Chapter 2

“Katharina Bucher!” her father yells, dropping his keys into the bowl on the little stand by the door. “Just how many times do you plan to disobey me?”

Even though she was just in the throes of one incredible orgasm, her father showing up and yelling quickly shuts off the valves. “I don’t know, Daddy,” she puffs, climbing off her boyfriend. “Maybe because I want to do what I want to do with who I want to do it with.”

“And who is it this time?” Silas asks, his eyes boring into her. But he’s not looking at her by any means sexually. In fact he has never shown any interest sexually for his daughter, though he has seen her plenty of times with guys.

“It’s Ned,” she says, dropping her eyes to the couch to give Ned a quick, devious smile.

“Nedly Tittles?” Silas asks, stomping over to the back of the furniture. “Boy, you better get your ass out of my house.”

Ned’s eyes go as big as saucers as he stares up at the two burning eyes now boring down on him. Silas begins to loosen his tie as the young man bounces up from the couch, tucking himself back into his shorts. “Consider me gone, sir,” he says, sidestepping the much larger man.

As soon as the door shut, Silas is slipping around the couch, pointing at it. “Sit your ass down,” he orders Kat before taking a seat in the chair catty-cornered to it.

Kat hasn’t always been a problem child. In fact her troubles didn’t begin until after her mother died. And it didn’t happen right away. Silas ended up throwing himself into the company afterward and that created a gap between father and daughter. From there that gap just got bigger and bigger. Katharina didn’t have anyone to talk to as her father wouldn’t allow it. And once she showed signs of her healing powers, he began having her trained to hone those powers.

She despised the man for ignoring her, not listening to her and for making her develop powers that she had no interest in. But she needed those powers if she planned to ever run the business. That is always his concern, saying his not going to live forever. Maybe it would be different he hadn’t done all those things or if her mother was still alive. And maybe that is the root of her anger toward him. For some reason Silas wasn’t able to use his healing powers to save her mother.

And so it began with Kat and her girlfriends out at all hours of the night. At first it was her and there, but over time it became two days a week, then three. Pretty soon there wasn’t a night she wasn’t sneaking out and partying for half the night. Even then, each night she had pushed the boundaries further and further, coming home later and later, drunker and drunker. And every night—or day—it was the same thing about how one day she is to take over the business, how her appearance mattered, how her skills needed to be better. Blah, blah, blah...

“I’m not going to give you the same speech I do every time you go against my rule,” Silas sighs.

This catches Kat off guard for a moment, and she tries unsuccessfully to hide that surprise. “No?” she asks.

“No,” he concurs with a shake of his head. “I’m not even going to threaten to take away your allowance.”

Not that he ever has. He has threatened her with that time and time again. Never once has he actually gone through with it. As far as college goes, she is either barely passing or his money is going a long way to get her closer to graduating. When she asked him one time about the point of a degree if she isn’t going to need one, he told her it was for appearances—always for appearances. Why couldn’t he just let the public know that he has a team of people running the show while he does all the fancy healing?

As far as she knows her and her father are the only people in the whole world that can use healing magic. It’s strange, and when asked, her father always deflects from the reason—the truth. It doesn’t matter because with or without the magic her father has more than enough money he will leave her to last several lifetimes. She is the heir to the company, his legacy. She is his princess—though that is something he hasn’t called her in a very long time.

“I am going to have to look for an alternative to take over the business once I’m gone,” he says flatly.

“If that’s what you want to do then do it,” Kat replies nonchalantly. “I can’t stop you.”

“No, you cannot,” he counters. “But I do wonder what it is you will do once you are out on your ass.”

“What do you mean?” she asks, sounding dumbfounded.

“I mean you’ll be cut off,” he answers, showing no emotion at all. “There will be no money for you.”

“No inheritance?” she asks, sounding just as dumbfounded as before.

“Why should there be one?” he asks with a deadpan tone.

“Maybe because I’m your daughter,” she reasons.

“That doesn’t mean anything. I didn’t work hard to get the company where it is just to toss it out the window. You and I are the only healers in the world, and you’re sitting here pissing your talent away,” he says, shaking his head sorrowfully. “But I am making strides to remedy that.”

“How are you doing that?” she asks with more than just simple curiosity.

“My company doesn’t just create medicines that heal,” he says answering her question by making it more than that though. “I just don’t heal people in dire needs. We do other things there. One of those things is gene manipulation. If us two are the only two on this planet, then why does it have to be that way? It doesn’t have to be when I can create in others this same ability.”

“How do you do that?”

