I’m no hero.
I’m not at all a good father, but I want you to know I love you. I’ve always loved you.
Whatever comes now is something I deserve. But I want you safe. Promise me you’ll stay safe no matter what. Don’t trust easily, because when you allow your heart to fall, your life will only follow along.
Please, Princess, be careful.
All my love,
DadMy phone vibrates again, this time with a message, but everything is blurry as the tears I’d been holding back for so long rush down my cheeks. I’m about to pick up the device from my nightstand when my bedroom door flings open, and on the threshold is the man who’s toyed with my body, played with my heart, and could most probably kill me because of my father.
“I’ve been trying to contact you,” Elian tells me, his voice rigid, filled with something akin to fear, which makes no sense. Why would he be afraid? “We need to talk.”
“You knew,” I tell him as I push off the bed to stand. “You knew the letter I got is from my father.” Anxious energy skitters through me as he inches forward. We’re alone in the house; I know Aunt Midge isn’t home. “How did you get in here?”
“Are you sure you want an answer to that?” he questions with an arched brow.
Probably not is my silent answer, but then I voice my response, “You knew who I was all this time.” I fist my hands to stop them from shaking and hide them from his gaze, but Elian notices the movement.
“I did.” He takes another step deeper into the bedroom, and I instinctively move back, slamming into the nightstand, which shatters the silence. Even though I’m sure he won’t do anything to me, I still feel anxiety coil in my stomach.
“You haven’t hurt me.”
He shakes his head, dropping his stare to the carpet for a long while as if he’s considering his response. But then he lifts his eyes to meet mine. “I can’t.”
“Why?” It’s probably a stupid question to ask, but I can’t stop myself from voicing it. I need to know what his intentions are because if he is here to kill me, I’d rather he get it over with.
“I wanted revenge for so long,” Elian admits before settling on the small stool at my vanity. “I spent years waiting for the right moment, and when your mother came to me, I made a deal and got you, I thought I could make you hurt as much as your father hurt me.”
“Deal? What deal, Elian?” This time, I’m the one moving toward him. I’m not sure how to feel at his admission. One part of me wants to know, and the other part, that stupid bitch wants to hide all the shit and fall into his arms.
Elian shrugs. “Pandora came to me three months ago, asking for my help to kill your father. Her anger and hatred at his cheating had her contacting me. She found me through your father’s contacts. When she came to me, she asked me to put a bullet between his eyes, but in the interim, Senator Adam Davenport disappeared. My revenge ran deep, Arabella. Your dad killed mine.”
“How could you even know that?”
“Your dad and mine were working together for a long while. But then your father decided to pull out of a deal with my dad. The thing is, my father’s organization doesn’t allow people to just walk away and live to tell the tale. I just didn’t think Adam would fake his own death, send you over the edge, and that’s how you’d get here.”
I know Dad wasn’t the best man in the world and he did things behind closed doors, but his admission has now been confirmed. Dad sat me down not long before his death and told me he wanted me to attend Black Mountain Academy. And that’s what sparked a number of events that led me here.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“What?” Elian chuckles. “That I wanted revenge for your father killing mine? Or perhaps that the moment I fucked you in my bedroom that first night, every thought of revenge went out the fucking window?”
My mouth falls open at his admission. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but that was most definitely not it. Yes, I wanted Elian to tell me why, to explain what’s going on, but I didn’t expect him to talk about us like that.
“This was a game to you.” My voice cracks as the realization hits me right in the gut. All this time, I was falling for a liar. He’s just as bad as my father. The men in my life have acted like heroes. It turns out they’re anything but.
“It was.” Elian nods, pushing to his feet, he stalks to the window close to me. His hands snake into the pockets of his slacks, and it’s only then I realize he looks like he’s dressed for a party. A crisp white button-up, along with the small, black bowtie, and a pair of shiny, black shoes complete his outfit. “I wanted to break you.”