One Bossy Offer (114)

Protection? From him?

That makes me snort.

The clown left her alone in the room with me, didn’t he?

“If it’s security she needs, I’ll send someone out.”

Benson chuckles. “I’m sure you know that’s not what I meant.”

I sigh. It’s time to be blunt while he’s here.

Benson might be the only man I can ask about this without getting a canned answer from someone with esquire behind their name.

“I need to ask you something, and I need the truth.”

His brows go up. “I’m honest to a fault, even when I give you crap.”

“And I appreciate it, but I’m going to ask you a hard question. Don’t sugarcoat anything.”

“Understood.”

I finish cleaning up and putting my stuff away before I return to my desk chair.

“Do you believe anything Wickes and Oakes are saying? Could it be true? You’ve been around so long you’re practically family. If anyone knew my father’s secret affairs—hell, if they were there carting him around to live a double life—it would be you.”

Benson hesitates.

For a second, my heart sticks in my throat.

“I don’t, sir. I haven’t believed any of this since the second it started, but of course, this kind of allegation has to be fully investigated. I’m sorry.” He catches himself, drawing a deep breath as his face reddens. “Frankly, it makes me angry, Miles. I’d bet my last ten years salary that Royal never cheated on Colleen. Not once. The man had ample opportunity when he was younger—women threw themselves at him at every party, every lounge, every hotel. He never once took them into the back of my car.”

Damn.

He’s definitely upset when he’s slipped out of his usual cheerful formality and he’s throwing around first names.

“Forgive me. No point in catalyzing your stress by going off like this.”

“No, Benson. Vent. You’re the only one who comes close to understanding it. It’s so damn hard to prove a negative.”

“I know, but if you don’t, everyone will start assuming it’s true. When I said it had to be fully investigated, I don’t mean just for the accusers’ sakes. That’s part of it. I have a grown daughter myself, and I’d go to prison if any big shot ever lured her into his bedroom. Women need to be believed when they come forward. But being public like this, it’s so damaging to Royal, too. If he’s as innocent as we think. Without a full investigation, if this goes on for years, you’ll never clear his legacy.”

“I know.” I fall back in my chair.

I reach into my bottom desk drawer and pull out a bottle of bourbon with two glasses.

Before he takes his first sip, I look at him seriously.

“You swear on your life you never saw Dad do anything?”

“In all my years of service, if he ever had a secret affair, a liaison, I never knew. You have my word. Even when you kept him at home for a couple years with those nurses, before he was too far gone... he’d wake up crying for her. Then he’d call me up and demand I take him straight to Pinnacle Pointe.” He swallows his bourbon and sets the glass down sharply. “Royal always forgot where we were going, or why, until we made it into town. Then he always remembered. And I had to practically drag him away from her graveside with his nurse, still clutching flowers because he couldn’t hug your mother. Sometimes multiple times in one day.”

My throat burns like there’s some small, angry animal trying to erupt from inside me, clawing its way out.

“I worried about him. Even with that fog over his brain, he was almost obsessed whenever he remembered what happened to her. I never had the heart to stop him or talk him out of his trips. Who was I to decide when grief turned into obsession?”

Fuck.

I asked for this gut punch, though.

I’m almost winded when I say, “I never knew he visited her so often, Benson. Obviously, I checked in with his nurses and knew when he traveled. Didn’t think he spent all that time at the cemetery.”

“He liked to go alone—or at least as alone as he could be with us standing by for him.”

My eyes pinch shut.

“Fuck.” It’s barely audible.

“I know. The doctors don’t think he had the capacity by then, but I think he didn’t want you or anyone else to see him grieving. When your mother was alive, they always had their special moments away from the world. If he ever betrayed that in dark, ugly ways, I never knew about it. It could’ve only happened when I wasn’t around—” He stops talking abruptly.

I get the feeling he’s not done.

“What? Did you remember something?”

He shakes his head. “The only thing I remember now is how much pain Royal was in after Colleen. After he understood she was truly gone. He loved her with his whole heart right up until he couldn’t. I doubt he noticed other women existed while he had his mind. Sometimes in the car, after we left the cemetery, he used to say, ‘one of these days, I’ll get my ticket.’ He meant his ticket to the other side. I’d always say, ‘you don’t mean that.’ And he’d just tell me, ‘Miles is a good boy. He’ll be okay with you, Benson. I just need to see my wife again.’”

So, this is what it feels like to be torn open by a hungry lion.