His fear added an unpleasant scent to the room, one that had Ryan wishing his nostrils had trap doors on them.
Nothing stank worse than fear.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Joseph half-stuttered, and for the first time, his entire persona shifted.
Gone was the debonair, monied man who had greeted Ryan five minutes before.Here was a smaller, less powerful male without his pomp and the security blanket his position gave him.
Everyone wore a shield.Ryan didn’t shame the guy for that.He just shamed the bastard for lying to his daughter, for making her childhood miserable by making her a cuckoo in the nest.
Before El had the chance to say another word, Ryan decided to douse the flames a little.“Joseph, we know for a fact one of El’s parents is a Shifter.We’re assuming that’s you because, to be frank, El has made it quite clear there is no love lost between Annabel and herself.One of El’s parents is Pantera, and I’ll assume you know what that is…”
Silence hit the room.Tension froze the air around Joseph until he began to shake with the strength of his muscle’s tremors.
“She made me promise not to tell anyone.”
The voice was a harsh whisper, one loaded with sorrow and bitterness, hurt and pain.El straightened up at the sound of genuine emotion in her father’s voice, and asked quietly, with none of the rage of moments before, “Who did?Annabel?Or my real mother?”
Joseph closed his eyes.“Your real mother.”
“Why?What did she make you promise?”
Ryan was stunned to see Joseph’s jaw tremble and his mouth quickly purse as he withheld the tears that were wetting his eyelashes—even with his eyes closed.
“I was her mate,” he whispered quietly.“I was going to leave Annabel, we were going to…”
El staggered back.Her spine hit the wall and her hand came out to grab the windowsill.Ryan watched as her fingers turned to claws, her knuckles bleeding white as she gripped the edge with a force that had him wincing.
Hell, with her enhanced strength, she’d tear the damn window out if she carried on like that.
“You were mated?”she asked hoarsely.
Joseph nodded, but he kept his head bowed, face turned away from them both.
He looked a thousand years old when he shuffled away from the desk and seemed infinitely more delicate when he took a seat in his chair.
By the time he’d done so, an act he’d undertaken in silence, he seemed to have managed to coordinate himself again.His composure back, he sucked down a few sharp gasps of air, then presented an even more polished front.
“I know you must have questions, but I don’t have the answers,” he told Ryan bluntly, seeming to avoid El’s gaze entirely.
“You must know something.”
Joseph shook his head at Ryan’s sharp question.“You’d be surprised how little I know.”
“Where did you meet her?”
El’s question had his nostrils flaring, but once again, he kept his attention fixed on Ryan.“At a charity ball.She was there.On the press.She managed to get away from the area where the journalists were supposed to stay and headed onto the dance floor.
“The minute she was in my arms, I knew she was different.”
Scorn laced El’s voice.“Different how?We all know how many mistresses you’ve had over the years.”
Joseph’s hand slammed down against the desk.“You will not talk about your mother that way.She was… like a breath of fresh air in my world.She changed it.Entirely.”
El swallowed.“What happened?”
“What do you think?”Joseph stated, his tone borderline wry but Ryan sensed the man was… traumatized.
It was a strong word, but Ryan knew it fit.
