“My mom kept a diary. She talked about him for a long time. Her time with him, and how she fell in love, how he made her think she was the most beautiful woman in the world. It was all lies.” She glanced over at
the table where her father sat. “Nothing was the truth. She fell in love with a liar. When she found out she was pregnant, he kicked her out. Told her to get rid of it. That she was nothing more than a cleaner and a two-bit whore.” She paused, wiping beneath her eyes. “He broke her heart. I want nothing to do with him.”
“You’re entitled to your inheritance, and part of the Hamilton fortune.”
She laughed. “I’d rather clean apartments and homes for the rest of my life than accept anything from him. I’m sorry that you don’t understand that.”
“I do understand. It doesn’t have to be like that. Not for you, and certainly not for your mother.”
“That’s why I’m here though, right? You want me to give up my dreams for a baby. Tell me, Tobias, how are you any different from my dad?”
****
“You’re nothing special. Men like Tobias use women and spit them back out. We’re just a bit of amusement for him.”
Adora rubbed at her chest feeling open, exposed, and cornered. The anxiety threatened to spill out, and she took a sip of her wine to try to blank everything out. Her father was here. He’d said her mom’s name, and Tobias knew the dirty truth.
Katerina’s words still echoed around her mind, and now she wondered how Tobias was any different from the man who donated sperm. She couldn’t call William Hamilton her father. That bastard was anything but, and she wouldn’t give him or anyone else the satisfaction of trying to get him to own up to his responsibility. She wanted nothing else to do with him. Simply being in the same breathing space was too much.
All she wanted to do was curl up with her mom, and forget about everything.
“I’m nothing like him,” Tobias said.
She cut up the steak but didn’t even bother putting it in her mouth. Katerina was Tobias’s ex, and she looked like a super model. The few moments they shared in the bathroom had been a complete overshare. From the warning about how they were mere playthings, to talking about the length of Tobias’s cock, it was all too much. “I need some air.”
Without waiting for him to say anything, she left the table, stepping outside of the restaurant, and away from any prying eyes.
Grasping the wall several feet from the building, she took deep breaths. In a matter of days, she’d suffered with two anxiety attacks.
She had to get out of this deal with Tobias. She couldn’t handle it. She’d never be cut out for that kind of life. He didn’t do love, and all she wanted was someone to love her.
“Don’t leave like that,” Tobias said.
His hands stroked up and down her arms, and she kept her eyes closed, welcoming his comforting touch.
“Come on, the car’s waiting.”
“No, I can’t. I can’t do this.” She spun to face him, tears spilling down her cheeks. “I’m sorry, but I need you to leave me alone.”
Tobias stepped up close to her, invading her space. “Remember how good it feels to have my hands on you?”
She shook her head. “No! I don’t want to remember. I don’t want to continue this. Your ex was right there. My own father, who is married with kids, was right there. I don’t want this life. When I have a child, it’s going to be with a man I fall in love with. A man who will love me unconditionally and doesn’t care about me being a cleaner’s daughter.”
Tobias grabbed her arm, and pulled her toward the waiting car. She began to fight him, and he yanked her so she fell against him. To anyone watching, they were embracing.
“If you don’t get in this car, I’m going to cause a scene you’re really going to regret,” he said.
She hated scenes, not that she’d created many herself.
Adora much preferred to be out of the way of prying eyes. When Tobias opened the door, she didn’t argue. Climbing inside the car, she buckled her seatbelt, resting her head in her hand. Her elbow rested on the frame of the door.
She didn’t say anything to him as he got behind the wheel, and drove away from the restaurant. Their date and meal had been ruined.
He didn’t take her home, nor did he take her to her mother’s. She didn’t argue as he pulled up into the private parking lot of the condo where he lived. Opening her door, she followed him to the waiting elevator. Neither of them spoke as they made their way to his apartment.
Tobias closed and locked the front door while she moved toward his large window, which overlooked the city. He held so much power that it was almost frightening to think about. She saw his reflection in the window as he held up two glasses with dark amber liquid.
“I’m nothing like your father.”