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"You bastard. You ungrateful son of a bitch. Who the hell do you think you are to believe that murdering punk over me?"
Jewell couldn't move, couldn't breathe.
"I believed him because I knew he couldn't hurt Victoria. He loves her. I know what you are capable of."
Jon Roth shoved hard against the door and pushed his way into the suite. Benjamin stepped back and put himself physically between his father and Jewell. She raised her hand and laid her hand against his back, letting him know with her touch that she was there.
"You owe me! I put you where you are today! You haven't the right to fuck with me!"
Shock and disgust registered immediately on Benjamin's face. Jewell's breath caught in her throat. She wanted to step in and stop this, but the testosterone-charged air acted like a force field and kept her from moving.
"You had nothing to do with it. And one thing has nothing to do with the other. You shot her! You could have killed her!"
She nearly choked. She saw Jon Roth's smoldering eyes dart in her direction when she involuntarily gasped.
"She's my daughter! My life!"
"Everything I wasn't."
"Damn straight."
Benjamin's body tensed. Jewell's heart ached and she wanted to scream out for him to stop. "Why the hell should I do anything for you?"
"I educated you."
"What? You want to take credit for sending me to a good school? You did it to get rid of me."
Jewell tried to breathe against the ache in the center of her chest. Her focus switched from Benjamin's incensed face to his father's furious expression.
"You all but told the police you think I'm guilty when you hired a lawyer to defend that no-good punk that shot your sister."
The argument bounced back and forth like a ball bearing in a pinball machine. One moment it was about Benjamin's childhood, the next Victoria's shooting.
"You are guilty. I didn't have to tell them. Victoria did."
Jon's fist impacted Benjamin's jaw with a smack that ricocheted through the suite. He stumbled back and took Jewell with him as they both collided with the wall behind them. Her head hit the plaster and the room momentarily spun. Benjamin was back standing instantly, his fists clenched at his side and a fine stream of blood flowing from the corner of his lips. His head snapped around and their eyes locked. Jewell nodded in his silent question, her hand pressed against the forming lump. She was fine.
"You won't say a damn thing, or so help me, I'll kill you with my own goddamn hands!"
"Stop this!" Jewell screamed. She heard her own voice but didn't know from where it came. "Stop and leave now or I'm calling the police."
"Shut up, you little bitch."
Benjamin lunged and shoved Jon Roth back, directly into the chest of Ben Prescott as he came through the door. Jewell watched in horror as Jon turned and swung at Prescott, but was immediately knocked back with a two-handed shove. He tripped over the leg of a bench and landed on his back. As Prescott stepped into the suite, Jewell saw Barbara Roth come through the door.
"What the hell?" Benjamin cursed, standing in a ready-for-battle stance, his fists pulled up near his side.
"Don't do this, Jon," Prescott said in a surprisingly calm voice.
Jon struggled to his feet, his semi-drunken state making him clumsy. "Get away from me, you backstabbing son of a bitch. Take your whore with you," he shouted, pointing at Barbara Roth.
Benjamin lunged and shoved Jon back against the wall, his forearm pressed against the man's throat.
"Shut your filthy mouth,"
"What? Don't like the truth?"
"Jon, please," Barbara called from the door.
