Beyond Repair (32 page)

Oh, boy.
“Yeah?”

He nodded and looked down. “Yes. My first week, I came across some footage in a hallway one night, that I found the next morning. I informed the Head of Security.” He lifted his head, and the sadness in his eyes showed me how full of regret he was. “It was gone later that day.”

“How convenient.”

He gave a sarcastic laugh. “Isn’t it, though?”

“Has it ever happened again?” I wasn’t sure if I wanted to know the answer, but I had to ask.

“Not that I know of.”

The doors opened. “Well, I’m glad it didn’t.”

I moved to step off, but the guard lightly touched my arm. “I’ll back you up if you need it. I saw footage of you going into that office and being carried out.”

I smiled. “Thank you. But I’ve got this.”

He nodded but reached into his pocket and handed me a card. “I mean it. If you ever need someone on your side, let me know.”

I smiled at him as I put the card in my pocket. I wasn’t lying before; I did have this. But it sure was good to know I had someone else on my team if I needed him. I was finally learning that even though I did things on my own, having people to count on made it that much more comforting.

We stepped out of the elevator and walked down the hall, stopping outside a conference room.

I raised my hand to knock but realized I didn’t give a fuck. I opened the door and walked in.

Two heads turned in my direction. One looked at me as if I were a ghost. The other wore a face of stone.

It figured that they were both in there. I had only asked to meet with one of them.

Heaven forbid he does anything without his father.

A knot formed in my stomach as I looked from one to the other. “Frank. Pierce. It’s been a while.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

I
SAT DOWN AT THE
table, and turned my attention toward Pierce. He was staring at his folded hands on the table in front of him as if they were the most interesting things in the world.

Going in, I was confident but a part of me expected the familiar nausea to take over, maybe even bile to rise in my throat. But it didn’t. So much had changed in such a short time. Seeing Pierce again had been my biggest fear for years. Now he was sitting in front of me, and I had conflicting feelings.

None of them were fear.

There was anger, of course. I absolutely loathed him. Knowing what I was about to do made me nervous and a little powerful at the same time.

But other than that … nothing. He was such a big part of my past, but that was over now. I was looking forward.

Since neither of them answered my friendly greeting, I tried again. “Aren’t you going to offer me something to drink?”

Pierce looked at me, eyes wide, and shook his head. He reminded me of a little boy sitting in time-out. If I were there for any other circumstance, then I might have felt sorry for him.

“Brooke, why are you here?” Frank asked. “We have been more than generous with you. Surely you can’t need more money.”

The alarm didn’t go off, but I texted Chris before I answered Frank. “Yes, it was very generous of you to give me money after your son drugged and raped me.” I smiled politely at him. “No, I do not need more.”

“Then what is the purpose of you being here today? You signed a contract. You are not to contact us.”

I nodded. “There are a few problems with that contract.”

I had to give Frank credit. Never once did his confidence waver. “And what’s that? Your daughter?”

I was going to tell them about Mia, but the fact that Frank knew about her already made ice flow through my veins.
Fuck.

But I wasn’t the only one taken by surprise with this information. Pierce’s head shot up. “What?”

“Don’t talk, Pierce.” Frank snapped.

“Yes, Pierce, listen to your father.” I stared at Frank as I spoke. “You’ve been checking up on me.”

“Of course I have. Do you really think I would let you just leave with that information?”

This family had money and power. It made sense Frank would check up on me, though I’d never thought of it before. I could make one phone call, send one email, or tell one person, and it would destroy this perfect family’s image and their empire.

I tried my best to keep my voice calm, even though I was pissed. “Your son looks surprised. Why don’t you fill him in?”

Frank pulled something out of a manila envelope in front of him and held it up. It was a photo of me, standing outside of my old car, holding my keys. My other hand was resting on my round stomach.

I think my heart stopped beating for a few seconds. It was one thing to hear that you’d been followed; it was another to see photos of you from years back, never realizing someone had been paying attention to you. “Your dad has known since the beginning, Pierce. He never told you?”

