Chapter 10 - THE FATHER SHE STOPPED CALLINGThree years earlier, Warren missed Nora’s miscarriage.
Not the event itself.
He came to the hospital.
He handled everything.
Spoke to the physician.
Collected medications.
Canceled a conference Ethan had scheduled.
Called the insurance company.
What he failed to do was sit.
Nora had been twenty-nine.
Heartbroken.
She wanted her father beside her.
Instead Warren spent two hours trying to determine whether the emergency department had followed proper protocol.
“Dad.”
“One minute.”
“Dad.”
He was on the phone.
When he finally sat beside her, Nora said:
“I needed you.”
“I’m here.”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“You’re working the problem.”
“That’s how I help.”
“I’m not a problem.”
Warren never forgot that sentence.
But changing was harder than understanding.
A year later they fought again after Warren secretly ran a background check on Ethan’s business partner.
Nora exploded.
“You don’t trust anyone.”
“I trust evidence.”
“I’m your daughter, not a case.”
He said something he regretted:
“You’re too emotional to see when people are using you.”
Nora left.
Three years of silence followed.
Now they sat on opposite ends of Warren’s kitchen.
He said:
“I owe you an apology.”
Nora looked up.
“For which decade?”
“Several.”
She almost smiled.
He continued.
“When your mother died, I thought keeping you safe was my only job.”
“I know.”
“I confused protection with control.”
“Yes.”
“I still do sometimes.”
Nora stared at him.
“Why were you at the hotel?”
Warren looked down.
She waited.
Finally:
“You contacted me.”
“What?”
“Last week.”
“No, I didn’t.”
He pulled out his phone.
A message.
From Nora.
Eight days before the gala.
I think someone is following me.
Nora stared.
She remembered.
She had typed it after seeing Derek outside her office.
Sent it.
Then panicked.
Deleted the conversation from her phone.
She assumed Warren had not seen it.
“You never answered.”
“I did.”
She looked at his screen.
His reply:
Where are you?
Then another.
Call me.
Nora had deleted the thread before they arrived.
“I didn’t see them.”
“I know.”
“So you came to the gala?”
“Yes.”
“Without telling me.”
“Yes.”
Her irritation rose.
“Dad.”
“I know.”
“You followed me.”
“No.”
“You were watching me.”
“Yes.”
“That is not better.”
Warren nodded.
“You’re right.”
She stopped.
No defense.
No explanation.
Just right.
That was new.
“I should have told you.”
“Yes.”
“I was afraid if I did, you’d ask me to leave.”
“I probably would have.”
“Exactly.”
“That still doesn’t make it okay.”
“No.”
Nora looked at him.
Then laughed unexpectedly.
“What?”
“You’re agreeing with me.”
“I’m trying something new.”
She laughed harder.
For ten seconds they felt like father and daughter again.
Then Warren became serious.
“I grabbed Derek because I saw him enter after you.”
Nora’s smile faded.
“You followed him?”
“Yes.”
“And if you hadn’t?”
Warren did not answer.
She thought about the phone above the stall.
The shutter.
The humiliation designed before she even knew she was under attack.
Her hand trembled.
Warren saw.
He did not touch her until she reached for him first.
Then he held her.
May you like
Not as an investigator.
As her father.
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