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“Help you how?”
She shrugged and then grimaced, knowing how much he hated useless gestures like that. “Ask him?”
“You think he’ll sign if Iaskhim to?”
He was toying with her, making her feel stupid. Her lower lip trembled, and she broke his rules by looking down at her trembling fingers twined together in front of her. She hoped he didn’t notice the tear that slipped from her eye and disappeared into the thick carpet.
She opened her mouth, closed it, and then took a step back. She’d made a mistake. Another one. After all she had done, he wasn’t going to help her out of her mess. He wanted to watch her drown.
“Never mind. I’m sorry I bothered you,” she said and whirled away.
She rushed to the door as her face crumpled and tears began to stream down her face.
“Jasmine.”
She didn’t stop. She slipped through the library door and ran. She was tired of everyone’s manipulative games. Roth was right. She wasn’t built for this life,and she didn’t belong here. But where did that leave her?
She was trying to unlock her car door when the keys were snatched out of her hand. She opened her mouth to blast the guard but froze when she saw her father standing there. Instantly, she averted her face and began to swipe at her cheeks, mortified all over again.
“What did he do to you?” he asked.
The question caught her off guard. So much so that she looked at him. “What?”
“Did he abuse you?”
She shook her head.
His eyes narrowed. “And you’re done with him?”
“I wouldn’t file for divorce if I wasn’t.” It was the sassiest thing she had ever said to him.
He wasn’t fazed. “I’ll take care of it.”
She couldn’t believe her ears. “Y-you will?”
“But there are conditions.”
Of course, there were. Her stomach knotted. “What are they?”
“You don’t see him again. Ever.”
“I don’t want to.”
“You agree to visit me several times a month.”
“Pardon?” She was sure she hadn’t heard him correctly.
“We need time.”
“Excuse me?”
He shuffled his feet, the first sign of discomfort she had ever seen from him.
“I guess what they say is true. Getting old, sick, and weak forces you to look at things differently.” He cleared his throat and looked beyond her down the long gravel drive to the massive wrought iron gates. “I have a lot of regrets where you’re concerned. I should have known what I did would push you toward him.”
Out of all the scenarios she had gone over in her mind, one where her father showed some remorse about how he treated her in the past never crossed her mind.
“If you want, you can live here.”
