His Forever (His #3) Read Online Free PDF Page A

his life.  But Henrik’s words didn’t sound like those of an indifferent, uninvolved father.  Could it be that Hayden was mistaken?
    “Hayden’s women were Fawns and Bunnies, bar dancers and so-called actresses.  They were floozies with no substance, just out to have a good time and run up Hayden’s charge cards.  But you…you’re not a dancer or an actress – although that little performance of yours on the plane was impressive.”
    “Performance…but…but…oh…”  I blushed hotly and began to stutter, deeply embarrassed to realize that Henrik hadn’t been fooled by my feigned illness.  He’d seen me going into the bathroom with his son and if he knew I wasn’t actually sick then… Oh God.  I was mortified beyond belief and at a total loss for words.  What must he think of me?
    Henrik waved his hand dismissively.  “No need to say anything.  I was young and smitten once too, you know.  Hayden probably wouldn’t believe me if I told him but I loved his mother dearly in the beginning.” 
    My mouth felt dry but I looked at Henrik inexplicably feeling deeply grateful that he wasn’t going to dwell on my inappropriate behavior aboard his jet.  “What happened?” I asked, partly due to curiosity and partly in an effort to steer the conversation in another direction as quickly as I possibly could.
    “ We grew apart…or maybe our relationship was doomed to fail from the beginning.  She said I worked too much.  I thought she complained too much.  When I found out she was abusing prescription pills I gave her an ultimatum:  stop or walk away.  She chose the pills,” he shrugged.  “So I made her leave.”
    “Leave the house?” I asked, leaning forward in my seat.
    “No, the country,” he replied.  “My old man was an alcoholic.  He’d beat us kids black and blue without any provocation when he was on one of his benders.  I wasn’t about to have history repeat itself with Hayden.  I told Hayden’s mother she was never to contact him again and, in return, I’d pay her living expenses.  I’m still paying her rent to this day.”
    I cringed at Henrik’s words, simultaneously horrified and saddened by what he’d just told me.  “Do you think Hayden’s mother would have hurt him?” I asked, afraid to hear the answer.
    “Probably not on purpose,” Henrik conceded.  “But it was only a matter of time until she crashed the car with the boy in it or did some other incredibly stupid thing.  I wasn’t about to have him find her cold dead body after an overdose…although some might say I coddled him too much.”
    What I was hearing was incredible, really.  I knew for a fact that Hayden would never in a million years say that his father had coddled him.  He’d say that Henrik had abandoned him, shipping him away to boarding school so as to avoid being inconvenienced by him.  I understood that in Hayden’s mind and heart, that was exactly what had happened and the betrayal had cut deep.  But hearing Henrik’s version of events was opening my mind to new possibilities.
    I hadn’t been sure what to make of the man but I’d been leaning toward detesting him.  Now, though…now I wasn’t sure.  For the first time since I’d met him, he seemed human to me.  It didn’t mean I agreed with his decisions concerning Hayden – because I didn’t – but I was beginning to understand that Henrik had issues of his own.  Maybe his misguided attempts at parenting Hayden over the years had been the best he was capable of given his own tumultuous upbringing.
    “Don’t you look at me like that, with pity in your eyes,” Henrik sneered, instantaneously morphing back into that snide, overly-confident billionaire I’d initially met.  Yet I could still tell he was guarded – it was in his eyes.  In some ways the resemblance between him and his son was uncanny.  “I don’t need anyone’s pity.”
    “Okay,” I agreed.
    He looked amused then, if not a little surprised.