Her identity as Oliver Lawson’s secret daughter was the sole reason he had invited her to the party, heck, very probably the sole reason he hadevertaken the smallest interest in her! Deeper shock engulfed her with sudden sharp emotional pain, all her secret dreams and fancies laid bare and smashed to smithereens. The helicopter flew back to London while Amy struggled to get a grip on herself because, while everything between her and Sev was now finished, shedidwant answers... At the very least she deserved that in recompense for the nasty little scene he had plunged her into at the party without her consent. If she had had to be a dupe, let her at least be a well-informed one, she told herself fiercely, refusing to give way to the biting hurt over his duplicity that was seething inside her... Sev didn’tcareabout her at all, didn’t care that he had hurt and humiliated her and betrayed her trust.
CHAPTER SEVEN
‘ISITTRUE?Isthat man my father?’ Amy asked sharply as the limo ferried them away from the airport. It was the first time she had been able to speak and expect to be heard since they had left the party and it was also the first moment that was truly private. The helicopter had been too noisy, and they had not been alone.
‘It’s true. I had Lawson investigated. Your mother worked in the same company with him for several years. He was actually engaged to her and living with her when the boss’s daughter began to show an interest in him. He ditched your mother and married Cecily not long afterwards,’ he explained curtly. ‘His affair with your mother started up again after the marriage and that was when you were conceived. He’s an ambitious man and marrying Cecily paid off handsomely. As soon as Cecily’s father died, he became CEO of her family insurance firm.’
‘It’s extremely weird to get those facts from you, facts I would have liked to have known years ago but which my mother refused to share.’ After making that honest admission, Amy released her breath audibly. ‘What I still don’t understand is what you have against Oliver Lawson that you would confront him like that with me tonight?’
Sev’s spectacular bone structure tensed, his dark golden eyes shimmering with sudden aggression as he sent her a cool flashing glance. ‘He’s also the father ofAnnabel’sbaby.’
Further shock rippled through Amy and she froze then, her muscles bunching so tight that she ached all over. Oliver...Olly, she recalled his sister saying. More bad news, she thought unhappily, as if she did not already have enough to deal with, but there was the deeper, more personal motivation that had driven Sev. Unasked, he filled in the parts of his sibling’s story that Amy hadn’t known, and her heart sank even more. Her birth father, it seemed, was a total creep, a user and abuser of women, shallow, manipulative and dishonest and a complete bully when things didn’t go his way. Two decades on, the man who had embittered and disillusioned her mother had clearly not changed for the better.
‘I was determined to punish him but I also needed to protect my sister from further exposure,’ Sev continued flatly. ‘Once I found out about you and understood how very careful he had been to keep your existence a secret from his wife, I realised that you were his weakness and would make the perfect weapon.’
‘The perfect pawn,’ Amy contradicted bitterly, and then she compressed her lips together to prevent her emotional turmoil from spilling out and humiliating her even more. She was nobody, she was nothing to Sev, a means to an end and nasty Oliver’s unwanted daughter. Sev had utilised her without any thought or consideration of what he might be doing to her. It hadn’t mattered to him that in targeting her father and using her to do so, he would also be hurting her.
Amy clenched her teeth together so hard that her gums hurt as well. Like a robot, she got out of the car and preceded Sev into his home.
‘I don’t know about you, but I could do with a drink,’ Sev confided.
‘Water for me,’ she said woodenly, incredulous at his unswerving composure, his entire attitude after what he had done to her.
‘Take your coat off,’ Sev urged.
‘No...it’s cool in here,’ she fibbed, because she wasn’t staying once she had told him what she thought of him. And that awareness reminded her of the diamond necklace she still wore, and she reached up under her hair to undo the clasp.
‘What are you doing?’ Sev asked.
‘Taking it off. I wore it to be polite and I don’t want to keep it,’ she admitted curtly, detaching the necklace and laying it down on the nearest surface where it glittered accusingly at her. She hadn’t wanted to accept or wear the wretched thing, but she had trampled over her own sense of morality to wear it simply to please Sev. Now that lowering recollection made her feel nauseous.
‘I realise that all this has come out of nowhere at you and shaken you up,’ Sev conceded, slotting a moisture-beaded glass into her hand. ‘But I was hoping that you’d be pleased to finally find out your father’s identity.’
‘Oh, yes, so much to celebrate there!’ Amy scorned in a voice that emerged with a shrill edge and didn’t sound familiar even to her own ears. ‘A father who is a lying, cheating adulterer! How am I supposed to feel about that discovery?’
‘That’s your private business,’ Sev countered, watching her warily, seeing the colour now freshly highlighting her cheeks, the overbright sparkle of her violet eyes, finally recognising the fierce anger he had never seen in her before.
‘Private?’Amy stressed. ‘My goodness, that’s a funny word to use! As far as you’re concerned, there’s nothing private about my sad little life. You know more about my background and parentage than I do! And even worse, you knew it all evenbeforeI first met you, didn’t you?’
Sev gritted his teeth, his strong jawline clenching. ‘Yes. I didn’t enjoy faking ignorance though. I’m relieved that I can be honest with you now.’
Amy drank down a gulp of sparkling water, her throat tight, her fingers even tighter on the glass because she wanted to throw it at him and was only just resisting the urge. He had made her feel like a fool and she didn’t need to make that obvious by attacking him. ‘But the damage is done, isn’t it? You hate my father but you decided to punishme.’
‘That’s not true, Amy.’
‘You mean you don’t think it’s a punishment for a woman to discover that the very first man she slept with was simplyusingher and playing her like a fish on a line?’
Sev shot her a furious glance. ‘I wasn’t just using you! There was nothing fake about my desire for you... However, if I’d known in advance that you werethatinnocent, I like to think I would have stepped back. Unfortunately, you didn’t give me that choice.’
‘Sev...you didn’t give me one single choice aboutanyof this!’ Amy pointed out in strong rebuttal. ‘And naturally I believed that your interest in me was genuine.’
‘Itisgenuine!’ Sev slammed back at her, losing patience with her accusations. ‘We wouldn’t even be having this conversation if it wasn’t. If your only value to me was the fact that you’re Oliver Lawson’s daughter, you wouldn’t even be here now. We would be finished.’
A humourless laugh fell from Amy’s dry lips. ‘We’re finished anyway. You dressed me up like a doll tonight and took me out to humiliate and hurt me.’
‘I did not,’ Sev sliced in stark denial.
‘Oh, yes, you did. You introduced me in a public place to a father who looked at me in disgust, a father I can only be ashamed of,’ she extended tightly, struggling to contain her turbulent emotions. ‘That was information I should have received in private. I deserved better than that kind of treatment, Sev. And what about Oliver’s wife, Cecily?’