Brent frowned and stroked the porcelain of the mask she wore. “It will be more someday, and someday soon, I promise you that.”
“Well, well,” a gruff voice said.
She turned and wanted to shout when she spied Donald Sanderson easing onto the balcony. Her heart skipped several beats at the sight of him. If he’d come out even five minutes earlier, he’d have seen her being far too daring with his son in public.
No, don’t sugarcoat it. He would have seen you acting like a hooker or something…
Mr. Sanderson stroked the beard on his chin and smirked triumphantly at both of them. “Miss Billings, my my… What would your father say? You think I can’t see how wrinkled my son is already and the new knots in that wig of yours and not know exactly what you’ve been doing out here. Who you’ve been doing?”
Brent gritted his teeth and pushed her behind him. Jessica appreciated that – his instincts to put himself between her and the threat Donald Sanderson represented. His father couldn’t and wouldn’t physically hurt her, but his barbs cut like arrows to her heart. It pierced through her and into her soul.
“Son, don’t try and deny things now. Do you really think I can’t tell the clues: the way you snuck her out of here and I had to remind security who they really worked for? The fact that you are still half bleary-eyed from whatever you’ve done? The hint of sex in the air? Please, I didn’t become a telecom mogul by being an idiot.”
“Nothing’s going on here, and this isn’t Jessica Billings.”
Donald drew near her and circled Jessica like a shark getting ready to dive in for the kill. Her heart pounded against her chest, and she wanted to bolt, but she couldn’t give him the satisfaction. His grin widened, and it was a look of pure evil and pure satisfaction she’d see in her nightmares from now.
“Of course it is.” His bony fingers reached out and gripped her golden dolphin necklace in his grip. “I recognize this very well. Miss Billings, you’re exactly the girl I thought you were. Don’t be upset – most people who get near my son think he’s their way to fame and fortune. I was never shocked you’d be a plain, gold-digging slut like the rest of them.”
Jessica flinched but pulled away from Brent. Even his presence couldn’t brace her from the way Donald’s words landed like blows across her body and her face. “I’m not.”
Donald shook his head, and a manic gleam came into his eyes. “I know the type of girl you are. You’re not from the pedigreed families I’d prefer. You’re barely legal. I’d be shocked if you weren’t poking holes in condoms to trap my son and get at my estate.”
Tears prickled in her eyes, and she rushed for the doors. Brent went to grab her arm, but she dodged him. She couldn’t bear his father’s words. They weren’t true. Not at all. She hadn’t known, but she wasn’t sure she could ever convince Brent let alone Donald Sanderson about her confusion over her sleeping medications. She would look like as big a gold digger as everyone said.
Her dad would be humiliated.
Oh God.
Donald had ruined, or tried to ruin, a damn senator. What if he set his sights on what her father had built?
Nausea roiled in her throat in a way that had nothing to do with any lingering morning sickness. Jessica pulled her skirt up a bit so she could run as fast as her heels allowed. She burst through the opening and into the hall. The jazz was blaring now, and it pounded in her head, made her skull throb. It all disoriented her.
Doesn’t matter; I just have to get out.
Now.
Run, flee, get away from her shame.
She was at the curb and desperately trying to flag down a cab when a palm came to rest on the small of her back.
“Please, sweetheart, stay.”
She turned to see the resolute set of Brent’s shoulders and the fear in his eyes as they darted all over her face. Tears were still streaming down her cheeks, caught between the hot-cool porcelain of the mask and the heat of her flushed skin. “I can’t.”
“My father doesn’t speak for me. He doesn’t mean anything.”
“But he’s here, and the guards parted for him. Admit it: you’re part of his company and part of his legacy. He’ll be with you till he dies, and he’ll always see me as lesser, as like your call girl or worse.”
“It’s not like that.” He put a hand on her shoulder. “You’re safe with me.”
She shook her head, and both hands found their way to her stomach. Her heart was tearing in two, and she couldn’t bear it. Couldn’t bear the humiliation or the fear of Donald’s vindictive streak against her father. Her dad had worked too hard to get where he was, and he didn’t deserve to be ruined by her mistakes.