The Billionaire's Secret Kink Box Set: Knox: Secret Alpha Billionaire Romance Bundle (Rosesson Brothers Book 1) (27 page)

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Knox

Knox whistled at Lulu and gave her a hand command to climb onto the floor, staring at Banning the entire time. Anger beat at his temples, threatening his self-control. The only person who'd ever made him this angry in the past was his own father. Here was another sorry excuse for a father, sitting in his quiet house, enjoying his quiet life, when really he should be burning in the fires of Hell. Knox felt his teeth grind together as his jaw clenched tight.

Some men should be fucking castrated and a stellar example sat right in front of him. There was little Knox hated more than the thought of rape, the thought of someone taking a woman by force, making her give up that special part of herself, with no thought or care of what it would do to her.

Knox bent over Mica and grabbed her hand, pulling her to her feet. He already knew she wouldn't want to stay.
He
couldn't stay. If he had to stare at Banning for one more minute he'd do something he'd regret later.

Knox pulled a business card out of his pocket and whipped it across the room, not caring where it landed.

"You were right about one thing, old man," he snarled. "What you did was unforgivable. Don't try to contact her. Ever. But you call the number on that card I just gave you and explain what you were paying Bailey for, then you relay anything you can think of that might tell us where Bailey is or what he has planned. Then you fucking forget she exists. You don't deserve a daughter. You don't deserve anything."

Knox pulled Mica to the door and out onto the porch, whistling for the dogs. He slammed the door shut behind them, his eye catching Banning's one last time, reading misery there.
Good
.

Knox held Mica at arm's length and looked at her, trying to read the emotional weather in her eyes for the first time since her
father
had dropped his little bombshell.

She looked ok, better than he would have thought. Her eyes met his and her mouth twisted in a small, sad line. She grabbed for him, her fingers brushing his wound under the bandage. Knox kept his face blank, refusing to display the pain on his face. Physical pain was nothing next to emotional pain. He knew that. He couldn't imagine what she had to be feeling.

She'd been light, joyful, excited over the last two days, and although she hadn't said, he could tell she had been anticipating a happy meeting with the man on the other side of the door they stood next to. She'd dressed carefully, and to impress, in a lightweight white sweater and a simple black skirt with tights and flats.

Maybe she'd thought she would hear stories of when she had been young, or even stories of her mother growing up. Maybe she'd been looking forward to pictures or home videos. The Mica he knew was a happy person, a woman who tried to look at the bright side of things. She never would have spent time imagining why her mother gave her those warnings.

Knox kicked himself mentally. He should have kept her away. He knew how low humanity could sink. He should have known there had to be a damn good reason for the promises her mother had demanded.

"You ok?" he whispered to her, trying to let his anger at the old man bleed away.

Mica clutched at him, creating more pain in his upper arm. He focused on it. If only he could take all of her pain upon himself, he would gladly do it.

"My father?" she whispered back. "He is my father?"

Knox nodded. "Seems like it."

Mica leaned into Knox's chest, letting go of his arms and collapsing into him. Knox crushed her into a bear hug, then helped her down the steps to the truck. The sooner they got out of there, the sooner she could try to deal with it mentally. Knox shook his head as they walked, realizing that for the first time in his life, his own father didn't seem like the worst father on the globe.

Knox pulled open the passenger door and helped Mica into the seat, then fastened her seatbelt around her. He called Lulu to him, picking her up and placing her on Mica's lap. Mica's arms snuck around the big dog and she buried her face in the dog's fur again. The dog licked Mica's hair lovingly, twice, then turned to look at Knox. Knox gave her a nod, then called Tiny and directed him into the back seat. Knox ran around to the driver's seat and climbed in, staring at the house as he cranked the ignition.

He reversed down the driveway slowly, giving Mica a chance to take one final look around if she wanted, knowing they would never be back.

Mica

Mica cried silently into Lulu's fur, barely noticing the movement of the truck onto the road that would take her away from ... that awful man.

"How could he do that to his niece?" she choked out, her throat constricting.

Knox didn't say a word. Mica picked her head up to squint at him. He was shaking his head, a vein standing out in his neck, his jaw line clenched tight. He looked like he wanted to hit something.

"I'm sorry, Mica. I shouldn't have brought you," he said, dangerous spaces between his words.

Mica snuffled and sat up straight, twirling her fingers in Lulu's fur, using the sensation as a touchstone to simplicity. Her pain was causing Knox pain, and she didn't want that. She'd always known there had to have been an awful reason for her mother to forbid her to seek out any family. She couldn't have imagined anything this horrible, but she should have known better than to head in there happily, thinking everything would be flowers and rainbows.

"Not your fault, Knox.
I
wanted to go. I—I'm glad I know."

Mica stuck her chin forward and held her head up. She
was
glad she knew, in a sick and awful way. No more wondering. No more pondering. No more thinking about
going home
. There was no home for her where her mother's family lived. San Francisco was her home. Seattle was her home. Justin and her work was her home. Her heart fluttered to her throat as she peered surreptitiously at Knox. A fierce longing went through her. She and Knox could create a home together, a stable and loving home where all of this would seem like nothing but a transient nightmare.

Knox hit the heel of his hand against the steering wheel as he drove down the lonely country road. "Damnit!" he yelled, startling Mica. "What is
wrong
with people?"

Mica stared at him, disheartened to see how angry he was. Maybe she should be angrier too. She let all of her thoughts about the man they had just left swirl through her brain, unchecked. Her father was also her great-uncle, the half-brother of her grandmother. Mica felt a ripple of nausea pass through her. He'd admitted that he had raped Mica's mother. That was the worst of it. Mica tried to imagine loving a child that had resulted from rape the way her mother had loved her and she didn't know if she could do it. Her earlier determination to be glad that she knew seemed premature now, foolish even. Mica bit the inside of her lip and tensed, fighting the urge to collapse and cry.

