The Business Read Online Free PDF

emotion so strong it had all but broken him. She had amazed him, looking at her was like looking at the world in a new light. Because she was now a part of it. His sons had never had that effect on him, even though he loved them. They would one day be men, grown men. But not this child, she was his late surprise, his baby girl.
    He had a daughter, and the knowledge had made him weak, vulnerable. He had looked at her and seen the fall of Adam. He could see why men could destroy another man’s property, another man’s life, and all for the love of a daughter, a female child. It was such an event in his life he had never really got over it, though he had suppressed it as best he could. He’d never been one to show his emotions to the world and so he had loved her within the confines of his family, and he had loved her with a vengeance, as he had his wife. For the first time in his life, he had known real fear. He had protected her, cared for her, and overlooked her shortcomings. Which were legion, since she had been spoiled by everyone around her since her birth. She had been the one to run to him, climb on his lap, the only one of the children to be wholly his. His sons had always been their mother’s boys. And he had accepted that, known that was how it should be. He was, after all, his own mother’s son. Sons and mothers had a close relationship, as he knew first-hand, and he also knew that was true of fathers and daughters. As much as he loved his boys, Gerald Junior and Brendan, his daughter was like some kind of unknown entity to him. And he loved her all the more because of that.
    Imelda had arrived late in his life and, from day one, she had captured him, and his heart. She had been his reason for living, he had seen her as his bright star, the child who would take him into old age. Her birth had given him the rush he had needed at fifty. He had been blessed with this child. She was like a gift from God Himself, proof of his virility, proof of his loyalty, his love for his wife. She was all he talked about, all he really cared about. And he’d assumed she would have been like the boys, had assumed she would have toed the line, done what was expected of her. So he had not envisaged her being brought down like this, getting laid and left, like any tart around about. She was better than that. She was worth more than that, surely? He had seen her marrying a man who was worthy of her and, more importantly, worthy of him, and the legacy he would leave. He had seen her without stain, had believed she was without anything even remotely sexual. As his baby she had been not only sexless in his eyes, but also without the want of sex. He had believed her to be pure. She had acted the good girl, the good daughter.
    And he had been fucking wrong. She had been allowed more freedom than her brothers, had been seen by him as a shrewdie, far too clever to be caught like this. He had always known that she was well above her poor brothers when it came to brains, intelligence. The school had said she was a veritable fucking brain-box, that she was destined for great things. Well, if she was such a fucking know-all, how come she was in the club, and how come she had brought this kind on shame on the family? On him?
    It was all a fucking lie, a fucking charade. She was no better than the girls he had seen around, the slags, the tarts. She had been like a viper in his breast. Pretending she was something she wasn’t. Her innocence was what he cherished, was what he demanded from her. Her innocence was what he held dear to him. What he felt was so special about her.
    Now though, she had broken him, she had destroyed all. She was no more than a whore. Even if she had only done it once, he would not feel any different, because once, as far as he was concerned, was once too fucking often in his book. This whore was not a one-time only girl though, he had seen her, heard her arguing with her mother. Gerald knew then that she was far too