Chapter 36

BRIGGS

Fear gripped my throat, my fingers tightening around the phone.

“The young lady behind the wheel claims she’s your daughter. But she doesn’t have any identification on her.”

“She is my daughter. Is she okay?”

“Oh yeah. The paramedics checked her out. I had to cuff her and put her in the back of my cruiser because I figured it was a stolen vehicle. She’s pretty angry. Took a swing at me and kicked the door.”

“Where are you?”

I repeated the directions to Vlad. Kyla hadn’t gotten far.

***

“How did she walk away from that?” Vlad muttered.

“She hit a fucking tree?” I climbed out of the car, staring at my beloved Jaguar, the front end crumpled.

“Mr. Westinghouse?”

“Are you the one who called me?”

“Yes, sir,” the cop replied, with a wide grin. He couldn’t have been a day over twenty-five.

“I was out on patrol when I happened upon your daughter,” he continued. “She’s darn lucky. Not much traffic out this way, and she was trapped in the car—didn’t even have a cell phone.”

“Is she being charged?”

“Yes, sir. I’m very sorry, Mr. Westinghouse. I’m a big fan, by the way. But I have to follow protocol.”

“What’s she being charged with?”

“Careless driving, driving without a license, assault of a police officer, and vandalism of police property.”

“Is that all?”

“That’s a lot, Mr. Westinghouse.”

“I was being sarcastic.”

He chuckled nervously. “Oh, right. Of course.”

“Can I speak with my daughter?”

“Are you her legal guardian?”

“No. She’s eighteen.”

“You can’t speak with her until she’s been processed, then. Sorry. And you need to bring some sort of identification in for her.”

“All she has is a US passport and a birth certificate. My daughter isn’t a Canadian citizen.”

“Oh boy! That complicates things, sir. Your daughter is in even more trouble than I thought. She’s a foreign national who committed some serious offenses here tonight. I suggest you get her a good lawyer.”

“Dad!” Kyla screamed.

An officer was trying to transfer her from the back of the cruiser to another police vehicle, but she was fighting him. “Dad! Do something! I don’t wanna go to jail!”

“Just cooperate with the police, Kyla. I’ll call my lawyer, and have you out as soon as I can.”

“That’s it?! This is all your fault! And that’s all you’re willing to do? Call a lawyer?!”

“What else would you like me to do, Kyla?” I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck.

“Don’t fuck your twenty-year-old nanny, for starters!”

“Briggs,” Vlad warned, pointing behind us. “You better shut her up.”

“Fuck!” I yelled when I saw the news van. A reporter was standing in front of it, grinning from ear to ear.

***

I leaned back in my chair, taking a swig of whiskey directly from the bottle. It ran down my throat, a satisfying burn that continued once it reached my empty stomach.

I hadn’t eaten all day, hadn’t slept since the night before last. I couldn’t remember the last time I felt so down.

How did I fuck things up so badly? I had brought my daughter to Canada to give her a better life and build a relationship with her. One week in and she was knee-deep in legal trouble.

Not to mention the fact that I’d created a huge rift between us by lying to her about Layla.

~Layla~. My beautiful girl. She deserved better than a selfish old asshole like me. I was trying to protect her. I had failed miserably.

The paparazzi were swarming like vultures, digging up every bit of information they could about Layla. Everyone was talking about the ~gold-digging whore from the trailer park.~ I was the dumb fool who’d been duped by both sisters.

They rehashed the entire Shelly saga; the siblings were working together, went the theory. One trashy news site even posted a doctored photo of a pregnant Layla, claiming she had trapped me with a baby, just like her sister.

My publicist ordered Layla to shut down all of her social media accounts immediately. Too late! The media already had photos of her. She wouldn’t be able to leave the house until this died down. Reporters were camping at my gate.

“Go away!” I barked when someone knocked on the door. I’d been holed up in my office since we got back from court.

The door opened. I was about to yell at whoever it was ignoring my order until I saw who it was.

“Can I come in?”

“Of course, sweetheart,” I smiled at my beautiful girl, my anger diminishing the moment I gazed into her eyes. “I always want to see you.”

