Daisy's Choice (A Tale of Three Hearts) (62 page)

Donovan blinked at her. "You're mistaken. I wasn't there."

“
Yes you were. I saw you. My choices, my feelings for him and his for me, are not something you’re hired to control. You got that. You’re sick. No wonder this self-hatred with Aiden is terminal. You want to keep him locked in anger and his madness.”

“
As I said—”

“
I don’t care!” Daisy seethed. She shook all over with fury. She felt violated. What did Aiden share with this man about them? Who was Donovan McBride really? She wanted answers, and she was going to get them. All off them. “You either take me to Aiden now, or I’ll make such a scene in this hotel that it will turn the head of every guest and eventually get back to him. I don’t care what you say. Aiden doesn’t like to be controlled. Can’t be controlled. So I know for a fact he doesn’t know what you’re doing in here. Am I right or wrong?”

They stared at each other across a ringing silence before he spoke. “I was not at the hospital. You’re mistaken.”

The reply was totally off mark. She drew back. “The hell I am. I saw you.”

“
Mistaken!” Donovan snapped, baring his teeth. "And don't you dare tell Aiden otherwise. "

His glare burned through her. Daisy studied him, unsure of his denial in the face of all that was said. He just bragged to being involved in every aspect of Aiden’s life. Why deny this? Donovan stepped from the door toward her and instinctively she stepped back. “You have no idea who Aiden Keane is. Did he ever tell you of Maxine? Of what became of his last shot at fatherhood?”

Daisy said nothing. Her silence misread, Donovan eased on the intensity, thinking he owned the moment.

“
You didn’t think yourself the only woman to come with news of a baby?”

“
I don’t want to hear this.”

“
I think you do, Ms. Johnson. I think you believe yourself special, his salvation, and it’s time you learned the truth. He goes through these spells, needing something to stay away boredom, something different.”

He eyed her, and she knew he referenced her naïveté or color––possibly both. “Maxine thought she could reach him. She had big plans for a future with him. He seemed taken with her until she announced she was pregnant. Aiden’s rejection of her sent her spiraling out of control. He gave her a healthy sum to terminate the pregnancy. I saw to it,” Donovan smirked.

Daisy swallowed at the tale.

He nodded. “She, like you, thought the money would be worth it. Sad to say, a year later she tried to kill herself. I took care of that too,” Donovan laughed.

Daisy wanted to smack him.

“
Now you see, Aiden Keane isn’t some hero or some wounded bird. He is exactly what that bumpkin of a boyfriend tried to warn you about. Do you still want to go upstairs and save him now?”

Donovan’s words cut through her. She bit back her emotion in the face of his smugness. “Take me to him,” she managed. “Now!”

“
Just know when he’s done with you, I’ll take care of that too.” Donovan turned and headed for the door.

Daisy glared at him, having reached her limit. “And how long will that take!” she snapped. "A day, week, month? Try five years… you mean bastard.” Daisy advanced on him. “I never cared about his past.”

“
You should.”

“
I never cared about his sins.”

“
You will.”

“
You made a big mistake by revealing your rotten soul to me.” She pointed her purse at him.

“
You’ll make a bigger one by ignoring his,” Donovan replied coolly.

“
We’ll see. We’ll see.”

“
I’m speaking plainly to you. This is your chance to walk out of those doors and have your life back. Free of him. You ran for five years for that chance. Well, it’s here and now. You go up there and tempt the beast and you can blame no one but yourself for the price you’ll pay.”

“
Go to hell. You don’t care about my salvation or me. I’m not that girl who thought a million dollars was worth her pride. And since you’ve wielded such influence in his life, let’s see what I can do.” Daisy shook her head in disgust. “No wonder he’s so messed up, with leeches like you sucking at his veins. I want to see him now!”

Donovan’s face went blank. She was ready to level another threat when he withdrew, turned and opened the door for her to pass. She was escorted to the private elevator without his assistance. Instinctively, she looked back at him and he’d disappeared. Daisy felt soiled from their exchange and more disillusioned, but she couldn’t let him win. With everything and everyone trying to keep her from Aiden, she was more determined than ever to reach him. That may be why her mom said she was reckless and that she had blinders on. Maybe. But she had something that she wasn’t ready to let go of: his love.

The elevator opened. It seemed like eternity as the numbers blinked one by one, scaling upward to his penthouse suite on the top floor. When it stopped, so did her heart. It took her to make a move for it to start beating again. There was another man in the hall. He was a tall surly looking fellow dressed in dark clothes with a tiny receiver cuffed to his ear. Apparently, it alerted to her arrival. He let her pass.

Daisy entered his penthouse to tomb-like silence. Gently, she shut the door, eyes taking in the sterile masculine order of his place. Not much defined its furnishings; a chair here, a lamp table there. The floors dark marbled finish shined, making it appear she stood on glass. She stepped through, trying to not disturb the silence.

Listening for him, she heard movement to her right. Her head turned to see him walking out of a room. He was dressed in dark slacks and a matching crew-neck shirt with the sleeves drawn to the bend of his arms. Even in the distance she caught whiff of his aftershave. He headed for a room out of her vision. Daisy lingered in her hidden spot for a moment, forcing herself to set aside Donovan’s cruel words and focus on her purpose. Focus on them. She dropped her purse to a chair she passed. Nervous, she wiped her clammy palms down the sides of her hips, then went in after him. The room she found him in was apparently his office.

Daisy went inside to the next room. It opened out to a spacious office. He was at the bar of all places, lifting a decanter and pouring.

“
Can you fix me one too?” she asked.

He froze. She could see him tense and his broad shoulders straighten, bringing him out of his relaxed position. He cast her a sideways look, his head not fully turned. Not quite the welcome she had hoped.

