When she finally worked up the will to get out of bed and charge her long-dead cell phone, she was bombarded by dozens of text messages and voice mails. But none from Roman, which made her feel both relieved and heartsick. An Agent Crosswell from the FBI and a federal prosecutor had left several messages. As a player in Dax’s campaign, of course she would be questioned and probably asked to testify. Just one more mess brought on by her “gift.” Or her curse as she’d now begun to see it.
Tuesday she finally ventured downstairs to the kitchen for a bite to eat, barely able to choke down a bagel with cream cheese. The wedding decor had been replaced with holiday decorations that would be up till the first of the new year. But she couldn’t enjoy it.
She was headed back upstairs, when she passed her father’s nurse, who looked surprised to see her.
“Miss Winchester, I didn’t know you were here.”
“How is my father?” She’d been so wrapped up in her own problems she hadn’t even thought to check up on him.
“The wedding took a lot out of him. He’s mostly been sleeping. He feels better today, though.”
“I should probably go say hello.”
“I’m sure he would like that. Your visits always cheer him up.”
“Take a break and I’ll sit with him awhile,” Gracie said.
With a frown, the woman asked her, “Are you okay?”
She must have looked absolutely awful. She hadn’t eaten or showered in days. She hadn’t even looked in the mirror. She was too ashamed to face her own reflection.
“I’m fine.”
“There have been a lot of calls since Thursday. Mostly from reporters.”
Well, that was no big surprise. They had been calling her, too. But she didn’t want to talk about it, or even think about it. “Thank you for the warning. I’ll call if I need you.”
She went to her father’s suite, knocking lightly before opening the door and peeking inside. He was sitting propped up in bed working on his laptop. When he saw her, he smiled. “Princess, I didn’t know you were visiting today.”
He obviously had no idea that she’d never left. And as she drew closer to his bed, his smile began to fade. “Princess, what’s wrong?”
With an ache that was all consuming, she sat beside him, laid her head in his lap and cried while her father stroked her hair. And it was exactly what she needed.
When she was all out of tears, he handed her a tissue and she wiped her eyes. “I suppose you probably heard what happened,” she said. “How stupid I’ve been. How he betrayed me again. I should have listened to you. I should have trusted you when you said he was no good for me.”
“But you went with your heart instead.”
She nodded. “You must be pretty happy that it’s over.”
“On the contrary. I think you’re making the biggest mistake in your life.”
His words took her aback. “But...”
“Be quiet and listen. Do you know why I insisted you attend that initial meeting with Roman, and why I asked you to get close to him?”
“To avoid another scandal.”
“There wasn’t going to be another scandal. I knew that Brooks was working alone to discredit me in the media, and that Roman had no part in his twisted revenge plot.”
Gracie frowned. “I don’t understand. Why did you make me do it, then? Were you trying to torture me?”
“I was trying to make you see what I’ve seen all along. That you still loved him.”
What? “But...you don’t even like him. You never did. You always tried to come between us.”
“I was jealous.”
His words stunned her. “Jealous? Of what?”
“Princess, since the day you were born, you were a daddy’s girl. You wouldn’t go to sleep at night if I wasn’t there to tuck you in. Despite all of the horrible things in my life you still saw the good in me. I didn’t want to lose you to someone else.”
Is that how he really felt? Did he really love her that much? She could hardly imagine him so vulnerable. “Daddy, you could never lose me. You’re my father. I’ll always love you.”
“I didn’t see it that way. And I was wrong.” He took her hands in his. “I don’t want you to make the same mistake that I did. I let the love of my life go, and I never stopped regretting it.”
She didn’t have to ask who. She’d heard the rumors. “Cynthia Newport.”
He nodded, looking so sad. “I tried to fill the void, but I was never able to let her go. Learn from my mistakes. Don’t do that to yourself. Talk to Roman. He loves you.”
Her father didn’t understand. “He lied to me. That’s not love.”
“He was protecting you.”
“He thought I was guilty.”
“No, he was fighting to prove that you weren’t. You have no idea what you got yourself into. As a part of Dax’s campaign, you were implicated in the fraud. You could have been prosecuted. Roman made a deal with the FBI. Your flash drive in exchange for full immunity.”
“So why didn’t he just tell me the truth? When the FBI called, why didn’t he tell me?”
“He couldn’t.”
“He didn’t trust me.”
“It wasn’t about trust. He was under the thumb of the FBI. What they did was nothing shy of blackmail. He couldn’t tell you, and if he did you could have both been prosecuted. He couldn’t take that chance.”
Through the darkness in her soul a dim shimmer of light appeared. She thought about the way Roman had taken care of her and protected her when he thought her life was in danger.
“He loves you, Princess. Don’t you see that? He did what he had to, knowing that when he told you the truth he could lose you forever. But it was a chance he had to take. He loved you so much, and wanted you to be safe, so he took the gamble.”
And lost. But she hadn’t even let him explain. She had been so wrapped up in her own pain she couldn’t even make herself listen.
The dim light grew a little brighter. “How do you know all of this?”
“He confided in me Thursday night.”
She blinked. Roman had confided in Sutton? His mortal enemy? It was almost too far-fetched to believe. And if he really had done it just to protect her...
Once again, a flicker of hope broke through the gloom. Was it possible that this wasn’t really the end? Shouldn’t she at least give him a chance to explain?
He squeezed her hand. “Talk to him, Grace.”
She had been pretty awful to him Thursday night. “What if he doesn’t want to talk to me?”
“He does.”
“How do you know?”
“I just do. I know that over the years I’ve expected a lot from you, and I’m asking you now, for the last time, to do one more thing for me.”
“What, Daddy?”
“I’m asking you to trust me.”
When he said it like that, with so much love in his eyes, how could