Golden Lies - Barbara Freethy [72]
"I need to see my father," she said abruptly, hating the way Martin had derailed her.
"Look, Paige, I'm sorry if you think I came down too hard on you. I just want to protect you from more pain. And I don't think hanging around with this McAllister guy is a good idea."
"You don't need to protect me. I can take care of myself. Understood?"
"As long as you understand that there's a good possibility your father was up to something by taking that dragon into Chinatown in the first place."
"Up to what? We know he took it to show Jasmine. Big deal."
"She might not be the only one he showed it to. Maybe he took it to someone who could make him a fake."
His suggestion left her speechless. "My father doesn't deal in fakes. How can you say that, Martin?"
"Because he didn't have a good reason to take it out of the store. It went against company policy, our insurance guidelines, our security measures, everything."
She couldn't refute that. She didn't know why her father had taken the dragon from the store, but Martin's doubts gave her even more motivation to find out. "When he wakes up, he'll tell us why he went to Chinatown. And his reason won't have anything to do with the commissioning of a fake statue. He cares too much about art to even consider such a thing. You'll see I'm right. When my father wakes up, he'll tell us what really happened. And then there won't be any more doubts or questions."
"I'm looking forward to that moment," Martin replied. "Until then, don't talk to any more reporters, Paige. You'll only add fuel to the fire."
The fire eating away at her family's reputation. She had to find some way to put it out.
Chapter Fourteen
After discussing her husband's case with the private duty nurse, Victoria dismissed the woman so she could be alone with her husband. As she stood now by his bed, she couldn't remember the last time she'd watched David sleep. He looked old, she thought, panic filling her chest. And he was two years younger than she was. This shouldn't be happening now. They weren't the right age to be facing this crisis. They had so much left to do.
But she wasn't dying, she reminded herself quickly. She was okay. And David would be all right, too. She had to believe that. He was the foundation of her life. Maybe not him exactly, but who he was. She hadn't married just him; she'd married his family, his heritage. She knew more about his ancestors than he did. She was the one who made sure the distant relatives got Christmas cards and birthday presents. She was the true Hathaway, and she wouldn't lose that.
She certainly wouldn't lose it to divorce. She still couldn't believe the nerve of that woman coming here to her husband's bedside. Well, it wouldn't happen again. The nurses had strict instructions not to let Jasmine Chen anywhere near David.
How could he have picked a woman so unattractive, so unappealing, so unstylish, so lower-class? He had a wife who was beautiful, smart, sophisticated. Why had he needed someone else?
Angry tears blurred her vision, and she drew in a sharp breath, hating the fact that she still cared about him at all. Look at how he had treated her, cheating on her with another woman, and God knows how many others. And now the daughter had surfaced. She had known of Alyssa's existence, of course. Her private investigator had researched every aspect of Jasmine Chen's life, including the birth of her daughter, Alyssa, nine months after she'd slept with David. If Jasmine had gone after David then, Victoria would have stopped it. But it appeared that the woman actually cared about David, maybe even loved him—too much to go after