Griff held out his hands defensively, his fingers grasping reassuringly, calmly for my shoulders. I shrugged out of his grasp just in time to stare into his crystal blue eyes. Betrayal. That's the only word that my brain allowed to permeate through and it began to throb, over and over, inside my skull. Words on repeat, slapping my love and trust, taunting my ignorance.

  "Just hear him out," he said. "I think he's got some things to say that you'll want to hear."

  "Kennedy, you don't have to do this," Kole said from behind me. I could tell by her tone that she was just as shocked as me.

  I did have to do this, cut ties with the man who on paper, was my father. I'd known it was in my future, but much like Kole, I'd wanted to be better prepared, in a better frame of mind. I was still so fragile.

  Betrayal.

  My eyes stung with tears. Griff couldn't possibly understand what he'd just done by bringing him here. Could he? Could he know that he'd made a deal with the devil? Whatever things Bernie had told Griff to get him to agree to this, had been lies. Lies that he should've been prepared to hear coming from the man I'd described to him.

  "Please take Kole back upstairs, Griff," I said mechanically, dodging another one of his attempts to touch me. I could barely contain my hatred towards my father…Or the sadness that I felt that one of the few people I trusted most had openly led him to me. "This is my fight, not hers. She's already squared off and won. It's my turn."

  "Kennedy-" he began.

  "Griff, if you…" I said through a false calm, biting back tears and venom and sadness. Something inside me was dying, wilting like neglected plant life, and I could barely stand it. Betrayal. "If you love me, you'll do it."

  He shot me a bewildered look that straddled the fence between apprehensive and apologetic. I wanted answers from him, needed him to assure me that this was some mistake. But because he hadn't seen fit to discuss this with me beforehand, I couldn't. No, instead I had to deal with my father who sat idly awaiting his turn, enjoying the confusion that his presence had created.

  Truthfully, the thought of having this conversation with my father pained me more than I cared to admit because, although Bernie Masters was an uncaring bastard, he was still my father and releasing him would mean killing a dream - one of the main reasons I'd subconsciously put the much needed conversation on the backburner. But I needed to - had to - because everything that he touched, died.

  And I refused to die.

  I'd ignored every single emotion that I'd ever had, sure that if I allowed someone in they'd discard me as easily as the man seated before me. If my father had found it so easy to ignore me, to not love me, why wouldn't someone else? Those exact fears were constantly in the back of my mind. So much so, that even with Griff, I was in a constant battle, sweeping both my fears and insecurities beneath a rug that was already overcrowded.

  God, I had wanted so badly to love him and, pathetically, for him to love me. But one look into his absent eyes as he watched a very shaken Kole being led from the empty bar back upstairs, and I knew he hadn't changed, that he never would…Knew that he was the same man who'd forced my sister to tell egregious lies to the public. He was a man only capable of personal gain.

  He'd hardened my heart - Kole's too. He'd made us feel unworthy and unwanted, never showing me love or how to be loved.

  Basically, he was a sperm donor. Nothing more, nothing less.

  "Didn't expect to find her here," he mused, his eyes leaving the door as it slammed closed. His tone was void of all emotion, his eyes conveying the same thing. Bernie didn't look like a man who was mourning the loss of a daughter…A paycheck maybe, but not a child.

  He studied me, scrutinized me from foot to crown like he did a business plan. There were many nights growing up, where I'd linger in the doorway of his office walking over the creaky boards that lined the hallway, trying desperately to garner his attention. Mostly, he ignored me, but when he did look my way, it was merely to send me away.

  The pesky fly that wouldn't leave. That's what I'd been. What I still was. That little girl in the hallway trying to get someone's attention. Listen to me. Look at me…Love me!

  "You've grown," he finally surmised, lifting a neat hand to curl around the sweating glass. He took a sip of the dark brown liquor, sucking the liquid through trained lips.

  "That's what people do," I spat, finding it hard to harness the bitterness. I bit at my bottom lip hoping to hide the tremble. "Why are you here?"

