Elite (Empire High, #2)(69)

I felt a lump forming in my throat. Maybe his heart was hardened by his wife. Maybe he was kind to my mother. Maybe he wasn’t always like this. I’d seen glimpses of his kind heart. He was nice to me too.

“My wife will never approve of you.” He tilted his head to the side as if he was inspecting me. “But I do. I don’t want you to change. I want you to come to me when you think something is unjust. I want you to tell me if I’m doing something wrong. And I don’t want you to be scared of standing up for what you believe in, even if it goes against Isabella or my wife.”

“Is that why you liked my mom? Because she told you when things were unjust?”

“I loved your mom because she was everything I could never have. She didn’t care what people thought of her. She was beautiful inside and out. She was honest. She was…happy.”

She was beautiful. And always honest. But I held on to his last description the most. Because knowing that my mom was always happy was what I needed to fall asleep at night. The memory that even in her last days, I was the reason she smiled. “She was happy.” Even during the hard times. She had always been quick to make me laugh. I wiped beneath my eyes, trying to hide my tears. She never spoke about Mr. Pruitt. But she also never dated anyone. I was pretty sure he had broken her heart. And that she’d always loved him.

He nodded. “She wouldn’t have been happy with me. It was good that she left.” He cleared his throat and stood up straight. “You have my word, Anderson’s job is secure.”

“Good.”

He walked back around his desk, seemingly dismissing me. But I had one more thing to discuss.

“I signed the papers,” I said. “So you can tell me what you do now.”

He smiled. “I’m a businessman.”

“Right.” I’d gathered that much. “But what kind of business?”

“You can think of me as a CEO of sorts. Of a lot of different businesses.” He opened up his laptop again.

“Of what businesses?”

“Family run businesses. Well, a few families really.”

“Can’t you be more specific than that? We’re not in public right now.”

He looked up from his screen. “We’re always in public. Even when you think we’re not.”

“What does that mean?”

“That I never discuss business outside this room.”

I nodded even though I didn’t know what he was talking about. “Are you a hitman?” I blurted the words out before I could stop myself.

He laughed. “A hitman?” He laughed again. “Heavens no. And they prefer to be called wet workers.”

What? I’d certainly never heard that term before. And I had a sinking feeling in my stomach about why he knew that random fact. If he wasn’t a hitman, did he hire them? I thought about how he’d asked if Isabella had threatened me with his assets. “Do you have wet workers on your payroll?”

He steepled his fingers above his desk. “Brooklyn, my line of work is dangerous. And by association, my family’s lives are also in danger. And our extended family of business owners. I take every precaution to keep what’s mine safe.”

“So that’s all you can tell me? That it’s a dangerous family business?”

He leaned back in his chair. “Trust me, that’s all you need to know. Don’t you have a dance to get ready for?”

“Was my mom scared of you? Is that why she left?” I needed to know everything. There were missing pieces in my story. I wanted him to fill them in.

“I was married when I got your mother pregnant. I was trying to do the right thing by my family.” He looked back at his laptop. I thought he was going to tell me to leave, but then he added, “If I could go back, I wish that I could say I’d do it differently. But my obligations are hard to break ties from. I had to let your mother go. For her own safety. She wasn’t scared of me, but she should have been.”

I swallowed hard. “Should I be scared of you?”

“Are you?”

Honestly? “A little.”

He smiled. “A little fear is always a good thing in my book. It means you’re precautious. It’ll do you well.”

“That was not in any way an answer.”

He laughed. “You have no reason to fear me, Brooklyn. You’re my daughter. I couldn’t make your mother mine. But I already made you mine. You’re Brooklyn Pruitt. You’re protected under my name. You’re untouchable.”

Untouchable. The nickname for the Hunter and Caldwell brothers wasn’t lost on me. Officially I was now one of them. Unofficially? I’d never be.

Mr. Pruitt had said something about my last name being Pruitt before. Had he actually changed my last name without my permission? Legally? That seemed like a discussion for a different day. Because he still hadn’t answered my other questions. “If I’m untouchable, then why do you have Miller watch me 24/7?”

“Because sometimes people like to touch what isn’t theirs, now don’t they?”

“What is that supposed to mean?” It felt like I was in trouble. And I’d come here to get Tiffany out of it, not push myself into a hole.

“Matthew Caldwell signed your relationship contract and had a different date than you did. He said your relationship started several weeks before you did. Which means that you were already seeing him before you came here. You’re just like me. Always trying to reach for more.”