“Wait just a damn minute—” Cassidy starts.
Rio scoffs in Milton’s face, continuing his debate with Milton as if no one else is in the room. “We don’t need one. This wasn’t a privileged conversation. Miss Foster is not employed by law enforcement. She is a private citizen having a personal conversation with her father. There was no reason to notify you of her visit.”
Milton shakes his head. “Doesn’t matter. This is over. You need to leave.”
“Not a problem,” Rio retorts.
“We’re not going anywhere,” Huntley contradicts as I move to stand. He holds his hand up to me, stopping me. “We have questions, and yourclientwill only talk to his daughter. We’re not leaving until we get the answers we came here for.”
Rio steps around Huntley to get to me. “Let’s go, Miss Foster. You did what they asked. It didn’t work in their favor. Your job is done here.” He gives me his hand, helping me to my feet, and guides me away with a hand on my back.
A crash resounds from behind me. “Get your filthy hands off my daughter! Don’t let him touch you, Savannah! Don’t be a Jezebel like the rest of them!”
Milton, Cassidy, and Huntley continue to contend over the legality of my visit as Rio and I walk by them.
When I peek over my shoulder, I find my father in a state I’ve never seen him in before. He kicks his stool back and pounds his fists on the glass as a guard struggles to detain the madman. I watch another guard rush in to help the first as Rio leads me away.
“The unclean cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven! Be ye pure, as He is pure!” My father fights the guards the whole time. He throws his body around, trying to get free.
Brad opens the door into the waiting room, just standing off to the side as chaos ensues around him. His pupils are dilated, and his cheeks are flushed.
When I no longer feel my father’s wild eyes on me, I deflate, my shoulders sagging.
“It’s over. You don’t have to do that again,” Rio reassures me.
Unable to use my words to communicate, I simply nod my head.
“Come on. I’ll give you a ride home.”
I nod again and follow Rio.
Rio’s just trying to help, but it’s wishful thinking.
I know I will have to talk to my father again. There’s no avoiding it.
He knows something. I can feel it.
CHAPTER 11
SAVANNAH
“We cannot go this long between talking,” Blake scolds me through the phone. “Too much has happened, and I’m expected to process it all in one phone call.”
Using my shoulder to hold my phone in place, I take a bite of my Danish and a sip of my caramel pumpkin latte as I continue my commute to RHL on foot. If I cared about my figure whatsoever, I’d eat something healthier, but I’d rather be happy and curvy with my pastries.
Blake continues her rant, and I let her. She’s a little dramatic at times, but it’s not because she’s upset. She’s my biggest cheerleader.
“AgentCuntleydrags you away twice, you get a fairy godmother lawyer and his sidekick, and you meet three hunky guys. I’m not sure if the universe is blessing you or punishing you.”
I snigger at her favorite nickname for the agent who has made it his mission to make my life miserable. “I’m not sure either.”
Blake takes a deep breath and softens her tone. “First things first, it’s okay to be frustrated, numb, sad, angry…all the things. Feel what you feel, babe.”
“Thank you. I’m trying,” I half lie. Last night, after I got home from Green Haven, I wanted to go out again, but I couldn’t. I was the epitome of self-control. The time between my kills is getting shorter, and that’s the quickest way to get caught.
“Second,” some of Blake’s fire comes out, “I’ve had some prisoners write to me after those art classes I taught. I’m sure I could ask one of them to off your sperm donor for you. Andto the NSA agent monitoring me, that wasn’t an admission of guilt.”
I can’t hold back my belly laugh that bursts out of me, startling my surrounding fellow commuters. “Noted.”
