Baby for the Billionaire(41)
Sally’s eyes widened in alarm. “Wh-what?”
“Leave your mother out of this. She didn’t know.”
Sasha gasped. “So it’s true.”
“Know what?” Sally said, looking from one to the other.
“That Dad faked his heart attack so I wouldn’t tell the Valentes about his falsifying records.”
“No!”
“He thought I’d feel guilty enough to overlook the fact that it wasn’t actually a heart attack. No doubt he planned on milking it for all it was worth.”
“Porter?” Sally whispered.
“Sally, don’t look at me like that. I was only thinking of you. What will happen to you if I go to jail?”
“How magnanimous of you, Dad,” Sasha snapped.
“Mind your own business, Sasha,” he growled.
She stared hard at him. “You don’t regret what you did at all.”
“Of course I do.”
She knew he didn’t. He only regretted getting caught.
“Dad, unless you tell me here and now that you’re going to make things right and pay back the money, I’m going to tell Nick what you’ve done.”
He turned white. “You don’t mean that.”
“I do.”
“But I’m your father.”
“Emotional blackmail doesn’t work on me anymore.” She pulled back her shoulders. “Now tell me that you’ll make things right, or I go tell Nick right this minute what you’ve done.”
He blanched. “Okay, okay. I’ll pay it back, but it might take me a couple of days.”
“You’ve got until Friday.” She turned and walked away, her heart so heavy she was surprised she could walk at all. She’d never had much love or respect for her father but she had even less now.
Of course, she wasn’t fool enough to trust him. And how the heck was she going to believe him on Friday anyway?
Yet there was a bigger picture here.
How was she going to look Nick in the eyes for the rest of her life and pretend this wasn’t between them?
Sasha could feel Nick looking at her throughout dinner but she couldn’t seem to lift her spirits. A black cloud hung over her head. It was only a matter of time before it all poured down on her.
After they’d eaten and moved into the living room, she still couldn’t relax. She couldn’t get interested in the unfolding legal drama on television. She had enough legal drama of her own right now.
And she was terrified her mother would call and put pressure on her to give her father more time, or to beg her to change her mind. She didn’t want the stress of even talking to her mother right now and certainly not in front of Nick.
An idea occurred to her.
“I think I’ve got cabin fever, Nick. Let’s go out for a drink somewhere.”
He blinked in mild surprise and put aside some paperwork. “Will one of the local pubs do?”
“Yes, there’s some lovely pubs around here. And can we turn our cell phones off, please? Let’s not have any interruptions.”
He shot her an odd look. “If that’s what you want.”
Half an hour later they were sitting in the corner at a local pub, sipping their drinks. The hotel was on the heritage listing as were many buildings in the Hawkesbury district.
“Any special reason for the cabin fever?” he asked, leaning back in his chair, his eyes watchful.
It sounded a ridiculous thing for her to say now. They’d been out of the house a lot lately and cabin fever was the last thing she’d have.
She wrinkled her nose. “I guess it’s more that we haven’t had much time to ourselves.”
He nodded. “And all that with your father didn’t help either, does it?”
She gave a silent gasp. “Wh-what?”
“With Porter being in hospital.”
“Oh.” She swallowed. “Yes.”
His look sharpened. “You’ve been tense all night. Are you sure you’re telling me everything? He’s not taken a turn for the worse, has he?”
“No, he’s fine.” Panic bounced inside her. She had to get thoughts of her father out of Nick’s mind and onto something else. Otherwise she might give herself way. “Brenda called me, you know.”
He straightened in his chair. “What? When?”
“Sunday morning after you went to your father’s place. She said she was returning your call.”