“And he didn’t know?”
“Maybe he suspected on some level, but he couldn’t accept it. He was just as shocked as I was that she’d been lying to us for the last fourteen years.”
I sat forward, ignoring my posture, and rested my elbows on my knees, wanting to be closer. It was irrational, this desire to somehow protect her from such an awful betrayal that was twelve years in the past. “But he stayed with her.”
“I’m sure he wanted to leave, but he didn’t have a choice. What kind of man leaves a wife in her final days with cancer? And if he walked out and she did die . . . Fuck, I’d have no one.” She unscrewed the water bottle and took a long drink then set it down on the table like she didn’t know what to do with it anymore. “He loves her too. That’s why he stayed when she got better. My dad may not want me, but he still wants her, even after she massively fucked up.”
Her offhanded comment made me uncomfortable, like my suit was suddenly constricting. How could anyone not want her, when I couldn’t stop myself from wanting her?
“After that,” she said, “I decided I’d never be in the dark again. I’d learn every secret I could.”
I respected that and directed my ire at a new target. “What about Damon? Does he know?”
She tilted her head up to the ceiling. Like an imbecile, I also glanced up, not sure what she was looking at, only to dimly realize she’d done it to blink back tears. My body went on alert. I never felt more powerless than when witnessing a woman cry.
“Yeah.” She sniffled, composed herself, and used her anger to burn away her tears. “He fucking knows.”
There was no scenario I could see that made this acceptable, and I sensed there wasn’t one either.
“My dad scheduled a meeting with him. I think Damon thought it was going to be a sales pitch from my dad’s firm. Instead, I ambushed him with, ‘Surprise! I’m your daughter.’” Her smile was pained and didn’t reach her eyes. “He told me I was fourteen years too late. I was Stephen’s daughter now, not his.”
I inhaled a sharp breath, stunned at the cruelty, then anger bubbled to the surface. “He can say whatever he wants, but he cannot argue with biology.”
Sophia nodded, but it was only to appease me. “I was such an idiot. I thought maybe if I just got him to see me, he’d come around. You want to guess how I got into shooting skeet?”
There was a brick in my stomach, sinking me down. “I don’t need to guess,” I said quietly. “I know Damon’s an excellent shot. He’s nearly as good as I am.”
This drew a fraction of a real smile across her lips, and I enjoyed seeing it. “He’s better than you, Macalister.”
“Perhaps,” I begrudgingly admitted. “You didn’t see me at my best last time.”
“You were too busy giving me those helpful tips.”
I deserved that. “I will be better tomorrow.” The conversation lulled for a weighty moment. “That’s where you left it with him? He’s not going to acknowledge you’re his daughter?”
She pressed her lips together. “I have two fathers, yet neither one wants to claim me.”
Displeasure slid down my back, wrapping around my chest, and intensified with my next thought. “Duncan doesn’t know he’s your half-brother.” It explained why she’d treated him like he was diseased. “Does Kristin know?”
She stared at me like I was missing something obvious. “Macalister, no one knows. Just the people involved . . . and now you.”
Normally, I would have relished knowing such a secret, but there wasn’t any satisfaction here. Sophia had become important to me, and my disappointment in Damon was beyond limit.
“Had I known any of this,” I said, “I wouldn’t have hosted that event.”
Her gaze ran away guilty. “I know. It’s why I couldn’t tell you.”
“I wouldn’t have spent a penny on a man who shirks his responsibility and abandons his own daughter. Especially when it’s you, Sophia. I wouldn’t have let him step a foot in my home.”
Anger swelled, an unstoppable force, as I recalled the callous way he’d treated her once I’d explained she’d been the one to organize the entire event. I had the terrible suspicion she’d done it for him, another attempt to impress the father who refused to acknowledge her.
I rose abruptly and pulled my phone out of my interior coat pocket. “This is unacceptable.”
She leapt to her feet, and her warm hands closed around mine, stopping me. “What are you doing?”
I didn’t want to like how her touch felt, but it happened, regardless. “I’m going to explain to Damon I want this corrected.”
“You can’t, and also, how? He doesn’t work for HBHC anymore.”
“He still sits on the board.”
She said it quietly, as if she were trying to soften the blow. “But you don’t.”
Frustration curled its irritating fingers in my stomach, twisting. Would I be able to talk Royce into this? Unlikely. My relationship with the board was tenuous at best, and Damon had been my closest ally.
He’d worried about me learning the truth, and it was why he’d warned me about Sophia. “Duncan says she's famous for spreading lies.”
She wanted to spread the truth, though.
Her hand stayed on mine, even as I lowered my phone, and her expression was defeated. “You can’t convince him to do the right thing. Believe me, I tried.”
“I don’t understand why you have stayed quiet. He doesn’t deserve your silence.”
Her eyes filled with shame. “No, he doesn’t. That’s why he pays for it.”
She’d told me once she didn’t need money, and now I understood. I pulled my hands from her grasp and ignored the way she looked bereft. “I see.”
“Don’t you dare judge me,” her tone was defiant, “for taking the only thing he’s willing to give.”
I pocketed my phone as I considered her statement. Why shouldn’t she take his hush money? I would do the same, if I were in her position. “You make an excellent point. But have you considered what this will do if it gets out? I seem to recall you said your goal wasn’t to destroy anyone.”
I don’t know what compelled me to do it, but I stepped closer and placed my hand against her cheek, forcing her gaze upon me. Her breathing went short and shallow, and her pupils dilated.
“I don’t want to destroy him,” she said. “I gave him plenty of chances to admit the truth. He only loves his picture-perfect family, which doesn’t include me. He wakes up every day and makes the choice that I’m not good enough.”
I wasn’t any good at tenderness, but I wasn’t in control anymore. I brushed my thumb over her smooth skin and watched her pink lips part, like she was preparing for my impending kiss.
“You are good enough,” I said. “More than good enough.”
As soon as the words had left my mouth, she rose and closed whatever space was left between us. Her lush lips pressed sweetly to mine, and her kiss disrupted. It was the first time she’d initiated, and I wasn’t certain I should allow it. I preferred when our power dynamic was clearly defined, and I was the one in charge.