Dangerous Proposition (29 page)

Julia smiled wryly. “Nothing I couldn’t have figured out on my own.” Which, technically, wasn’t a lie. “Diamonds, Daddy? I just don’t understand. How could you do this to me? How could you do it to yourself?”

“You deserve the best,” he said, looking at her with all the concern a father could. “I wanted to give you the life you’ve always wanted. The kind of life you’ve always dreamed about.”

“The kind of life I’ve always dreamed about is one where my father is honest with me, and where he doesn’t think he has to steal to make me happy. My God, I never wanted this. Surely you must have known that.”

“I knew you’d never agree with what I was doing,” Tucker replied. “But I know how things were for you growing up. I watched you cry yourself to sleep every night for years. No matter what I did, I could never make things right for you. I wanted to make up for the time you spent hurting, at least as much of that time as I could.”

Julia smiled. She hadn’t cried this much in years. And even when she had, she’d never done it in front of her dad, or in front of anyone else for that matter. At least, she hadn’t thought she had. But now, she couldn’t seem to stop. It was as though the waterworks had a mind of their own.

“I never expected you to do that,” she said, silently adding,
not that it would have been possible for you to do so
. Struggling to keep her voice even, she added, “Besides, I got over all that a long time ago. I know that Mom loved me…in her own special Marina Dyson kind of way.”

“Julia—”

“You don’t have to worry about me. I grew up a long time ago, long before my so-called mother ever walked out the door. Please, don’t use me as your excuse. Stop doing this. If you won’t do it for me, then for God’s sake, do it for yourself. I can’t exactly look up to a father who gets abducted while he’s playing the crime game, can I?”

Her father opened his mouth, as though about to answer. But he hesitated as the door to the room was opened.

“Time’s up,” Griffin said, stalking toward them.

Rossler, whose tattooed arms were highly visible in the fluorescent light, gave Julia a lingering look. He and his counterpart snatched her father’s arms.

“You’re strong, Julia,” her father said. “That’s why you’re going to get through this.”

Julia wished she shared his confidence. But she had a feeling this was one time she wouldn’t be living up to Tucker Dyson’s perfect opinion of her.

She watched as they shoved her father forward, dragging him from the room.

Colin’s hands were shaking as he stepped out of his car. He ignored the blue sky and cool New Hampshire sun, all thoughts focused on what he was about to do.

It was probably after four thirty, not that he was paying much attention to the time. And though he’d had plenty of opportunity to blow off steam on the jet ride up there, he wasn’t feeling any more at ease than he had when he left the hotel. He walked slowly to the curb and looked up at the building that stood in his eyeline.

The structure was located at the end of a small road, a few blocks away from Mountain Highway. It stood five stories in height, and unlike any other building in the town of North Conway, its outside frame was made entirely of glass. There was a section of benches in front of it, and they were positioned in the middle of a cement patio. The architecture behind them was impossible to miss, smaller only than the mountains surrounding it.

Looking toward the entranceway, Colin hesitated. Aside from the occasional superficial family get-together, he hadn’t spoken to his father in years. He didn’t imagine his sudden reappearance was going to be taken well.

It was a wonder he had come there at all, as under any other circumstances, he wouldn’t have gone back to this place in a million years. But regardless of how he felt, he didn’t have a choice. His father’s connections were his last hope of saving Julia.

Glancing at his phone, he checked to make sure no one had called him during the last couple of minutes. He hated that he’d had to leave the City, but he knew that he could be of better help to Julia where he was. He reassured himself of this several times as he started toward the door.

Making his way between the revolving glass panels, Colin held his head high and walked to the security desk. He cleared his throat and made a rather pathetic-sounding case to the guard, who reluctantly picked up the phone and announced his arrival. He was just about to walk back the way he’d come when the guard told him that Leighton Westwood would see him.

With blurry eyes, Colin stepped into the elevator. He blinked several times and rubbed his temples. Though he’d made the trip there, he hadn’t really expected his father would see him. He rather wondered what he was in for.

