"Quite the audacity." His voice was steel wrapped in ice. "Then tell Richard Delgado to sit tight and wait. Let's see if he has the nerve to accept what I'm bringing."
Hester hadn't expected her threat, delivered under the full weight of the Delgado name, to fall completely flat. My father's commanding presence rattled her, and her face turned an ugly shade of purple.
"Fine, you stubborn old bastard. Let's see how long that tough talk lasts!"
She jabbed the end-call button and hurled the phone back at me.
Her eyes locked onto mine, frigid and sharp.
"You heard every word, Elise. If your parents are too scared to show up within thirty minutes, don't blame us for what comes next."
Half an hour. There was no way Dad could make it here in person.
Even by private jet, the trip from the facility would take at least an hour.
But if Dad had said it, he already had a plan.
These people had no idea the kind of trouble they'd just invited. Truly, spectacularly stupid.
I lifted my chin and stared straight at Scott and Hester, not an ounce of fear in my eyes.
"Scott, you really picked yourself a winner of a secretary. You dared to provoke my father. I'd start praying if I were you."
Scott flinched under my gaze, thrown for a half-second before his arrogance snapped back into place.
"Elise, cut the act. I'd love to see what kind of waves a nobody like you can make."
Hester chimed in right on cue. "Exactly. A woman with no money and no connections, trying to go up against us? Know your place."
That was when the commotion erupted at the entrance.
Every head in the hall turned. Jaws dropped, one after another.
A middle-aged man in a tailored government jacket strode through the doors, flanked by two rows of armed officers.
He was walking straight toward me.