  "What? A Dad can't visit his daughter?" he questioned, tilting an inquisitive head to towards me.

  I snorted contemptuously, finding his explanation laughable. My father never did anything without a motive. I'd learned that long ago. Despite my best efforts to keep my insecurities at bay, my stomach quivered. He had a knack for making me feel small, exposed in a way that was more than uncomfortable. That was my father's superpower, and he used it freely on anyone that would let him.

  Griff. Betrayal.

  Now I had two words pounding their vicious fists against the inside of my skull. I had to stop letting him get to me. The only kryptonite for Bernie Masters was shutting him down, cutting ties. He couldn't belittle you when you eliminated communication. "Yes, if that Dad had a relationship with said daughter, but considering you don’t and you never have…"

  "Now you know that I've always loved you. You've been well fed, taken care of, right?" he urged. "Anything that you've ever asked for, even hinted that you wanted, you've gotten. I provided it for you, no questions asked."

  His description of love was so erroneous, distorted in a way that I could barely fathom. No wonder Kole and I had been afraid to trust, to love. When you had to wear armor in your own home it was kind of hard to put your guard down in the real world.

  The words were callous and condescending, half-truths. All of my life, he'd thrown money in my direction to keep me occupied. And it had…for a long time. But the little girl had grown up and was sick to death of lugging around the emotional baggage that he'd created. This had to have been how Kole felt before shedding herself of him. I'd reached my breaking point, and the only way to move forward was to put the past to rest.

  My father was another layer of negativity that I needed to shed in order to get down to the good.

  "Yes, you've always graciously thrown money at me, Father," I said coolly.

  "You stopped depositing my checks," he noted, taking another sip from his glass. The ice clinked against the glass in protest as he deposited it onto the cardboard coaster before him.

  "You stopped patronizing Kole long enough to notice?" I quipped.

  A hint of surprised highlighted his eyes. I'd always been the free bird of the Masters girls, but I'd also been tame when in his presence, sitting quietly in my cage so I wouldn't wake the beast. I knew now that at least half of that obedience was because I'd always secretly wanted his love and affection, but since I no longer needed it, I would skip the niceties.

  I nodded towards him disdainfully when he failed to respond. "Yes, well I guess you had to considering she fired you…" I could tell the words hit home, exactly as I'd intended. He didn't care that he'd lost a relationship with Kole. But what he would care about was the fact that he'd failed…and that someone - someone like his compliant daughter - had the gall to point it out.

  "She is an ungrateful-"

  I stamped my foot, the sound of my shoe hitting the hardwood bellowed up to the rafters, stopping him mid-sentence. "If you say one derogatory thing about my sister, I'll have the bouncers kick your ass right here in the middle of the bar," I ground out, my eyes locking with one of them over my father's shoulder. The burly guy gave me a subtle nod, signally that he'd heard and was ready if I needed him.

  Bernie's eyes narrowed. "Honestly, I'm surprised at you. How can someone as strong and independent as you, take up with the likes of her? Hell, I figured her cowardice was half of the reason that you two were never that close."

  "For the record, we've always been close. Distance could never take that away from us," I spat. "You could never take that away from us," I corrected. "She's been more of a parental figure to me than you have ever been and I will not stand here and allow you to say one bad thing about her."

  "She sending you checks now? Is that why you stopped taking mine?"

  "Why are you really here?" I questioned again, narrowing my suspicious eyes at him.

  "Kennedy, I want to start a relationship with you," he offered.

  "Bullshit," I said, crossing my arms defensively over my chest. Betrayal. "You might've fooled Griff with that lie, but you won't fool me," I added, the reference to Griff and his involvement in this like a knife to the heart.

  His lips drew out into a flat line, his displeasure for my tone apparent. "I'm your father whether you like it or not," he responded, slamming both palms down hard over the lacquered wood. The ice rattled again unappreciatively in the glass, the sound causing Bernie's hand to go there. "We're blood, bound together for life," he stated, lifting the glass in a facetious salute before tipping his head back.

