I shake my head. "That and now The Beryl. Why, daddy? Why control my life like this?"
His knuckles pop as he fists his right hand. "You stopped needing me. Somewhere along the way you just stopped needing me."
Tears well in the corners of my eyes. "I've never stopped needing you. You stopped needing me, Daddy. You shut me out. I've been nothing to you for a long time."
"No," he shouts the word out, his voice cracking. "You are everything to me. You and Julian."
"When is my birthday?"
His brow furrows as he thinks.
"You don't know, do you?" I bite back. "Why did I break up with Joel?"
"Bernie, please," he pleads. "I've tried my best. I wanted to make a good life for you and your brother. You wouldn't have the apartment you do now if it wasn’t for me."
"None of that matters to me." I swipe my hand over my face. "Family matters to me. It has always mattered to me and I feel like I don't have one."
"You have a family," he huffs out the words in a laugh. "We are your family."
"Start acting like it." I brush past him. "When you can act like the father I need, call me."
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Smith
"Fulton is a crafty bastard,"I say as I wrap my arms around Brynn. "Can't he get in deep shit for manipulating the sale of the brownstone?"
She nods as she looks up at my face. "Very deep shit but it would mean contacting Sigrid to tell her that she lost out on a better sale."
"You know my offer was like twenty-five grand less than your offer, right?"
"Only twenty-five thousand?" Her eyes widen. "I thought it was a lot lower than that."
"The intel your spy was feeding you was off base then." I chuckle. "I wanted that place for Gramps, so I went in with a solid offer."
"I'm glad he's there and your brother and sister-in-law too."
"I'm glad you're here." I move my hand along her bare leg. We're naked, as expected. We ate dinner in the nude in the dining room and then I brought her to bed. I haven't touched her yet. I could tell she wanted to talk.
"I hated you for no reason for a long time." Her smile fades. "Jesus, Smith. I literally couldn’t stand to think about you and it was all over a piece of property. How fucked up is that?"
"First let me say," I begin, as I move my hand between her legs. "It's going to take me some time to get used to the fact that you say the wordfuck. It makes my cock hard-as-steel when you do it."
She glides her hand down my stomach until it brushes the tip of my dick. "I see what you mean and fuck, fuckery, fuck fuck a dee."
I moan. "Your mouth is going to kill me."
"My mouth will take care of your hard-as-steel cock in a minute."
"Another word I've never heard you say."
"Minute?" She kisses my cheek. "Is that it?"
"Try again," I slide my finger over her clit.
She whimpers as her legs part further. "Mouth?"
I twirl the tip of my thumb over her entrance. "If you miss it a third time, I'll make you come using your own hand."
