in this particular branch, or just because everyone was feeling better because Vivian was gone, I had no idea, and it didn't matter.

The message popped up while I was mid-meeting, half-listening to one of the finance officers drone about quarterly projections. I shouldn’t have checked it, not with half the Board glaring at me like I held the fate of their bonuses in my hands. But I did, and I had every right to answer my phone if I wanted.

The message was from Renee.

There’s an overnight river cruise leaving from the marina at 8 tonight. I already bought the tickets. Just say yes. Please?

There was a link to the reservation. She’d even selected the premium cabin with private balcony.

My lips curved before I could stop them. I replied seconds later.

I'll be there.

“Something amusing, alpha?” one of the older members of the panel asked, arching a silver brow.

“Only the quarterly report,” I said smoothly, tapping my pen. “I wasn’t aware our revenue was so… inspiring.”

A ripple of low laughter moved around the table. I let it settle, and tried to care about the rest of the meeting. When the presentations were done, I gathered my things, stood and buttoned my jacket. Thanking them for their work, I headed back to my office. I leaned back against the door and exhaled, rereading her message.

I’ll meet you at the docks.

Did I have time to go home and pack something more fitting an overnight cruise? I was pretty sure my go back was still in the trunk of the car, so that would just have to do. I swore under my breath and tried to remember how to breathe.

Andrew

The hallway smelled like cleaner and sterile air. Classy, but not the most expensive. There were too many colors. Really expensive places in Brightclaw tended to use a lot more white. I wrinkled my nose. I'd hoped to actually be getting some form of relaxation out of this, but I guessed the man I had a strange way of managing his whores. I checked the number on the piece of paper again and knocked once.

I hope whoever she was knew how to please a man because I was not in the mood to teach. I didn’t need to unwind. I needed leverage, but I'd take blowing off some steam to work through all the setbacks.

The orb shouldn't have broken. Tyler was still roaming around free, and I was no closer to finding that little brat.

At least I could trust him to know what I needed. He and I had similar tastes, after all.

The door creaked open before I could knock again.

And then I saw her.

She was wearing a silken night gown that clung to her thin body. She looked fragile. Vulnerable. Her hair was curled and her makeup was nice enough. Her eyes were glassy, but she grinned at me like I was dessert.

“Hey there,” she cooed. “You’re… tall.”

I stared at her, trying to decide if I should bother. I pushed into the room past her. She purred.

"Love a forceful man."

Then I looked at her a little closer and realized that I knew her face.

This was Vivian, Dominic’s brat. I felt a rush of vindictive satisfaction rise in my chest. This was too perfect. The gods really were favoring me tonight. There was something wrong with her. She wasn’t just high on liquor. Her pupils were dilated, her body swaying like she couldn’t tell where the floor was. I sniffed the air. Potions. A thick haze of compulsion and euphoria clung to her like perfume.

That's too funny. A whore and an addict. Dominic would curl up and die.

“You know who I am?” I asked, stepping inside, pushing the door closed behind me.

She giggled, like I’d told a joke. “Don’t care. Long as you’re paying.”

That was a good answer. I reached forward to grab a handful of her hair. She got out of streak and then a giggle. As I dragged her through the room, I was going to have fun. Probably leave her a few bruises, but I'd tip her well. Take pictures, send them to Dominic. It would be hilarious, the horror, the shame. To think that he knew exactly what I needed to unwind and leverage because there was no way that Dominick would be able to stand the idea that his daughter had turned into a whore.

He'd give me anything I wanted to protect her and his reputation.. I pulled up my phone. Tearing at her nightgown. Then I froze.

The mark on her chest was all too familiar. She giggled and kept giggling.

"Never seen boobs before?"

I snatched my hand back like I was burned. It did feel like I'd been burned, because the longer I looked at her face, the more my stomach twisted.

No.

No, no, no.

My blood went cold As more and more the realization started to sink down on me, she wasn't identical. She didn't even necessarily look exactly like her, but she looked enough like her.

Hazel.

Hazel’s smirk. Hazel’s cheekbones. The whorl of hair at our temple.

“What’s your mother’s name?” I asked suddenly.

She blinked at me. “What?”

“Your mother. What’s her name?”

She frowned, the compulsion making it hard for her to focus. “Hazel. Why?”

I stumbled back a step.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” I snarled. "Are you-- Have you ---"

No, I didn't even need to ask. I knew it because there was no way that Dominic would have severed ties with his precious daughter otherwise. He knew. He definitely knew. That fucking bitch. What the fuck was she thinking? This wasn't in the fucking plans. This was the exact opposite of the fucking plan. And just when I thought I'd have leverage, now I had a more complicated situation.

This was my daughter.