Slumping forward, she covered her face with her hands.
The memory of Darius’s words floated back to her. You needed to pay off some mobster who’d broken your father’s arm and threatened to break his whole body if he didn’t come up with a hundred thousand dollars within the week.
Chilled, she looked up. “Why didn’t you tell me someone broke your arm, Dad? Why did you let me think it was an accident?”
Howard looked down at the floor guiltily. “I didn’t want you to worry.”
“Worry?” she cried.
His wan cheeks turned pink. “A father’s supposed to take care of his daughter, not the other way around.”
“So it’s true? Some thug broke your arm and threatened you if you didn’t pay him back his money?”
“I knew I could handle it.” He tried to smile. “And I have. Once I sign over this check, everything will be fine.”
“How do you know you won’t have more thugs demanding money, once it’s known you actually paid someone back?”
Her father looked shocked. “No. Most of the people who invested in my fund were good, civilized people. Not violent!”
Letty ground her teeth. For a man who’d been in a minimum-security federal prison for nine years, he could be surprisingly naive.
“You should have told me.”
“Why? What would you have done except worry? Or worse—try to talk to the man yourself and put yourself in danger?” He set his jaw. “Like I said, I didn’t know if Darius would actually send the money. But I knew, either way, you would be safe because you’d be with him.” He shook his head, trying to smile. “I really thought you and Darius would take one look at each other and be happy again.”
Letty sagged back against the sofa cushions. Her father’d really thought he was doing her a favor. That he was reuniting her with a lost love. That he was protecting her, saving her.
She whispered bleakly, “Darius thought I was a gold digger.”
Howard looked indignant. “Of course he didn’t! Once you told him you hadn’t sent the message…”
“He didn’t believe me.”
“Then…then…he must have believed you were just a good daughter looking out for your father. Darius has so much money now, you can’t tell me he’ll miss such a small amount. Not after everything you did for him!”
“Stop,” she choked out. Just remembering how Darius had looked at her when he handed her the cashier’s check was enough to make her want to die. But after he’d told her about the threat against her father’s life, what choice had she had?
Her father looked bewildered. “Didn’t you tell him what happened ten years ago? Why you never ran away with him?”
She flinched as she remembered Darius’s acid words. Go on, Letty. Tell me how your betrayal was actually a favor. Explain how you destroyed my family at great personal sacrifice, because you loved me so much.
“No,” she whispered, “and I never will. Darius doesn’t love me. He hates me more than ever.”
Howard’s wrinkled face looked mournful. “Oh, sweetheart.”
“But now I hate him, too.” She looked up. “That’s the one good thing that happened tonight. Now I hate him, too.”
Her father looked anguished. “That was never what I wanted!”
“It’s good.” Wiping her eyes, she tried to smile. “I’ve wasted too many years dreaming of him. Missing him. I’m done.”
She was.
The Darius Kyrillos she’d loved no longer existed. She saw that now. She’d tried to give him everything, and he’d seduced her with a cold heart. Her love for Darius was burned out of her forever. Her only hope was to try to forget.
But four weeks later, she found out how impossible that would be. She’d never be able to forget Darius Kyrillos now.
She was pregnant with his baby.
She’d taken the pregnancy test, sure it would be negative. When it was positive, she was shocked. But shock soon became a happy daze as Letty imagined a sweet fat baby in her arms, to cuddle and adore.
Then she told her father.
“I’m going to be a grandfather?” Howard was enraptured at the news. “That’s wonderful! And when you tell Darius—”
That caused the first chill of fear. Because Letty suddenly recalled this baby wouldn’t just be hers, but Darius’s.
He hated her.
He’d threatened to take her baby from her.
Letty shook her head violently. “I can never tell him about the baby!”
“Of course you will.” Her father patted her on the shoulder. “I know you’re angry at him. He must have hurt you very badly. But that’s all in the past! A man has a right to know he’s going to be a father.”
“Why?” She turned to him numbly. “So he can try to take the baby away because he hates me so much?”
“Take the baby?” Her father laughed. “Once Darius finds out you’re pregnant, he’ll forget his anger and remember how much he loves you. You’ll see. The baby will bring you together.”
She shook her head. “You’re living in a dream world. He told me…”
“What?”
Letty turned away, hearing the echo of that coldly malevolent voice. I would never allow any child of mine to be raised by you and that criminal you call a father.
“We need to start saving money,” she whispered. “Now.”
“Why? Once you’re married, money will never be a worry for you again.” Howard looked ecstatic. “You and my grandchild will always be cared for.”
Letty knew her father couldn’t believe Darius wanted to hurt her. But she knew he did.
I would hire a hundred lawyers first and drive you both into the sea.
They had to leave this city as soon as possible.
Under the terms of her father’s probation, Howard was required to remain in the state of New York. So they’d go north, move to some little town upstate where no one knew them, where she could find a new job.
There was just one problem. Moving required money. First and last month’s rent, a security deposit and transport for Letty, Howard and all their belongings. Money they didn’t have. They were barely keeping their heads above water as it was.
Over the next few months, Letty’s fears were proved true. No matter how hard she worked, she couldn’t save money. Howard was always hungry or needed something urgently. Money disappeared. There were also the added expenses of medical co-payments for Letty’s doctor visits, and physical therapy for her father’s arm.
There was some good fortune. After Howard had paid off the mobster, no other angry former investors had threatened him, demanding repayment.
But there, their luck ended. Just when Letty was desperate for overtime pay, all the other waitstaff suddenly seemed to want it, too. But warmer summer weather meant fewer customers at the diner craving the fried eggs and chicken fried steak that were the diner’s specialties. Her work hours became less, not more.
Each morning when she left for work, her father pretended to look through job listings in the paper, looking shifty-eyed and pale. Pregnancy exhausted her. Each night when she got home from work, almost falling