Chapter 3 - The Man Behind the Glass
I nearly fired her.
Instead, I poured bourbon.
That irritated me even more.
“You know nothing about my relationship with my daughter.”
“I know you watch her through cameras.”
The glass stopped halfway to my mouth.
“How do you know about the cameras?”
“I've worked in wealthy homes before.”
“You've worked in homes belonging to men like me?”
Lena looked at the tattoos visible across my knuckles.
Then toward the scar beneath my jaw.
“No.”
“Then don't pretend you understand my world.”
“I don't.”
She paused.
“But Elena doesn't live in your world.”
“She absolutely does.”
“No. You make her live inside it.”
That sentence landed harder than it should have.
I put the bourbon down.
“You think security is unnecessary?”
“I think security is necessary.”
That surprised me.
“Then what exactly are you criticizing?”
“You're protecting her from everybody except loneliness.”
I said nothing.
Lena's voice softened.
“She watches the driveway every evening.”
My eyes narrowed.
“What?”
“At six thirty.”
I knew exactly what happened at six thirty.
My driver collected documents from the house.
The headlights appeared through the front windows.
“She thinks it's you,” Lena said.
I looked away.
“She runs to the window every time.”
Something cold moved through my stomach.
“And when she realizes it isn't?”
“She goes upstairs.”
I had survived assassination attempts with less pain than that sentence caused.
That night, I went to Elena's bedroom.
She was asleep beneath a constellation projector.
Paper stars covered the ceiling.
I sat beside her.
For years, I had convinced myself that everything I did was for her.
The armed guards.
The reinforced windows.
The armored cars.
The private doctors.
The estate.
The money.
The cameras.
I had protected Elena from danger so completely that somewhere along the way, I had protected myself from being her father.
A tiny voice came from beneath the blanket.
“Daddy?”
I froze.
Elena's eyes opened.
She hadn't called me that since Isabella died.
“Yes.”
“You staying?”
Two words.
I couldn't answer immediately.
Then I removed my jacket.
My shoulder holster stayed downstairs.
I lay beside her on top of the blanket.
“Yes.”
Elena moved closer.
Within minutes, she was asleep again.
May you like
I stayed until morning.
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