CHAPTER TWELVE
TRAVIS
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Fuck. I couldn’t even plant the seed in Brook’s mind without my fury rising up like the devil and being on display.
I know she noticed.
I walk a fine line every day, keeping my hatred locked away so I can live a normal life. One where I pretend I don’t wake at night screaming because I’m back in my family home as a little boy, hearing the click.
The click, which means pain and fear.
Which means the man I should’ve been able to trust was instead the demon in my story. The one who taught me no one was to be trusted, and that lying is necessary to survive.
“Keep your mouth shut or I’ll tell the police you killed your mother,” he said the first time.
It’s laughable now.
She died of a heart attack.
But as a five-year-old, I didn’t have the knowledge or means to argue with my father. Not when he stood taller and stronger before me, stroking himself while gazing over my body with bloodshot eyes. Evil ghosting around him while the smell of bourbon filled my room.
“Daddy, please. No.”
Then he backhanded me and spun me around.
The rest was pure pain and terror. Terror that never stopped for over five years until Sofia saved me.
Now I will forever be in her debt.
When I was in college, I began searching for her and eventually found her living in New Jersey. I waited until I was ready, but looking back, I wasn’t. It was always going to be hard seeing her again.
I knocked on her door, and the minute she saw me, she recognized me. Despite the years.
“Terrance, my boy. My boy.” She cried, throwing herself into my arms. “Oh, dios, I’m so sorry.”
“It’s Travis now,” I told her.
We held each other so tightly I wasn’t sure if I was going to break her or she was going to put me back together again.
Tears leaked down my face despite fighting them. She dragged me inside and poured me a glass of goddamn milk. I drank it.
When she finally stopped patting my face, I took her hands. “Sofia, you saved my life.”
“No.” She shook her head. “I should have stopped him earlier. I didn’t know. I didn’t know.”
“You didn’t know, Sofia. But the moment you did, you threw away your job, income, security. For me.” I squeezed her hand.
Her eyes dart away. “Of course. Who wouldn’t?”
“Pretty much most people.” I grabbed her cheek and forced her eyes back to me. “Most people, Sofia. But you didn’t.”
Her eyes dropped as tears landed on her lap, getting lost in the past. “I wanted to do more. I drove past and couldn’t find you. There was nothing more I could do.”
I smiled. “He sent me away to school. Because of you. That saved my life.”
Her eyes flicked up to mine, surprise in them.
I smiled back at her.
“I loved you so much, Terrance...Travis. For years I’ve worried.”
No one had told me they loved me since my mother had died. I pulled her into my arms and never wanted to let go.
This woman had raised me.
Mom always kept me at arm’s length, and it may have been because of my controlling father.
I’ll never know.
But I knew one thing: I loved this elderly Spanish woman as if she were my mother, and I didn’t give a shit what anyone thought.
I pulled a key out of my pocket and placed it in her hand.
“What is this?”
“A house,” I said as she gasped. “In a better, safer neighborhood. With a garden and garage to park your car. With rooms for your grandkids to come and stay.”
I continued while her mouth fell open.
“A big kitchen so you can make all those dishes I love. And an enormous dining table so you can fill it with food and people and laughter.”
“This is too much.” She shook her head.
“It’s far from being enough,” I replied.
After an hour of arguing and explaining I’d paid her rent for the next two weeks, I helped her pack and moved her to the new house.
I had no idea someone could cry so much.
But they were tears of joy...and disbelief.
I left her to find the car in the garage because I could see she was overwhelmed. When she did, the next day, we spent another hour disagreeing.
I smile into the darkness at the memory.
“Accept it or I’ll go swap it for a Rolls Royce to really embarrass you.” I chuckled.
“Oh diablos no!”
These days, I go for dinner at least once a month with Sofia—or Mama as I now call her—and her kids and grandkids. I’m part of the family as far as they’re all concerned.
They don’t care that I’m a billionaire. I still have to wash the dishes, put out the trash, and usually fix something that’s broken.
She saves up the jobs for me.
I tell her I will pay for a handyman, but she slaps my chest and points at me in the face. “No. You are my hijo , it is your job. You have too much money, not enough responsibility.”
I just laugh.
Needless to say, Mama does not know about the Alliance Club.
We never talk about my father and certainly do not watch his movies. If his face comes on the screen, she curses pendejo and switches the channel.
My life started hard, but between Mama and the guys, I am blessed. Now, bringing down the man who hurt me, my life will be complete.
I look out over the water as it rushes behind the yacht and drag on my cigar. I should give up this bad habit, but it’s like a stress release. My form of meditation. You have to die from something, so I guess smoking these fucking things might be it.
Brook is probably wondering why I walked out. I know my plan has holes in it. She’s an intelligent and intuitive woman, but she won’t connect me with my father—I paid way too much money for even a journalist to be able to unearth my real identity.
The only person able to do that is Leo Taylor on sight.
So, I need this to be done anonymously.