Assuring himself that he was fortunate to have gotten as far as he had, he pressed the button for the penthouse. He shut his eyes as the elevator ascended, attempting to keep his blood pressure as low as possible.

As the elevator dinged, the doors opened, revealing the entrance to a hallway. There was a wooden table and a couple of couches at the end of it. The smell of fresh carpets was as sharp as it had been the last time he’d walked them.

Holding his breath, Colin made his way to the door at the end of the hall. He pushed the glass doors open and approached the secretary’s desk.

The woman sitting behind it wasn’t anyone he recognized. She had long, platinum-blonde hair and glasses. She couldn’t have been a day over twenty-five.

“Pardon me,” he said. “I’m here to see—I mean, I have an appointment with—”

She gave him an assuring smile. “Go right in, Dr. Westwood. Mr. Westwood is expecting you.”

“Thank you.”

Feeling a bit of relief, Colin released a breath. He second-guessed his burst of confidence as he approached the door and silently mulled over the fact that his father had been informed that he was on his way up to see him. Having been given a heads-up, he’d had time to think over whatever it was he planned to say.

As he turned the doorknob, he held his breath. He let it go, pushing the door open the rest of the way.

Looking around the dimly lit room, he noticed that several things about his father’s office had changed. Though the space was as large as ever, the bookshelves that had stood behind the desk had been moved to the right-hand side, making the enormous area seem even bigger than it was. The couch that had once been beside the door was no longer there. In its place, two leather chairs stood in front of the desk.

Behind the chairs, at the end of what seemed a tunnel of endless space was a man with thick black hair that was sprinkled with gray. He was dressed in a wool sweater, and he wore a pair of reading glasses on his face. The frames were something the older man would have considered a sign of weakness during his prime. But even with them there, Colin could only see his father the way he had when he was a boy. Dynamic. Powerful. Positively frightening.

“When Maxine told me that you were downstairs, I thought for sure she was mistaken,” his father said, looking up from his laptop with a taut, emotionless expression. “Apparently not.”

“Is it really so hard to believe?” Colin asked, taking a hesitant step toward the desk.

“That depends, doesn’t it? On whatever it is you’re looking for.”

Colin took a seat in one of the leather chairs. Though it wasn’t the same object he’d sat on all the other times he’d been summoned to his father’s office, it felt just as cold. “I need your help.”

“Naturally. As you and I both knew that one day you’d come back here, crawling on your hands and knees.”

Tension seeped through Colin’s nostrils. He slipped his hand into his pocket and grasped his keys, a poor substitute for the thing he really wanted to throttle. “Which I’m sure you’re enjoying immensely.”

“You’ve been an embarrassment to my family for thirteen years. Precisely what would I have to gloat about?”

He knew his father had always seen him that way. But he could never get over the way he just blurted out his opinions. He supposed he’d do best to make his case quickly.

“As much as I’m sure you’d like to sit here insulting me all day, I came here for a reason.” Drawing a breath, Colin said, “A man in my employ, someone very close to me has been abducted. His daughter, Julia, as well, she—”

“And naturally you have no problem dropping on my doorstep and asking me for favors.”

Colin froze, as did the room around him. It was as though a knife was being plunged into his gut, turned, and twisted through his insides.

He didn’t know why he’d expected more. But he wasn’t stopping, not without getting out everything he’d come there to say. “Do you think that it was easy for me, coming here to see you after all these years? It took every ounce of courage for me to walk in here and ask you for anything.”

“Pride, you mean.” His father stared him down. “So you think your coming here after all these years entitles you to some sort of reward?”

Colin laced his shaking fingers. “I know that my coming here doesn’t entitle me to anything. But there are innocent people whose lives are in danger.” He swallowed. “I realize that you and I aren’t exactly on the best of terms, but I thought that maybe we could—”

“You thought wrong. Don’t you see, Colin, that every decision that you’ve made has brought you to this very moment? Since the day you walked out of this office thirteen years ago. When you said that you didn’t need a father. That you wanted to be free, to be your own man.”

