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I pull out my phone and call Drew. Straight to voicemail. Again. I drop the phone onto the duvet with a frustrated sigh.

A soft knock sounds at the door. Before I can answer, Dad steps inside and sits beside me on the mattress.

“Sweetheart,” he says gently, “I’m sorry about that. Charles didn’t mean anything inappropriate. I’ve already spoken to him about your…position. He just wanted your company. He left, but he wasn’t expecting⁠—”

“I just think it’s better not to put myself in those kinds of situations,” I say quickly. “Not until I’m married.”

It’s exactly what he wants to hear. His face softens with that familiar look of pride.

The one I’ll never see again because soon, tomorrow hopefully, he’ll know the truth. That I can never be who he wants me to be.

My phone rings on the bed between us.

Dad glances down at the screen. His expression shifts from mild curiosity to confusion, then to something cold and dangerous.

He reads the caller ID aloud, his voice low and tight.

“‘Best Cock Ever.’”

My stomach plummets straight through the floor.

“It’s just my friend,” I blurt, panic clawing up my throat. “Jessica, remember⁠—”

Before I can stop him, Dad snatches the phone, swipes to answer, and presses it to his ear.

He listens for half a second.

Then his face transforms completely. Recognition, fury, disbelief.

“Blackwood,” he says.

Oh shit.

31

GRACE

Dad hangs up the phone. For a long, suffocating moment, he simply stares at me. The silence stretches until it feels like the air itself has thickened.

“What have you done?” he asks, voice dangerously quiet.

I want to deny it. I want to lie. But what’s the point? It’s all going to come out soon anyway.

“I met him before he started working for us,” I say, trying to keep my voice steady. “We…we really get along. He’s kind, and he⁠—”

“You stupid, naïve girl.” Dad surges to his feet.

“I don’t care that he doesn’t have money,” I continue, my voice rising. “I love him. And he loves me.”

Dad lets out a harsh, disbelieving laugh. “You think that’s the problem? That he has no money? Oh, it’s part of it. But you have no idea who he really is.”

“I think I do⁠—”

“He told you what he does for a living?” Dad’s eyes are hard.

“Security. I know it’s dangerous, but⁠—”

“He’s a hitman, Grace. He kills people for money. That’s why I hired him.”