His to Hold: A Billionaire Romance (His to Have Book 2) by Piper Hayes

CHAPTER ONE

    CATHERINE

    I slump down in the backseat of the limo and look up through the tinted glass window. The city speeds by in a blur and I feel like I’m going to die. My father is saying something to me, but I’m not listening. I don’t care what he has to say, and I don’t want to hear it. All I want is to get out of this car. It’s been twenty minutes since he showed up in the lobby of Blake’s building and fifteen minutes since he ushered me into a limo. I catch pieces of it: responsibility, embarrassment, betrayal . Thanks, Dad, I get the point.
    “Look at me when I talk to you, young woman,” he finally shouts. He grabs my arm and squeezes hard. I look him in the eye for a second and turn my attention back to the window. Right now, the FBI is tossing Blake’s apartment, sifting through it for any sign that he’s involved in illegal activity, and I might hold the only thing linking him to any evidence: the keys to his secret place across the river. My father’s still yelling. “Of all people, you had to pick him . What was it? You weren’t getting enough attention, Catherine? I raised you better than this. Or did you just decide that with the money gone, you needed to find someone else to sponsor your overindulgent lifestyle?”
    “You didn’t raise me at all,” I tell him. “You were never around. You were always off at some meeting or hiding away with one of your girlfriends you pretended didn’t exist.”
    “Don’t try to change the subject,” he says. “You have gotten yourself in a world of trouble, and I had to pull every last string I had available to get you out of it.”
    “You’re one to talk,” I say. I scowl at him. This is all his fault. I know it in my bones. “You’re the one whose company failed. You’re the one who lost all our money, not him. Either way, why are you so angry at me? Since when do you care about me at all?” I ask him.
    “Don’t ever question my love for you,” he says. “I am trying to protect you.”
    “And how did you know to be at Blake’s building this morning?” I ask.
    Before I realize it, we’re on the highway and headed out of the city. My father still hasn’t answered my question. If it weren’t for the hum of the motor the silence would be deafening. We’re halfway to Connecticut when he finally does answer. “I have contacts,” he says.
    “Where are we going?” I ask. I already know the answer, but I want to hear him explain himself.
    “I’m bringing you home.”
    “My home is in Manhattan.”
    “You mean the apartment I paid for,” he says.
    “The one you paid for when you and Mom decided to separate and move into different houses. Your house is not my home.”
    “This is all irrelevant,” he tells me. “Only one thing matters. You brought shame upon our family name, just as I was getting everything back into place, all because you couldn’t stay away from Blake Bennett. What do you even know about him?”
    “I know everything I need to know.” This is both the truth and a lie at the same time. There’s so much I don’t know about Blake, but there is at least one thing I do know: I know how he feels about me, and I know how I feel about him. We have a connection, an undeniable connection. He chose to trust me. If I wanted to, I could ruin him. But I won’t. I wouldn’t betray his trust for anything or anyone.
    “You know nothing,” my father replies. He sneers and turns away.
    “I know he used to work for you. I know he left. And I know he’s being investigated by the FBI.”
    “Did he also tell you why he might have a specific interest in you?”
    He likes my legs and we had incredible, mind-bending sex the first night we met? I roll my eyes. “No, Dad. I don’t know why anyone would have an interest in me. Let me guess: it’s because I’m your daughter.”
    “Come on, Catherine, be serious for once in your life. You have no idea what he did, do you?”
    “No idea about what?”
    “Your boyfriend