“Don’t make this about us. There are innocent people who are going to die if we don’t—”

“
Innocent?
No one connected to you is innocent. As if smuggling stolen gemstones into the country could possibly be construed as
innocent
. You’ve taken people under your wing, disreputable, downtrodden individuals, to run a repugnant empire. Stolen and pillaged, all in the name of charity. You’ve made your choices, Colin. As have the men who were foolish enough to help you to get where you are.”

“Julia Dyson
is
innocent,” Colin said, fury spilling into his voice. “She has nothing to do with Project Gemstone. The only thing she’s guilty of is loving her father so much that she was willing to risk her own life to save him.”

“Imagine that,” Leighton Westwood replied. “Loving one’s father, respecting the things he stands for. Putting one’s family above one’s own selfish whims.” Setting his pen down, he eyed Colin carefully. “You’re in love with this woman. Aren’t you?”

Colin’s breath caught in his lungs. For months, he’d been telling himself that he couldn’t possibly be in love Julia. That he wasn’t capable of having the emotion, that whatever ability he may have had to love had been lost long ago. But then he thought of Byron, how he’d been willing to help the man after seeing him as his enemy for so many years. And Tucker, the lengths he’d gone to, to rescue a guy who, though he meant a great deal to him now, would have meant nothing in the past. Julia was the one he wanted beside him no matter how difficult things got. He’d changed in the last four months. Something within him had changed. Without looking up, he nodded slowly.

“Colin, Colin, Colin. What a sorry situation you have gotten yourself into.”

“You goddamn son of a bitch. You won’t even help her, will you! All because of me. All because I wouldn’t work for your farce of a company! I may have made mistakes, but at least I did the things I did because I was trying to help people. It’s a hell of a lot more than anyone will ever be able to say about you.”

“Helping people. By stealing from them? Turning them into criminals and using them for their labor?” Leighton Westwood stroked his stubby chin. “If you’re helping people, son, what precisely do you call what I’ve been doing for the last thirty-five years?”

“Making a profit at the expense of your workers? Firing people because it suits your own twisted purpose? Seeing to it that your servants carry the burden of your empire, so that you never have to get blood on your hands?”

An image of Julia’s face flashed in his mind, and Colin drew a short breath. He’d just crossed the line, as he had thirteen years ago. Only this time, there was something a lot bigger than his future at stake. He turned to his father with desperation in his eyes.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I don’t know what got into me just now.”

“I do. You’re still the same outspoken little bastard you always were. And if you think that I’m going to help you to continue in your misguided ways, then you, my son, are about to see the brunt of my
twisted purpose
firsthand.”

“Please,” Colin said. “I know I’ve made mistakes. But you’re the only one who can stop this. I’ve messed up, and Julia and her father are going to die if you don’t step in. Whatever differences you and I have, let’s just put them aside. You can save them. You can save Julia and her dad. I’m asking you. Please.”

“No, Colin,” his father said after a long moment. “I’m not going to do that.”

The older man stood, and for a second Colin thought he was going to change his mind. Walk over to him and embrace him as he had when he was a boy and he’d woken from a nightmare. But he didn’t do that. He went to the door and stood in the frame. After remaining there a couple of seconds, he turned off the light, leaving him alone in the room.

Colin was stunned. Not by the fact that he’d lost his temper, but by his father’s reaction to everything he’d said. All those years they hadn’t spoken, he’d told himself it was because of an argument, something they could one day get past. But even under the most extreme of circumstances, his father had refused to step in, to help people who desperately needed his aid.

Nevertheless, this wasn’t his father’s fault.
He
was the one who’d set this thing into motion the day he refused to tell Julia the truth. He loved her. And by attacking his father’s character, he’d destroyed his last hope of saving her.

A tear trickled down Colin’s face. With his head hung, he leaned over and closed his eyes.