My brows furrowed, a hint of fury flashing across my face. “Don’t worry, she’s not gonnasink her fangsinto your flesh,” I said. “She can’t.”
He tilted his head to the side. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“She’s dying,” I answered.
His expression didn’t shift, and after a while, all he said was, “Hmm.”
The sound was casual and almost dismissive, and it infuriated me. “That’s it?” My face twisted into a frown. “Your daughter is dying, and all you say ishmm?”
He set down the watering can and faced me squarely. “Did she ever tell you why she left and never returned—why she stopped talking to me?”
“You were trying to control her.”
“Control her?” A soft scoff escaped his lips. “Is that what she told you?”
Silence.
At this point, I was starting to wonder if there was more to this story that I wasn’t aware of.
“Every parent wants what’s best for their child,” he began. “I told my daughter—your mother—that I had the perfect man for her, someone who would take care of her.” He shrugged hisshoulders. “But she didn’t listen. She rebelled against me and chose to marry that deadbeat dad of yours. No offense.”
“None taken. He isn’t exactly Father of the Year.”
“If she’d just listened to me, she wouldn’t have been miserable.”
Again, I frowned. “Okay, first, she’s not miserable—”
“Yeah, right.”
“…and second, you need to stop dwelling on the past and help save her life.”
“She made her choice,” he said coldly. “And choices have consequences.”
“How can you say that?” I snapped. “She’s your daughter!”
“She abandoned her duties as a daughter!” he replied with the same tone. “Her union with Patrick Alderman was supposed to strengthen the alliance between both families, but she chose to be selfish.”
Hearing that, I paused, trying to process what he just said. “Hold on a second. You wanted to trade her future for what? An alliance with another family?” I raised my brows. “And somehowshe’sthe selfish one?”
“You don’t get it, do you? He paused. “There’s a reason powerful families don’t mingle with commoners.”
“Wow,” I murmured under my breath.
My grandfather was a dick, and it suddenly made sense to me why my mother never wanted anything to do with him anymore.
“Are you gonna help her or not?” I asked, clenching my jaw. “The doctor said she has a severe cardiomyopathy and needs to be operated on as soon as possible.”
He hesitated, his expression still as blank as a sheet of paper. “You seem like a brilliant young woman, one who’s willing to do anything to save her mother.”
I tilted my head slightly to the side, a look of suspicion creeping onto my face.
“I’ll tell you what,” he began. “I’ll foot the medical bills and make sure her bad decision doesn’t end up taking her life.”
My brows knitted, sensing there was a catch. “Why do I smell a ‘but’?”
“Because thereisone.”
Of course. Men like him never did anything out of the goodness of their stone-cold hearts.
