“It’s quite all right. We’ll figure it out,” Liam comments, and I give him a nod.
“Okay fine, but I don’t need help—” I announce to the vehicle. I don’t want to be treated like a child who doesn’t know how to shoot a gun.
“Will you fire a gun if you needed to protect yourself? What about your girlfriend? Can you point and shoot continuously if her life is on the line?” Flinging questions at me aggressively, Liam growls lowly. My mouth dries, and I turn my glare at the dash. “No, you can’t, so shut up and accept the help you’re being given, Keenan.”
CHAPTERTWENTY-THREE
DELILAH
“Dad! Dad, let me in!” Slamming my fist against the heavy door, I tremble with rage when it doesn’t magically open. “Dad! Dammit! I said open this fucking door!”
I can hear him inside, scurrying around like a rat. Or maybe that’s just my imagination. “Dad! We need to talk about this! Open the door!” I can’t keep doing this. I just can’t.
I try to punch in the passcode to the house, but my hands are trembling with fury. The panel beeps red, though, and I groan loud and tortured. Regret stains my tongue. But if my dad didn’t want me to run Knitted Hearts therightway, then why did he appoint me as COO? Did he think I was going to just roll over because he created Knitted Hearts? Yeah, fucking right. I know my mother and I don’t have a great relationship, if that’s what we can even call what we are, but I inherited my sass from her. Meanwhile, I got my father’s stubbornness. Those two traits combined together mean I’m a fucking monster.
“Fuck! Fine! If you won’t let me in, I’ll . . .” Trailing off hotly, I glare at the door. Storming down toward the street, I climb into my car and grumble to myself. I’m too old to be given the silent treatment. My dad is too damned old to be ghosting his own child too. Exhaling metaphorical smoke through my nose, I wrap my arms around the wheel and shake my head viciously. The meeting showed us we were in the red exponentially, so much worse than I thought it was. Haisley looked to my father to find out where this money went, and why there were transfers to Swiss bank accounts. Every part of it is fishy, and Haisley has many people working for her company on this. Fuck, this could be my undoing. I’m the acting COO, not my father . . . this could be my professional demise.
“What do I do? I’m too angry to think. Words collide inside my head. Words from the meeting, from all my father’s past phone calls before I realized what was happening with this shitstorm. Everything from our recent conversations too, specifically from when I fired Penelope. It all creates a jumbled mess I can’t think through. I take my arms from around the wheel, start my car and pull out onto the street. I focus on driving instead, the narrow streets boxing me in dangerously. The world closing in on me.
Should I call Keenan? He’s had a rough go of it. He mentioned working out in the gym at their house today while I was at my meeting. Holding the wheel with clammy palms, I roll to a stop at the end of the street before looking back. I don’t know why. It’s not like my father will be standing at the lip of the driveway, watching forlornly as I drive away.
It’s not even raining to set the right mood.
Oh, I bet I can call Keeva. I press the brakes as I pull into a streetside parking space. I fish my phone out of my purse and navigate to Keeva’s contact. I hesitate for a moment, but I need this right now. I need to talk to someone. Questions and doubt flood my mind. We’re not even that close, but we’re close enough.
“Hello?” she answers swiftly, and my breath catches in shock. “Delilah? What’s up?”
“H-hey,” my voice cracks, “are you busy?”
“Uh, no? Did you wanna meet up for a drink or something?”
“Yes.” Answering quickly, fire rampages up my cheeks and across my chest. “Please. Can we get some coffee or something? I just need someone to talk to you. Okay, it’s more like complaining. I need to vent to someone and I don’t want to bother your brother. I got a text from him a bit ago saying Liam’s in town, so I’m making myself scarce.”
“We can. I’d love to, yeah. Where do you want to meet up?” she asks, and I rattle off a popular coffee place. “Okay, I’m actually pretty close to there. I’ll see you soon, Delilah.”
“Thanks, yeah.” I pull my phone away from my face to blink at it in surprise. That went surprisingly well. Then again, I need to be more patient with myself. I’m getting a lot closer with both Keeva and Delaney. I have a feeling like we’re going to be close for a long time, but I’m not counting my chickens before they hatch. Hell, I can see myself marrying Keenan one day. After almost losing him, it’s made me realize I never want to lose him, ever.
I drive to the coffee shop with anxiety flooding my mind. Today’s sucked all around, and I park my car as all my anger morphs into dread. I haven’t thought this through. What do we talk about? Do I just complain and let it all come rushing out?
People just have bad days sometimes, and this definitely qualifies for some much-needed girl time. I climb out of my car to head toward the shop. I lift my hand, waving at Keeva, and she smiles welcomingly. We hug for a moment, and I inhale deeply from my nervousness. “Hey, thanks for meeting me on such short notice. I didn’t really know who else to call.”
“Pfft, why are you thanking me? We’re practically sisters now. To be honest, it’s refreshing you thought to call me,” Keeva states, concern flickering in her eyes. “Everything okay?”
“Well, it’s just . . .” God, how do I even start with this mess? Where do I begin? I take a deep breath. “I think my dad is into something . . .reallybad.”
My throat closes suddenly, and I turn my head away in shame. Softly, Keeva puts a hand on my back, and I suppress a shiver. She takes my hand and goosebumps blanket up my arm. Walking toward the coffee shop, we’re silent. Ominous and brooding, and I don’t know what to say to break it.
“I don’t know what to do. He won’t answer my calls. He won’t let me in his house. Changed all the codes. It . . .” I lick my lips as my mind swings to earlier today. We stand in line, and Keeva is quiet and patient. “This morning, when I went to my meeting about the charity’s finances, he was there. He tried to take it over. He tried to steamroll over me for fuck’s sake, and thankfully he left when he realized he wasn’t going to get away with it.”
“Shite, good for you. Seriously, I’m so happy you stood up for yourself!” Keeva’s surprised squawk rattles my teeth. I nod, regret gluing my tongue to the roof of my mouth. “No wonder he’s not talking to you. What’d you say?”
“I told him that he put me in charge, so he can’t just ignore or overturn my decisions,” I start, my voice straining with each word. Keeva’s eyes widen in what I believe is admiration and shock. It doesn’t make me feel like I was right, though. “I’m the COO. I kicked him and his dirty accountant out and went on with the investigation.”
“Okay, first of all, dirty accountant and investigation? What in the bloody hell am I missing?” Keeva asks in a high-pitched voice, and I sigh before we reach the barista. I take this moment to gather my thoughts. I’m not in the mood for coffee, but I order one anyway. All the while, Keeva eyeballs me sidelong. “So, I need you to fill me in, obviously. But I have to know what’s going on. Like, it sounds as if your father is in some shady shit. Will you ignore whatever’s going on and turn a blind eye to it?
“I can’t do that,” I say, my tone heavy with a mix of emotions. Regret. Determination. Fear. I’m feeling so much that I can barely make sense of it. I sigh heavily. “Even if I could manage to ignore the massive fund discrepancies, there’s no way I’d get away with it if my dad ever gets caught. Keeva, there are millions of euros missing. There’s so much money in all the wrong places. I don’t know what to do.” I’m barely keeping my shit together right now. My emotions are being held together with a string that’s on the verge of snapping from the tension.
“Oh, yeah, that’s easy,” she says almost uncomfortably, staring deep into my eyes. My lungs seize in anticipation. “Quit.”