Frank leered at me. “I know everything.” He held up another photo. Me, pushing a baby stroller with Zoey walking next to me.

I wanted to rip it out of his hands. He should not have any pictures of Mia or my sister. But he put it down and picked up the next one in the pile.

Me holding a toddler’s hand walking down the street.

I looked at Pierce, who was staring at the photos, and diverted my eyes. Even if they were just pictures, the thought of him seeing Mia disgusted me.

But another part of me wanted to see how much Frank had on me. And the photos kept coming.

Me carrying Mia to the car.

Me pushing Mia in a swing.

Me and Zoey talking on her front porch.

Me outside with Mia and Zoey’s kids.

Mia on the playground at school.

Me sitting at a table in a restaurant, looking completely uninterested at whoever’s back was toward the camera.

Me and Mia at the grocery store.

Me and Mia walking into Kyle’s karate studio.

Me and Mia leaving her school.

Me and Chris the day we met, talking outside.

Mia, Ryder, Chris, and me outside by the basketball hoop in his yard.

Me sitting on Chris’s truck, kissing him.

Chris on a ladder outside of a house.

Chris, Mia, and me sitting on the front porch.

He finally stopped, his cold eyes focused on me. “Do you need to see more?”

I shook my head as my phone beeped. “No,” I said, picking up my phone to text Chris.

“I find it interesting that until this man came along, you had no interest in contacting us. And now, all of the sudden, here you are. Which brings me to ask again, why are you here?”

Before answering, I took a good look at Frank, wondering what was going on in his mind. He seemed to have followed us occasionally in the past, more often now that Chris was in the picture. He’d known about Mia since before she was born. The way Frank was talking was not like a loving grandfather, though. Mia was an inconvenience that was not supposed to happen.

And though I didn’t want to, I turned to Pierce. He was no longer looking at his hands; instead, his gaze was on the top photo of the pile in front of Frank. I cracked my knuckles, suppressing the urge to punch Pierce in the face until both of his eyes were swollen shut so he couldn’t look at Mia’s picture anymore. But being arrested for assault was not going to help my cause today.

Instead, I told them what would probably divert Pierce’s interest away from the photos. “My daughter wound up getting cancer. A rare, hereditary cancer. Not from my side of the family. From yours.”

Recognition flashed over Frank’s face. Of course. He must have pictures of us at the hospital.

“You must have wondered why we were at the hospital so much.”

“I did.”

“It’s called medullary thyroid cancer. You probably should write it down, tell your extended family—”

“We know about it,” Pierce said.

My head whipped in his direction. “What?”

“Shut up, Pierce,” Frank said.

I was in shock. “No, back up. You knew this ran in your family? For how long?”

Pierce shrugged. “Ten years now? We all had surgery—”

“I can’t believe this!” I spun around, facing Frank and pointing my finger at him. “You knew? You fucking
knew
that I had a kid and this ran in your family and you didn’t do
anything
about it? What the
fuck
is wrong with you?” I was yelling so loud I was sure the whole floor could hear me.

“Brooke, be quiet. How was I to contact you? Would you have wanted that?”

I took several deep breaths. “Yeah, Frank. Yeah, I would have wanted you to send me a letter or leave me a message or
anything
to give me a heads-up that my daughter had a fucking time bomb in her. What the hell? She wouldn’t have had to go through half the shit she did if I had known.” My mouth fell open in horror. “She could have died. A little kid could have died and you were so worried about your stupid
image
—”

Frank glared at me. “Shut your mouth. We had a legally binding contract where I couldn’t contact you—”

“That contract is bullshit, and you fucking know it!” I slammed my hand on the table in frustration. “It is
illegal
. It would only be legal if we had a consenting relationship.” I stared at Pierce, who kept looking at his hands. “We all know
that
didn’t happen.”

