Broken Beauty (#1, Broken Beauty Novellas)

Chapter Five

Mom's two days turn into several days, although she calls every day to say two more days. Ari stays. My nightmares are bad, filled with memories of the night that changed me.

Daddy doesn't talk or even visit me. He won't even respond to texts. If not for Ari, I'd spend every minute of every day sobbing in my closet, which has become my second home.

Finally, on the sixth day after my incident, Chris sends me a text asking me to go to my father's office. I'm tempted to tell him I'll be down in six days. But I go.

Daddy is seated behind his desk when I tap on the door and walk in. He bids me to enter without looking away from his computer screen. I cross quietly and sit in front of his desk, well-aware that he doesn't like to be disturbed and will acknowledge me when he's ready.

That takes five minutes, and I still have issues sitting for more than a few seconds without pain. I shift forward at last, and he glances up. Charles Abbott-Renou is at least twenty years older than Uncle Chris. His hair turned from blond to yellowish, and his blue eyes are bright in his tanned face.

"You look much better than I expected," he says with a smile. "How are you feeling?"

"Better," I lie. Daddy doesn't like bad news.

"Good, Mia. I was worried you wouldn't be able to handle this as well as Molly."

There it is. The inevitable comparison to my too-perfect half-sister. I want to scream.

"Daddy, why didn't you come see me at the hospital?" My voice carries a tremor of emotion in it, one I hoped I could prevent.

"Mia, dear, you know I would have if I had the time. Your press conference did wonders for my polls this week. Did Shea tell you?"

I shake my head and look down.

"You've become Daddy's-little-helper," he says with a chuckle.

I'm glad someone can laugh off my rape.

"And don't worry about the mistaken identity with Robert Connor. Chris got the District Attorney to seal the reports with Connor's name. We wouldn't want any issues distracting the voters from the election, would we?"

My mouth is too dry to speak. I always know how our conversations will go. I thought my monster face would have some kind of effect on him, like maybe make him realize he loves me more than politics? I'd settle for him loving me as much as politics.

"Molly's giving a press conference about her wedding this weekend," he continues. "Maybe you can watch it, pick up some tips? Shea says people really responded to your unpolished delivery. Invokes a sense of protectiveness in women voters, the demographic I'm struggling with this year without your mother to help me."

"Okay," I say numbly.

"I'm attending a ceremony within the next few weeks to present awards to the two police officers who rescued you."

"Really?" It's the first thing he's said that doesn't make me feel like shit. I look up.

"Really," he says. "It's the least I can do to show the men and women of the law enforcement how much we appreciate what they do."

My excitement fades. He's doing it for political reasons, not because they helped me. It strikes me that Dom and Kiesha stayed with me at the hospital, because they are the kind of people who help others. My daddy is more interested in what others can do for him. I should've done more than thank the two.

"I'm glad to see you're doing okay, kiddo," Daddy says in a voice he uses with interns.

"Thanks, Daddy," I say and rise. I understand it's a dismissal.