The Boss Assignment (Rogue Protectors Book 3) by Victoria Paige (summer beach reads .TXT) 📕

He uncapped the Ferion, poured and rubbed some in between his palms, and picked up a wrist. The one with the scars was having tremors. He began to knead gently, watching her face for pain.

“Is this okay?”

“Yes.”

“Speak.”

Charly dropped her eyes to where he was working on her fingers. “I don’t know where to start.”

His nostrils flared. “How about starting with your dad, because I already know he has something to do with this.”

“He said I didn’t deserve to be a surgeon.”

“He’s an asshole,” Antonio growled. “But we already know that. But why hurt you?”

“He thinks I’m a spawn of Satan,” Charly gave a bitter laugh again. “Did you know I had a twin who died at birth?”

No. Antonio didn’t know this. He didn’t pay attention to her birth record.

“I lost my brother, but I always felt Dad resented me for surviving while my brother didn’t. Mom couldn’t have more children. Dad always pushed me to be the best because of the Carrington side of the family. I rebelled at that. Why should I pay for his insecurities?”

Antonio paused as he picked up more ointment. “You’re right. You shouldn’t.”

“Anyway, our relationship since I became a teenager wasn’t easy. I felt bad for Mom because she always played the peacekeeper. Now I understand she was trying to make up to me for Dad and she was trying to make up to Dad because of me.”

“Charly …”

She gave a brief laugh devoid of humor. “Don’t worry. I’ve had therapy sessions about this and I’m over it. I wish …” she gave a shake of her head. “My mother was the love of my father’s life. I took her away from him.”

“It’s not your fault,” he repeated what he once told her regarding the accident report and he would continue repeating that until she got it. Had she been holding on to that guilt for six years?

“How did you get the scars?” His thumb brushed the jagged line that slashed across her wrist. He swallowed. “Did you try to commit suicide?” Did the bastard weigh her down with guilt until she was forced to do the unthinkable?

“No.” She gave a shaky laugh and this time, Antonio caught the tears that glistened in her eyes that made her lashes spiky. He paused with his massage, sure this was an important revelation. “My father got drunk on the one-year anniversary of my mother’s death. I went home to be with him.”

She started crying and he didn’t know whether to sit beside her and hug her, but that would stop her from unloading and he really felt she needed to tell someone.

Charly swiped at her cheeks and shook her head. “I shouldn’t have gone home. It was too soon. My dad was drunk and …”

The look on her face. The pain. Did the son of a bitch hit her? Hurt her in any way? Antonio stared briefly at her hands. Did the bastard break her wrists?

“He ….” She squeezed her eyes shut. “Oh … God. He grabbed my hand and dragged me into the tool shed. And … and … he …”

Motherfucker.

An impending dread gripped his throat in a vise, and he just knew he wouldn’t like what he heard next.

Charly glanced up and held his eyes. “He grabbed the hammer and smashed my right hand. Said I didn’t deserve to be a surgeon.”

Red clouded Antonio’s vision.

Even when he anticipated the worse, hearing what happened in Charly’s own words was a sucker punch to his gut. What monster would do that to his own daughter? He surged to his feet, forming fists because all he wanted to do was inflict pain on the man who’d crushed Charly’s dreams. He wanted to smash something. “He deserves to be shot,” he snarled. “No. He deserves to burn in hell for an eternity!”

He marched back to where she was and sat beside her. Taking her right hand he clasped it carefully in his, letting her know he felt her pain. “That injury wasn’t in your file.”

“My dad wanted my surgery off the books. He didn’t want his reputation tarnished so he had a friend do an off-site operation. It’s probably why my hand never healed right. See?” She held up her fingers and splayed them. “Two of them are crooked.” Her mouth twisted. “I passed out from the pain, then I was kept sedated for days. Dad’s reason was because I’d become hysterical and would do more damage to myself.”

“What he did was criminal,” he pushed through his teeth. “And after? You didn’t seek to have the surgery corrected?”

“There would be too many questions. I was still racked by too much guilt from my mother’s death.” She shook her head. “I let Dad convince me that we’re going to tarnish her memory. The Carrington name. I wish I hadn’t given a shit then like I don’t now.”

“Charly …” her name was a guttural sound on his lips. He could only stare at her, so beautiful and yet so broken, betrayed by the man who should have been her protector. Well, Antonio was taking on that role. Overcome with an undefinable emotion, he clasped her delicate face and kissed her. He adored the little gasps she made whenever he surprised her with a kiss. He pulled back to see her lids at half-mast and when she opened them, the startling blue of her eyes were so brilliant, they dazzled.

A sad smile touched her lips. “So there you have it—my little sob story.”

His brows drew together. “What you went through is not insignificant. Don’t belittle it. Tell me about your relationship with your father now.”

“It’s nonexistent,” she said. “Ever since that surgery, when I realized my dreams of becoming a surgeon were gone, I threatened him with a restraining order in addition to agreeing to keep my silence if he left me alone.”

“Did he ever apologize?”

“He did, ” Charly said. “But I think there’s something wrong with him. He refuses to accept his problem.”

“What problem?”

“He has a form of psychosis.