“You signed an agreement and accepted money in exchange for not divulging any information—”

“And I didn’t divulge any information. But you know what? Now I fucking want to. Because never mind that your son drugged and raped me or that you illegally manipulated me afterward. You knew my daughter could have a simple surgery done that would potentially save her life, and you ignored it. What the fuck does that say about you?”

I think if Frank could shoot daggers out of his eyes at me, he would have. He spoke slowly. “You never reported anything. The security camera footage has been erased. There is nothing to show that the sex was not consensual.”

There was, though. My new friend, the security guard. But I kept that information to myself. I liked having something over Frank that he didn’t know about. “You’re right, there isn’t. It would be my word against yours. But I’m sure the news would have a field day with my side of the story.” I leaned toward him. “And it doesn’t change the fact that you knew about my daughter and never told me about the cancer. That will make you look
great
, Frank.”

I had him. And he knew it. He didn’t count on the scared girl from five years ago to come back. Frank was the intimidator. He said something and people believed him.

It worked on me for a while but not anymore. If my four-year-old could be brave, then so could I.

He frowned at me. “What do you want? More money?”

“Actually, I want nothing from you. Well, that’s not true. We need a notary in here. I remember your secretary is one. Does she still work here?”

He glared at me. “And why is that?”

“Because what I really want”—I turned to Pierce—“is something from you.”

Pierce looked at me, big question marks in his eyes.

I opened the folder I brought in with me and slid a paper across the table toward him. “This is a formal release for you to terminate your rights as Mia’s father.”

“That’s all you want?” Frank asked.

“That’s it. And we need a notary here for when Pierce signs it.”

I texted Chris as Frank picked up his phone and mumbled something into it.

“While we’re waiting,” I said. “We all know the contract I signed with you means nothing. So this is the new deal. You stay the fuck away from me and my family, and I keep my mouth shut. I catch a glimpse of anyone taking pictures or following us, I’m calling every media outlet I can think of. And getting a restraining order. The public will have a shitload of fun with that. Are we clear?”

Frank nodded.

Pierce touched the corner of the paper. “I would like to meet—”

“Never happening. Ever. There is no way you are getting near her.” I pointed at the picture of Chris. “See that guy? He wants to kill you. But you know what? I won’t let him. I’ll just let him beat you until you’re unconscious. And when you wake up, I’ll cut your dick off. And I’ll enjoy it. I’ve never been more serious in my life.”

Pierce looked at me for a moment, and I nodded. “You understand what I’m saying? You’re never getting near her.”

“Yeah.” He glared at me, and I stared back at him until he looked away. “Got it.”

My heart pounded in anger. I’d wasted so much time over the past five years being scared of him. This shell of a man in front of me was nothing. He had tried to put on a tough front a moment ago, but he was weak, physically and emotionally. I was not going to let fears of him overtake my life ever again.

A soft knock broke the silence, and a woman carrying a silver embosser entered.

I didn’t pay attention as Frank started talking. All I could focus on was Pierce picking up the pen and signing. The woman punched the paper with her embosser and held it out to me. It took every ounce of self-control I had not to snatch it away.

After thanking her, I gave Pierce and Frank one last look. Frank was stuffing the pictures back into the envelope. “Go home to your daughter, Brooke. We’re finished here.”

I wanted to rip the pictures of Mia away from him, but I knew he had to have copies. I already had what I came here for. “Yes. We are.”

I spun around and left the room.

Chapter Thirty

C
HRIS PULLED UP TO THE
curb as I walked out of the building. I clutched in my hand the paper Pierce had signed, practically skipping down the long path to the car. There was nothing I wanted more at the moment than to drive far away from this place and to only look forward.

Chris got out of the car, stood next to the driver’s side, and grinned at me when he saw the expression on my face. I was still a good distance away, but I started walking faster, smiling back at him.

But then the smile faded, and he tilted his head. In the next instant, he was heading toward me, walking much faster than I was. He wore an expression I had never seen before, one that I didn’t even know he was capable of. His eyes had narrowed and his was mouth set in a firm line. I watched him come closer to me, his whole body tense.