Her father merely shrugged and smiled. "I suppose she's grateful to have a dad still. Unlike some people whose father rotted in jail because his son decided to think with his dick."

Darrell was good. Victor had to give him that. But he refused to let Dawn's father bait him into losing control of his emotions.

However, Darrell didn't need a response from Victor to keep going. "You know, Victor, my man, I'm glad you did this."

He moved into the chair that Dawn had abandoned and slapped Victor on the arm as if they were best friends. "I was worried when I figured out that you had her in your grips again nine years ago. And I felt some kind of guilty about not handling that myself. But I was too far undercover to risk coming up here to put a stop to whatever you had going on with her. From what I could tell, you were only visiting her once a year, but I worried that would be enough for you to get all the way inside her head again."

Victor inwardly frowned at this new information. He'd been watching Darrell for so long. It never occurred to him that Dawn's father was watching him back.

Darrell shook his head and let out a wry laugh. "Let me tell you, I'm still getting over what all I had to do in Japan to get her away from you. It was a hell of a time convincing her to go along with my plan after I arrested you. You should've heard the way she cried over you, boy. 'I love him. I don't care what his father did. That's not him!' She had lost her whole damn mind. She was ready to throw away her future, trying to protect you. If I hadn't talked some sense into her, doctored some of the tapes, and covered up that secret relationship she had going with you, she would've been rotting in jail along with the rest of Red Diamond. And I doubt your father would've cut a plea deal to make sure she didn't serve any time."

Victor stilled, every drop of blood in his body freezing over. Somehow he still managed to sign, "You're lying. She knew all along. She was playing your part all along."

"Believe me. I wish I was lying." Darrell sucked on his teeth and screwed up his face. "Half the reason I gave up undercover work and damn near retired my own ass was because I knew I'd have to do something to extract her from your grip again, especially after you pulled that stunt with Doll and made her part of your fan club. I'd figured I'd have to make you hurt me in some way. Rile you to the point that you wounded Dawn's poor old dad."