Hence my pursuing Brook.
It occurred to me, as I spent the day scrolling through comments on her video, that there will be a lot of unhappy, powerful people surrounding my father right now. If he hasn’t filed a lawsuit against her, he soon will. Not just him, but potentially also the Hollywood elite.
This could be costly and potentially dangerous for her.
That’s where I come in. I need her to keep running and investigating this story. It needs to go national...and viral around the world.
And I’m going to protect her while she does.
In the shadows.
If Leo discovers my involvement, he’ll have his PR people spin a story about some childhood wounds of a rich kid...blah, blah, fucking blah. Hence, taking her out on the boat and hiring an entire restaurant.
Privacy.
I hear her footsteps behind me and turn, blowing out smoke over my shoulder. Christ, she’s barefoot and has pulled my navy blazer on. It’s huge on her and makes me want to scoop her up and carry her through to the master bedroom, then rip off every single piece of clothing.
“Sorry if I upset you,” Brook says, stopping right in front of me. With no heels, she’s incredibly short.
I toss the cigar overboard and wrap my arms around her.
“Don’t apologize.” I brush her hair back off her face, the strands flapping in the breeze. “You have questions, I get that. I just don’t have anything more. But I know he was telling the truth.”
“Is that why I’m here?”
It’s a reasonable question.
“No, you’re here because I want to lick your pussy. But when I watched your show, I knew it was important to speak up. On his behalf.”
She nods and rests her head against my chest.
I like it. I like having her in my arms, knowing she’s safe.
Protecting Brook seems to have taken on a life of its own in a very short period of time. And I wonder if walking away from her in a few days, when she’s done what I need, is going to be possible.
“Do you remember his name?”
“Yes.” I kiss her forehead.
“Where is he now?”
I shake my head. “We lost contact.”
Not a lie.
The boy I once was doesn’t exist anymore. He’s gone. Forever. Wrapped up in cotton wool where he can’t be hurt anymore.
“I need to find him. To see if he will speak to me. If you won’t,” Brook says.
I expected that she’d go down this path—it’s exactly what I hoped for. The seed I’ve planted has her brain racing, wanting to find the boy.
Me.
She won’t. But she will be so far down the rabbit hole by then that she won’t be able to put this story to bed.
Plus, if she hasn’t already, she’ll soon realize I have no reason to lie. I have no skin in the game, nor am I connected to Leo Taylor in any way. Zero.
That she will find.
Any doubt or suspicion will die a quick death.
I gain nothing by telling her what I was told. I’m just the kid who met his son and was given private information.
I’m also insanely rich.
I’m not looking for a payout. I don’t want to go on record. All I’m doing is sharing something that was apparently told to me in confidence.
It would take a highly cynical person to dismiss this kind of information.
What I’m doing, despite not having evidence, is demonstrating a pattern of abuse in Leo Taylor’s timeline—one that will drive her investigative mind to want to dig even deeper.
I don’t feel guilty for lying—the fucker did abuse his son. Me. Sometimes I disassociate from my old identity, and it’s easy to lose myself in the story of it being someone else.
A shrink would call it a survival technique.
They’d be right.
Once she gets on the path, I can walk away. My jaw tightens the more I think about that happening. This stubborn woman is so against having a relationship, I realize I have a small window to spend with her.
One I’m going to steal.
Life a thief in the night, I’m taking what I want.
All of her.
“Brook”—I take her face—“come away with me this weekend.”
Her brows shoot up.
What am I doing?
“I’m going to be busy with this story. We discussed this. I don’t want anything serious.”
My thumb brushes over her lips, and she presses closer, my cock thickening between us. “This could get dangerous. So let me help.”
“How?” Her face follows my thumb, seeking more of my touch. When she opens her lips, I slide it an inch inside.
Fuck, she’s hot as sin.
“The way any billionaire does. With money. Let me get you some private security as a first step. Have you been served yet? By...”
Fuck, I nearly say by my father.
“No, but I am expecting it. They’re waiting to see if we drop it first. Their PR teams are starting to investigate me. Last week my old boss from the NYT said they reached out and asked if I was fired from my job. You know, getting the dirt on me.”
Shit.
I don’t like that they will come after her. She has no one to protect her. It’s very irresponsible of her. Doesn’t she know how this crap works?
Well, now she has me.
“They’re going to get really aggressive; you know that, right?”
She nods.
“I want to take care of you. For...Terrance.” She’ll find his/my name in one Google search. “I’ll arrange security and make sure you have a legal fund at the ready.”
Brook tips her head. “Why would you do this?”
I slide my hand behind her neck and look her directly in the eye. “Because you’re the only one who can do this, and from what I know, Leo Taylor deserves to be behind bars.”
“I can’t promise that.” She shakes her head. “All I can do is tell the story.”
“Well, the least we can do is destroy him.”
Before she can overthink my words, I scoop her up, stride through the ship and kick the door to the master cabin closed.
Then undress her.