“I would go into the technical aspects with you, but you do not have all the training you need to understand it,” Silas accuses.

“You don’t know the first thing about ... about that science stuff,” she spats.

“And I don’t need to, which is why I employ the best the world has to offer,” he boasts proudly. “All I have to do is keep mastery of my magic.”

“Well do what you want to do then,” Kat says, standing up and throwing her hands up in the air in defeat. “I’m done here.”

“Oh?” He smiles at her. “So you’re so ready to just cut and run, are you?”

“Yeah I’m ready to go,” she says almost with a snarl. “I don’t have to sit her and listen to this bullshit.”

“I noticed that you didn’t make it in until later last night,” he says casually as if Kat wasn’t ready to head out the door. “Another late night?” he asks so nonchalantly that it is almost scary.

“A little late,” she lies sweetly. “Vicky got sick so we all stayed together to make sure that she was alright.”

Silas looks at her with his all-knowing bullshit smile. “Are you talking about the Vicky who made it home well before midnight?” he asks innocently.

“I did say a little late. Vicky went home after she was feeling better,” she fabricates. “Me and the girls went...”

“You and some of the girls,” the man interrupts, “went to the next place. Then you decided to go on by yourself after they called it a night a few hours later.”

It is the truth, practically down to the minutest detail, but Kat is still indignant at being called out on it. “So?” she glowers at him. “I’m not in the wrong. I’m fucking old enough to make my own decisions. And what, are you following me now?”

“That’s your problem, you’re only old enough in that body of yours,” he gestures at her and snarls. Your mind is like that of a fucking child. And no, I’m not following you. I was once your age.”

“You?” she blurts. “I highly doubt that you did any kind of partying when you were young.”

Deflecting her accusation, Silas continues, “It’s a little dangerous being out so late by yourself, don’t you think?” He isn’t smiling now, but looking concerned as if she doesn’t know how to take care of herself.

“What’s going to happen to me, Dad?” she says, folding her arms across her chest.

“Oh I can think of a few things,” he answers quickly, like he was expecting this question. “You are the daughter of the richest person on this planet, running the most innovative business ever conceived, not to mention the special ability you have inside you. Then we have to consider that you’re supposed to be the heiress of everything I have built. That sounds like a good reason to do something to you.”

“And your bodyguards that you obviously have watching over me won’t be there to stop that?” she fires back defensively.

“After today you won’t have that protection anymore,” he says calmly with a shake of his head. “I have an image to protect, and I cannot have everything I have built to just crumple away into dust.”

“I can take care of myself,” Kat reiterates. “Now, I’m tired of this boring ass conversation. I’m going to my room.” Without waiting for his dismissal, she turns and stomps off toward her bedroom. Once inside, she slams the door closed and jumps onto the bed, burying her face in the pillows.

The tears flow freely as she reruns the conversation over in her head. Kat is mad at her father for making his threats at her again. Even though he has made them before, this time they felt like they were real. She has never known her father to back down after making a threat, unless it was at her, but this time is just felt different. Kat cries for a few more minutes, still running every bit of what he had to say to her and what she threw back at him. Then she begins to smile to herself, countering the threats and promises. She knows just what she is going to have to do. She knows the perfect way to get back at the man. She rolls over with a big smiles spread across her pretty face and closes her eyes.

The door to the room suddenly bursts open. It hits the wall with such force that it sounds almost like it is coming off its hinges. Silas appears in the doorway. For some reason Kat thought he would just let the subject drop after she walked out, but she should have known better. Her father is a man that has to have control. He has never been one for being powerless. Even the way he is built tells that to everyone he meets or sees him. He’s big in the way that the stereotypical lumberjacks or firefighters are—thick and muscular. He is someone that can rely on words to settle matters because anyone with any sense looks at him and knows a fight is only ending one way.

“I don’t think you need any sleep,” he roars. “You certainly weren’t tired this morning when you finally set through the door.”

“Uh yeah, that’s why I came home,” Kat retorts. “I’m fucking tired and I’m going to sleep.”

Silas is fast for how big he is. When Kat was little, before her mother died, they used to play tag. When he chased after he, big arms would circle around her waist to throw her delightfully squealing in the air. But never had he ever laid a hand on her for anything else, not even to be punished. She was his princess. Yet it is hid hand—those powerful thick fingers—gripping her upper arm like a vice. Solid, firm and pressing tight enough to know there is more power behind it. “I want to talk to you,” the man says, voice suddenly low and quiet. “You are going to learn about the danger that you apparently think you’re immune to.