Secret Love - Brenda Jackson [99]
Jack Swain heard the pain, agony and distress in his daughter’s voice. His heart wrenched painfully. He doubted if she was aware that she had called him Daddy. He regretted that he had ever stopped her from doing so.
The lines of strain and worry he felt etched into his face made him feel a lot older…if that was possible. “Everything is going to be all right, Diamond. I want you to come home. I’m coming to get you to bring you home.”
Chapter 26
S terling took one look at Jake as he descended the helicopter and knew the man had come to the mountain intent on claiming his wife. He shook his head, wondering just how Jake was going to handle the news that Diamond was no longer there. The closer Jake came toward him, the more Sterling saw his tired eyes and haggard face.
“Where’s Diamond?” Jake asked when he finally reached where Sterling was standing.
“She’s gone, Jake.”
Jake lifted a dark brow. Sterling also saw the anger that suddenly appeared in his eyes and how his jaw tightened. “What do you mean, she’s gone?”
“Like I told you on the phone, Jake, she was upset. She wanted to leave and short of tying her up and gagging her mouth, there was no way I could keep her here against her wishes any longer.”
“So why didn’t you bring her to Whispering Pines?”
“I offered to do that,” Sterling finally answered. “But she said that Whispering Pines was the last place she wanted to go to right now.”
Sterling’s words were like a knife to Jake’s heart. Whispering Pines had always been her haven. Jake raked a hand down his face. He hadn’t had any sleep in over twenty hours. Once the authorities had apprehended Ammons, there had been numerous questions to answer and a multitude of paperwork and reports to complete since both the local and federal authorities had been involved.
“Where did she go?” he asked, trying desperately to keep his head on straight. The weight of everything that had happened over the last three weeks was beginning to take a toll on him. It seemed he might have made a mess of things by not telling Diamond what had been going on. But even if he had, she would be doing the same thing she was doing now and that was blaming herself.
“She went to her father’s place in Beverly Hills. The old man actually came for her himself.”
Jake scowled fiercely. “That figures.” If Jack Swain thought for one minute he would keep Diamond away from him, the old man had another thought coming.
Sterling sighed. “Maybe her going with him was for the best right now, Jake. I know Jack Swain. He can be a hard man at times, but I truly believe that he loves his daughter.”
Jake snorted. “If that’s true, he has one hell of a way of showing it.”
“I have a feeling that he wants to change his way of doing things regarding Diamond,” Sterling said quietly.
Jake rammed his hands into his pockets and stared out into the distance. “I love her, Sterling.”
“I know you do, Jake. I also know what could have happened to you had the authorities not captured Ammons. Diamond knows, too, and the thought of your life being in any sort of danger really freaked her out big time. She’s been crying ever since I had to tell her what’s going on, and she’s blaming herself.”
Sterling said nothing for a while, hoping Jake would listen to what he was saying. “Think about it, Jake,” he said, as he began to talk again. “Over the past three weeks, you’ve done everything in your power to make sure Diamond was protected. Now it’s Diamond’s turn to want to protect you. She feels she has to do whatever she has to do to keep you safe as well. Give her time to think things through. She’ll eventually come around.”
“I’m going to make sure she does,” Jake responded stubbornly. He then turned around and walked off back toward the helicopter.
“Let’s go,” he said to the pilot once he had gotten inside and was strapped in.
The man glanced over at him. “Where to, Mr. Madaris?”
“Get me back to the airstrip. My pilot will be flying me to California.