  "You getting lonely in that big house all by yourself?"

  His back stiffened. Even beneath the expensive suit, I could see his arm tense and the restraint that he had to use to place his glass back onto the counter without breaking it. I'd struck another nerve.

  "I've never been afraid of being alone."

  "Good to hear," I said, taking a step towards him. I wanted to make sure he heard the things that I wanted to say. "Because you're going to be spending the rest of your life that way."

  "You're as ungrateful as your sister," he spat. He squinted towards me, the action emphasizing the darkness that had crept behind his eyes.

  "Observant in your old age, are we?" I questioned scathingly. "I'm not sure that it suits you. The whole seeing beyond your own nose thing," I said, waving a condescending hand in front of his face.

  "You little…" Bernie seethed, struggling in an effort to stand from where he sat.

  "Watch it," Griff's voice boomed from beside us.

  Betrayal.

  I felt his presence moments later, just the sight of him as he surpassed me to run interference was enough to crush my insides. I'd never been so torn between conflicting emotions in my life - love and hurt, devotion and distrust. My insides were attempting that whole separation of body and soul thing again. It felt like a vacuum sucking out my insides. A heavy vice around my heart.

  "This how you want to do this?" he questioned, aiming the words at Griff. "Your boyfriend and I met under very…unusual circumstances," Bernie explained. "Didn't we?"

  I swallowed hard over an emotional lump that had materialized out of nowhere, trying to sort through what I was certain was another one of my father's rehearsed plans to degrade and destroy. Why hadn't Griff seen through this man? Taken the things that I'd told him and drawn smart conclusions about Bernie and his motives?

  I looked to Griff for a response, any sort of effort to put my father in his place. But there wasn't one. Just frustrated, narrowed eyebrows that shot daggers at the man making the accusations.

  "What's he talking about, Griff?" I didn't like the way that my betrayed voice trembled.

  "I'm talking about the fact that his girlfriend on the side…or ex-girlfriend," he corrected when Griff shot him a furious glance, "was here at the bar on the day we met. An arranged meeting, actually," Bernie said slowly, never taking his eyes off of Griff's.

  The muscles in Griff's jaw tightened.

  I felt sick. "What are you talking about?" I asked again, needing clarification…immediately.

  Griff leaned across the both of us to pry the whiskey glass from Bernie's fingers. "You're done here," Griff said, making a show of walking around the bar to splash the contents into the sink before depositing the glass there too. "We're done here," Griff said, eyeballing the burly man at the entrance, the one who'd agreed to pound Bernie to a pulp if needed.

  "Wait a minute," I demanded, holding out a confused hand towards the approaching bouncer. "Just wait a fucking minute," I said again. "I want answers, Griff…and I want them now. What's he talking about?"

  Bernie chuckled from beside me, tapping his fingers across the bar. "I told you weeks ago that that girl was going to go to the press. She sat right here, crying into a glass of free whiskey, telling everyone that would listen that she was going to get back at you."

  "Weeks ago? What? Griff?" I questioned. Betrayal. More betrayal. "Did you meet her here? Without telling me? Did you know that she was threatening to out me? To out us?"

  "Tell her," Bernie urged him, his face so smug with the thrill of victory it made me dizzy.

  "Is this true?" I said, unable to hide the hurt. Tears flooded my eyes, blurring my vision.

  Griff sighed, his eyes closing down hard over the action as he brought a hand roughly to his hip. When he reopened his eyes, I knew that the words he would say would crush me before he even said them. "Yes."

  "How could you? How could you not say something? At your parents' house? On the porch when I was reading those magazines and blaming it on Mick? You led me to believe that you knew nothing…" My lips were moving in quivering succession, my thoughts a tornado tearing through my brain.

  "Listen, Kennedy," he said softly, taking a step in my direction.

  "Don't!" I yelled, stepping away from him.

  He halted any further forward progress. "Yes, she called me…multiple times after the break-up. The messages were oftentimes drunken nothings, obscene ramblings. But they were nothing more than meaningless threats, so I was ignoring her. I figured she was angry, but would eventually get over it.