Knox took one hand off the steering wheel and covered her left hand. She let go of the dog's fur and twisted so her fingers could twine in his. He felt so solid, so comforting.

"We don't get to choose our parents," he said slowly. "What your dad did doesn't reflect on you in any way."

Tears did flow from Mica's eyes then, and there was nothing she could do to stop them.

"I'm sorry," Knox said, his voice heavy.

"I'm sorry, too," Mica whispered, swiping at her face. "I'm sorry we came all the way out here for nothing."

"Don't be," Knox told her, taking his gaze from the road for a moment and placing it on her, sweeping her emotions along with just a glance. "Time with you could never be wasted."

A deep serenity filled Mica at his words, spreading warmth through her midsection. No one had ever said anything quite so sweet to her before.

Mica sniffled and gave him a lopsided smile.

His phone rang in his pocket. He ignored it, but after a moment, it rang again. Knox let go of her hand so he could check his phone. "Daxton," he told her. "You alright if I take this?"

Mica nodded.

"Dax," he said into the phone after he answered it.

Mica listened to Knox's words, letting her thoughts continue on without her paying attention to them. They parried and thrust in the back of her mind, unable to be quiet or still.

"Ok Dax, thanks. We contacted Paul Banning. He's a dead end for now, but he's going to call the office. Make sure everyone knows he is only to talk to you. And if you aren't available the call should be connected to me on my cell."

Mica could tell by the tone of Knox's voice that talking to Paul Banning was the last thing he wanted to do. She refused to think of Banning as her father. Knox was silent for several moments and when he spoke again, Mica could tell they had moved on to a different subject.

"Really, she's talking?"

Lulu raised her head, attracted by the eagerness in Knox's voice. Mica felt the same. Knox listened for a few moments before talking again.

"No, I didn't go, but you didn't either, did you?"

"I will! Tomorrow maybe. I can't get there today. Thanks, man, I'll let you know."

Knox hung up the phone and Mica felt a new energy in the air. His earlier anger seemed to have disappeared. She waited, trying not to hold her breath, curious as to who
she
might be.

Knox's eyes sparkled and he gripped the steering wheel harder. "My mom asked for me."

"What?" Mica said, stunned. His mom who hadn't talked for years?

"Daxton said she's writing stuff down. She missed us all last Sunday and had a bit of an episode, but she's been writing ever since. She still won't talk, but she wrote a note to one of the nurses that she wanted to see me. That she had something important to tell me. The nurse says she's written fifteen or twenty pages about it and won't let anyone read it."

Mica thought back. Last Sunday had been the day that Bailey had forced his way into Knox's home, then stabbed him. Three of the four brothers had been at the hospital for most of the day.

"Knox, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you miss going to see your mother."

Knox patted her hand absently, his thoughts far away. "I know you didn't. Don't be sorry. She asked to meet you."

"What?" Mica sat straight up in the seat and turned towards Knox, making Lulu shift her weight onto the space between Mica and Knox.

"Daxton went over there tonight, apologized for all of us, and explained what had happened. Apparently he mentioned that I'd met someone and Mom wrote in the notebook that she wants you to come. She was quite adamant. She wouldn't give him the papers either. She wrote that I had to be the first one to read them."

"Has she ever met any of your other, um, friends? Mica asked in a small voice.

Knox smiled at her and grabbed her hand again, lifting it over the dog, up to his lips. "Friends? Is that what we are?"

Mica could feel herself blush. "We've never talked about it."

Knox gave her a look that seemed to say he couldn't believe it. "Really? We need to fix that right now. Mica, will you be my girlfriend?"

Mica laughed at his frank and open question, and the absolute confidence she saw in his expression. "Yes."

"Good. I wish I had a gift for you, something to give you."

"You don't need to give me anything, Knox."

Knox drug his thumb across her palm and her heart sped up. "I want to, though. I want you to know what you mean to me. What you've ..."

His voice trailed off, leaving the thought incomplete. Mica stared at Knox's hand. His strong, calloused, masculine hand that dwarfed hers. A warm glow filled her. "I know, Knox. Just the way you touch me and take care of me tells me."

Knox squeezed her hand and Mica had to wonder at her about-face. A few short moments ago she'd felt despairing, almost desperate, but now the shadows felt lifted. To her, nothing that she had discovered in that small house could hurt her at the moment. Her mom was gone, and beyond the pain of life. Mica had lived this long without knowing or caring who her father was. She just wouldn't think about it anymore.

"Will you go with me to see my mother?" he asked, and Mica could hear uncharacteristic, little-boy shyness behind the question.

"Of course, when?"

"We could drive halfway home tonight, then get up early and drive the rest of the way tomorrow. We could be there by early afternoon."

"Perfect," Mica said, hoping work could function without her for a few more days. She couldn't go back anyway, not with Bailey out there, somewhere. Meeting Knox's mother would make her feel less like she was hiding and more like she was taking a vacation with her new ... boyfriend. Mica smiled lightly, butterflies tickling her insides at the thought.

Mica watched the evergreen trees whiz by on both sides of the road as Knox returned his hand to the steering wheel and fell silent. Depressing thoughts tried to crowd back in on her again. She pet the warm, furry body next to her and tried to let them be inconsequential. Tried not to believe what her own brain was saying. Tried not to feel the pain her mother must have felt so long ago.