She stepped inside, hesitating in the doorway, her eyes landing on the whiskey bottle on my desk.

“Close the door,” I said. “And lock it.”

She did as I asked, swallowing nervously as she stepped further into the room. The sadness in her eyes gutted me.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered.

“You have nothing to be sorry for, Layla. None of this is your fault.”

“I led your daughter on. She thought I was sexually attracted to her.”

“You befriended her. She’s young and inexperienced. Kyla is just starting to explore her sexuality. She misinterpreted your friendship as something more than it was. That’s not on you, honey.”

“She feels really bad about what happened, Briggs.”

“How do you know?”

“She asked me to come to her room to talk. Kyla was having a sexual relationship with two older women in New Orleans. The one that owns the salon, and her girlfriend.

“She claims it was consensual, but she was seventeen when it started. Those women should be charged. They took advantage of a vulnerable girl.”

“I’ll have my lawyer look into it.”

“She doesn’t want that, Briggs.”

“That’s crazy. They should be held responsible.”

“I agree. But Kyla doesn’t see it that way.”

“What about you, Layla? My daughter sexually assaulted you. Do you plan to press charges?”

“Of course not, Briggs. It was a big misunderstanding. Kyla didn’t come into my room with the intention of forcing herself on me. I thought she was you, so I was a willing participant.”

“She still had no right to do that.”

“She realizes her mistake, Briggs. We talked it out, and we’re gonna be okay.”

“I’m glad she’s not blaming you for this.”

“Are you guys gonna be okay?”

“I honestly don’t know,” I sighed, tapping a pen on my desk blotter. “But she has no choice now but to stay here with me. It was one of her bail conditions. My lawyer filed the paperwork for Kyla’s permanent residency.

“She also said my daughter has to do five hundred hours of community service. Yep. She better not be whining about that. She assaulted a police officer—got off easy.”

Layla blinked, a few stray tears staining her cheeks as she came around the desk. “I love you, Briggs,” she whispered, choking back a sob.

Dread seeped into my empty gut, mixing with the whiskey to create an unpleasant combination deep in the pit of my stomach. I knew what was coming, and I was powerless to stop it.

“You’ve a chance to have a relationship with your daughter, and I can’t be the person standing in your way. As long as I’m here, I’ll be a constant reminder of what happened. With me gone, you and Kyla can start with a clean slate.”

“What about the boys?”

“I’d still like to be a part of their lives. Unless you don’t want me to.”

“I would never do that to them or you.”

“One of Mary’s friends from church has a room for rent here in Huntsville. I can be close to my nephews. I’d like to stay friends with Kyla too. In time, maybe we can move past what happened. I’ll work in a restaurant or something.”

“I don’t want you to go, baby,” I whispered, pulling her onto my lap.

“It’s for the best.”

“For who?”

“Everyone involved.”

“Then why does it feel like you just kicked me in the stomach and ripped my heart out?”

“I guess that’s why it’s called heartbreak.” She looped her arms around my neck, pressing her lips against mine as tears poured down her cheeks. “I’ll never stop loving you, Briggs Westinghouse.”

I crushed my mouth onto hers, lifting her and repositioning her lower half so she was straddling me. Our tongues twisted together, our pelvises grinding hard as we tore at each other’s clothes.

I shoved her yoga pants and panties down past her hips. She stood up and yanked her clothes the rest of the way off, baring her lower half while I pulled my throbbing cock out of my dress pants.

She straddled my hips again, sinking down on my cock. I shoved her shirt up, pulling one of her tits from her bra. She threw her head back, crying out when I bit her nipple.

I licked and sucked hard, my hands finding her hips to take control. She threw her arms around my neck and buried her face in my shoulder while I slammed my cock into her.

“That’s my girl!” I gasped when I felt her pussy walls tightening around my cock as she came. I drove hard and deep, capturing her mouth with a ravenous kiss while I released inside her.

We stayed that way for a long time after, my cock buried deep inside her, holding her tightly against my chest while she cried softly.