  "I guess that's why she showed up here…and then kept showing up here. She started pissing off the staff, scaring some of them even. So they called me. I knew I had to do something about it. It's the only reason that I agreed to see her."

  "Why didn't you tell me…about all of it?" I questioned, feeling numb to the core. "Why didn't you trust me with this?"

  "It was never about trust, Kennedy. Believe me. She said that she'd go to the press if I didn't come here," he explained, his voice soft and somber. "So, I came to hear her out, to appease her. I thought I had everything taken care of. I told her that I loved you. That I was sorry about what didn't happen between her and me, but that it never would and that she'd have to come to terms with that fact. She promised me that she would stop harassing us, leave us alone. She promised that she wouldn't take anything to the press. That had been the deal. If I came to talk to her, she'd end the phone calls, the visits to the bar and the threats."

  "And I told you she was a loose cannon who was as full of shit as a Christmas goose," Bernie cut in. "But you…didn't…believe me. Now look where that's gotten you…And my daughter."

  "Is that the truth?" I questioned. "Is it?" I yelled, my emotions getting the best of me.

  "I met your father for the first time that day," Griff explained, licking his lips. "He did say something of that nature, yes, but Kennedy, you've got to believe me when I say, I never thought that it was her. I did believe that it was Mick or someone inside his camp who had leaked all of that stuff to the tabloids."

  "So, it never crossed your mind that that woman would listen to you go on and on about another woman, listen to you confess your love for someone else, and not go to the tabloids. That's very damned naïve of you," Bernie dug in, playing his cards perfectly, exposing his motive.

  He wanted to tear me down. He'd been planning it from the start. But why? Why would a father do something like this to his daughter? And how could Griff play right into his hand? How could he lie to me?

  Betrayal.

  Admittedly, I didn't know much about love, but I knew it involved trust…and honesty. And neither of those things had been considered by Griff when meeting with Felicia behind my back or arranging this meeting with Bernie.

  "Go to hell," Griff spat, turning his attention towards my father. "If I'd have known exactly the type of man that you were, I'd have thrown you out of this bar that very day."

  "But, you didn't," Bernie pointed out, smiling his malevolent smile. "And here I am."

  "No, I didn’t," Griff agreed. "Because I happen to believe that people deserve second chances," he said heatedly. His fist connected with Bernie's face before I had much time to react or process the action. "That naïve enough for you?" he seethed, standing over a struggling man. "Now get the hell out of my bar!" Griff bellowed.

  Bernie stood to his feet, pulling the pocket square from his expensive jacket to hold over his bleeding nose. "Coming to her rescue now won't earn you any brownie points, Son. She's just like her old man, doesn't trust a soul…And with very good reason, apparently."

  "I'm nothing like you," I yelled. My eyes had met max water capacity and were milliseconds away from sending that water down my face in streams. The gamut of emotions that I'd been experiencing not helping matters. "Nothing!" I bellowed, my voice again reaching out desperately to the rafters above.

  "That's where you're wrong," Bernie said, leaning forward to pat my shoulder. "You and I are cut from the same cloth. Emotionally, mentally…we are the same."

  "That's not true," I seethed, wishing desperately that his words weren't true. "Get out! Get out…now,” I demanded, allowing the bouncer to step forward this time. He gathered Bernie up by his arm, unapologetically snatching the appendage in the direction of the exit. "This is the last time that we see each other, the last time we speak," I managed, wiping frustrated hands across my now tear-soaked face. "If you try to contact me, I'll file a restraining order."

  "You really are as ungrateful as your sister," he called out to me, struggling against the bear of a man. "You and your sister both have been handed everything and couldn't make good on one single thing. You're useless. The both of you," he said heartlessly, his last words before being thrown out of the door.

  I slid to the floor, my body collapsing down forcefully along with my emotions. My heart bled in a way that changed the shape of your future. I was confused and angry...hurt and betrayed…and completely heartbroken.