She cleared her throat. “Hi.”

Aiden lowered the decanter. Seeing something she could not, he stared at the stacked bottles and glasses, determined to look any place but her eyes.

“
Kind of early to be… um drinking. Don’t you think?”

At first nothing. He just stood there. Then he turned from the bar and locked eyes with her. Cool green orbs that she once found so intimidating, went over her in one fluid sweep before returning to meet her questioning stare. Despite her fear of rejection, she felt a hot flush and awful sense of joy to see the spark of desire under his heavy lids. And her stomach churned with worry at the raw bloodshot look he favored her from a night of drinking. She held her ground. Daisy didn’t want to do this with him drunk.

But she would.

“
I drove all morning to get here. The least you could do is speak, Aiden.”

“
Why?” his voice croaked dryly.

“
Why do you think, sweetheart?”

Aiden stiffened at her tone, as if it hurt him to hear love in her voice. He turned back to the bar to finish his drink.

“
Don’t turn away from me. And don’t drink. I want to talk to you. Besides, it looks like you’ve had more than you should already.” She approached him. He tossed back a shot then poured another. “Aiden, I’m serious, damn it. Stop and face me.”

He threw the glass at the wall. A dark stain splattered over the eggshell white finish, now a tribute to his pain. His shoulders sagged, but his frame bulked as he breathed in and out angrily. Hands to either side of the bar, his head dropped. She could hear the forced restraint when he spoke. “Go. Leave.”

“
I will. Trust me on that.”

To this he did turn and she made sure she gave him the same grave look. “I’ll walk out of that door and never look back unless you give me a reason right now not to. I mean it. You aren’t the only one in here with pride.”

“
What if I’m out of reasons? What if your mother is right, Pete is right, all of them? What if there isn’t a single thing to offer that’s worth staying for?”

“
Then that makes you a coward. And the man I love ain’t afraid of anything, least of all himself.”

“
I can’t be him.”

“
Who?”

“
Like the men Daisy Johnson loves. Pete. Your father. The butcher. Fuck, I don’t know. You name them. Those ‘good’ men in your life. The one a daughter can look up to. The one you can bring around your family. Even if we get off on torturing each other, Amy deserves better.”

“
She calls you daddy.”

Aiden shook his head. “Lucky kid. She dodged the bullet on that one.” He chuckled again, a deep rumble in his chest, with the bitterness evident. “I’m not her daddy.”

“
And that’s what it boils down to, right? You not being her father? Because when you thought you were, you had no problem getting my baby's hopes up. You didn’t hesitate one minute to think of your self as worthy, entitled. In fact, you had our life all mapped out. But because you don’t ‘own’ her by blood, then—”

“
Don’t take it there. That’s not it!”

“
The hell it isn’t!” Daisy shouted back. The tension between them coiled and tightened. She swallowed with difficulty but found her voice. “You! You told me that you wanted us and you loved us, and I believed you. Then what do you do? Run? Leave me at the doctor’s office?”

“
I wanted to avoid a scene.”

“
A scene! What the hell difference did it make then? I was hurt too. I wanted you to be her father.”

“
No you didn’t.”

“
Damn it, don’t tell me I didn’t. Why would I choose this misery of constantly beating my head against this wall around you if I didn’t love you? Truth is, things got tough, scary, hard and
you
ran.”

“
I came back.”

“
You came to the house to… to see me. But you let my mom turn you away. You wouldn’t even let me turn you away when you found me.”

“
Your mother was pretty damn convincing, Daisy. But I didn’t let her turn me away. I wanted to prove her wrong. Prove to you I could—”

“
Prove what?”

“
That I could change? That I could be good for you? That we could still be… a… you know.”

“
The word is family, Aiden!”

“
I know the fucking word!” he shouted back.

“
Then say it! Aloud. You wanted us to be a
family
!”

Aiden’s chest heaved and his eyes narrowed angrily.

“
Say it!”

“
I went to see Pete. To talk to him. To—”

“
To what? Say it!”

“
Damn it. Stop pushing me!”

“
You need to open your mouth and say it!”

Aiden turned from her. “I’m sure he gave you a play by play of how it went down.” He looked back to see her glare, and he fixated on her. “I just wanted to talk. It got out of hand, like it always does when that runt is around.”

“
Mature Aiden. Call him names and fight with him. That’s definitely the way to talk!”

“
I only wanted to talk! But I couldn’t. Before I knew it, all I wanted to do was break his neck!”

“
Why? Because you’re jealous?”

“
That’s what you want to hear?”

“
I want to hear the truth.”

“
Yeah, I hate the kid," Aiden spewed.

“
He’s a man.”

“
Don’t push me, Daisy.”

“
I will push! I want it all out on the table. He’s a man. He was my man first. Right? You think it’s competition? That he holds some special place in my heart? It’s beyond insane for you to be jealous of Pete. I chose you.”

“
By default,” he mumbled.

“
Go to hell! Go to hell!”

Aiden smirked. “Don’t stand there and deny that you two share something special or something that we don’t.”

“
I’m a woman, Aiden. Not the little girl that you had to trick into bed. I outgrew cherry flavored bubblegum, fucking in the back of a beat up Chevy and my first love. Pete was my first love. That's all.
Don’t punish me, because I’m yours
!”

Aiden’s face slowly lifted, and his gaze locked with hers. “So you’re my first love?”

“
Maxine wasn’t.”

She regretted it the moment she said it. He froze. His eyes went cold. “What did you say to me?”

Daisy crossed her arms and held firm. “Pete and I are over. He and I don’t agree on much these days, but we agree on that. I can’t help our beginning, Aiden. I can’t change it, and you know what? I don’t want to. It’s evident the only way to get through to you is the drama. Nothing is easy with you.”