Blood Trust - Eric van Lustbader [138]
“Vera.” His tone held an unmistakable note of warning.
“So many furrows, so little time.” Her fingers traced the whorls of his ear. “I know, Daddy, time is running out, soon enough you won’t be able to get it up at all.”
“Godammit, Vera!” He pushed her roughly away from him. “What the hell is the matter with you?”
“Nothing a little parental love wouldn’t cure.” She gave him a mock-pout from her corner of the seat.
“Bullshit. You wouldn’t know what to do with parental love.”
“Good thing,” she said, “because you don’t know how to show it.”
This exchange was followed by an oppressive silence.
Finally, she said, “You asked me to get close to Andy. We both knew what that meant, so when you think about it, you’ve been pimping me out.”
“I’m doing what any good spymaster would do, keeping an eye on my people.”
“If you give yourself any more credit I’ll throw up.”
“Don’t get superior. I’m not the whore in this scenario.”
“That’s really how you see me, isn’t it?”
He turned away, but remained silent.
Vera spent several minutes fantasizing about punching him in the face. “Why are you expending so much energy on trying to find Caro, anyway?”
“Why do you think? She’s my daughter.”
“Now who’s bullshitting, Daddy? Caro’s a thing. She ran away from you, so you couldn’t have her.”
“Oh, please!”
“As opposed to me, who ran right back into your arms.” The vulpine smirk returned to Vera’s face. “Caro is someone neither your wealth nor your influence can affect. That’s something you simply can’t tolerate, Daddy.”
“Not true.”
“Of course it’s true. You think I don’t know you. You’re so fucking defended a fucking termite couldn’t get in, that’s what you think, isn’t it? You don’t fool me, you old bastard. You stand naked in front of me, I see you for what you are.”
He continued to stare ahead. “I made myself what I am today; I didn’t have anyone’s help. Not that I didn’t take favors when they were offered or exchanged for others. Only an idiot would have refused. But I’m my own man, Vera, always have been. That’s the one thing I’m most proud of. So when you … I’m not interested in anyone’s opinions of me—especially yours.”
“Why would you? You’re the center of the world.”
“That’s the spirit, honey!”
She chuckled. “Oh, Daddy, you’re so transparent, and d’you know why? Because you’re such a shitty parent. Having kids was never your thing. Your wanting Caro back has nothing whatsoever to do with her being your daughter.”
“Your attempts at psychoanalyzing me are laughable.”
She ignored his jibe. “It’s about you, Daddy. Everything’s all about you. Caro ran away from you and that’s what you can’t tolerate.”
“That’s nonsense and you know it.”
She shook her head, moving out from her corner to close with him again. “You keep trying to undercut me, but I’m the only one whose opinion matters to you.”
Carson stared out the window at the blur of the passing cityscape. “Eddy’s opinion mattered to me.”
“But your brother is dead, Daddy.” She slid farther toward him. “And that’s the crux of it. You never got over your brother. He was younger than you and yet he was elected president of the United States.”
“Not without my help!”
In the small silence, Vera said, “You see? It’s all laid out like the grid of a landing strip. If only you could see it.”
Carson’s voice was bleak. He seemed suddenly lost in time. “See what?”
“How much Edward meant to you, how much you loved him.” She stared at her father for a moment, and when she spoke again her voice had softened considerably. “Did he love you back, Daddy?”
“I … I don’t know.”
“Sure you know. You must know.”
“He accepted my help. He was grateful. He—”
“Fuck it, Daddy! Would you for once tell the truth?”
“It would be easier if he hadn’t thanked me.”
“But he did.”
“Oh, yes. Thanking people was always one of Eddy’s strong suits.”
“You say that like it’s a congenital defect.”
“It made him less sincere,” Carson said, “in my