25. Chapter Twenty-Five
It takes a moment for my brain to fully catch up, then—oh my God. Adeline peeks around Dad’s shoulder, eyes wide and concerned. They both look tan and relaxed except for their twin shocked expressions.
“We’re not home early,” Adeline says. It looks suspiciously like she’s trying to stifle laughter. “We’ve been gone nearly two weeks already. Our flight landed a few hours ago.”
I run through the days in my head and curse again. Three days! I’ve been in bed making love with Jacob for three whole days.
My gaze darts guiltily to Jacob, panic fluttering in my chest at the realization that he’s been conspicuously silent and still beside me this entire time. But one look at the strangled anguish etched into his beautiful features is enough to momentarily eclipse my own rising dread. That, and the fact I’m wrapped entirely in the bed covers, while every glorious inch of him is on display. I try to cover his mid-section up in a flurry, but I’m trapped in cotton which is made worse when his arms tighten further around me.
“Steph?” Dad’s voice snaps me back to his face. “Is...everything all right over there?”
I open my mouth, then snap it closed again, words shriveling up like ashes on my tongue. The burn on my cheeks is real.
It’s too much for Adeline and a choked laugh breaks free. “I’d say she’s more than all right. How about we give them a chance to, uh…get themselves together? I’ll put the coffee on, shall I?” She grabs Dad’s arm and hauls him from the doorframe. She reaches back past him and quickly closes the door.
I bury my face in Jacob’s chest, eaten alive with mortification. “God.”
“Somehow I don’t think he’s going to save us now,” Jacob says.
I look into his face. “This isn’t the way I wanted you to first meet him.”
His lips twist and then he winces as he looks down at his naked form. “It’s certainly not an impression he’ll forget.”
“I don’t want to go out there. I’m…not ready.” It means this sanctuary of time is over and I want to remain deluded. Just for a little bit longer.
He tips my face up with a gentle nudge of his knuckle under my chin. “Neither am I, but I promise you, we’ll have this again. I promise.”
The mattress shifts as he repositions until he’s a solid, anchoring presence at my side. I look into his eyes and see the truth shining down at me. I know he believes he can make this promise, but I also understand that neither of us are in a position to demand anything of life. I offer him a tentative smile.
I force myself to get out of bed and draw some clothes on. Jacob picks up his clothes off the floor and puts them on. He’s impossibly rumpled but he didn’t stop to pack a suitcase on the way here. I make a mental note to ask Dad if Jacob can borrow some of his clothes.
“Guess this will have to do,” Jacob says.
I kiss him. “Dad will love you, no matter what.”
He runs his fingers through his hair and grimaces. “I wish I had your optimism.”
I smooth his shirt but it makes no difference. “Not optimism. I just know Dad.”
He tugs me to him when I go to move away, crushing me against his chest. His mouth collects mine and he sweeps his tongue through my parted lips. He kisses me deeply. As though he can’t get enough, which I know is true because I feel the same way. When he breaks away, I’m dazed and breathless. I’m glad he’s propping me up because I don’t think my knees are strong enough yet. He swipes his thumb along my swollen bottom lip. “That will have to tide us over until I can have you in my arms again.”
“If you’re going to kiss me like that, I’ll tell Dad to go on another honeymoon and I’ll be in your arms for as long as we both live,” I say.
“Don’t tempt me. It’ll give me a chance to make a better first impression, but I’m also a realist and I can only assume he’s pacing that kitchen right now on the brink of coming back in here to make sure I’m treating you as you should be treated,” he says.
I grin. “I thought that’s what you were doing.”
“Tease.” He smiles back.
“Always.” I link my fingers with his. “Come on. Let’s get go make a great second impression.”
I take him to the kitchen where Adeline and Dad are sitting at the island having coffee. Steam rises from the two extra cups set on the countertop. Adeline covers her lips with her fingertips and Dad sits up straight.
He opens his arms. “Come here, sweetie.”
I move to him, grateful that he’s here. As though his presence can melt away the pain the way it did when I was little. His arms close around me. He hugs me tight and whispers in my ear. “I’ll ask again. Is he treating you right?”
I lift my face and whisper back. “In the best way, Dad.”
I step back, nerves tingling. “Dad. Adeline. I’d like to you meet Jacob.” I take a deep breath. I have to tell them and it’s best coming from me. I need to do things right this time. “Jacob is Professor Jacob Black. My professor at Midwestern University.”
“You’re the professor Steph has been working on with her dissertation this semester?” Adeline says. She was always very quick to put everything together.
Dad’s jaw tightens almost imperceptibly. “Are you taking advantage of my daughter, Professor?”
“No!” The protest explodes from me. “It isn’t anything like that, Dad. I swear.”
Jacob’s hand finds the small of my back, steadying and solid. “I pursued her,” he states in a low, controlled tone. “Against every rational voice in my head telling me not to, I gave in. I couldn’t stop myself. But she never manipulated or pressured me in any way. This was entirely my lapse in judgment and ethics as her professor.”
I scoff. I didn’t pressure him? That’s the farthest thing from the truth. What we have runs deep. So deep.
“Dad,” I say, voice trembling despite my efforts to stay steady, “I know how this must look, but I need you to understand something. What Jacob and I have means everything. It doesn’t matter that he’s my professor. In a few short weeks, I’ll graduate. He didn’t prey on me. It’s one hundred percent mutual. I swear.”
My fingers twine unconsciously with Jacob’s. “We fell in love, Dad. Deeply, madly, irrevocably in love. And now we’re going to fight like hell to keep it, no matter what consequences get thrown our way.”
“It’s true. I’m in love with Steph. I’m also fully prepared to hand in my resignation to be with her,” Jacob says.
I whirl on him. “Jacob! No. I don’t want you to. I said I’d talk to Dad about this—”
I swim in the deep ocean of his gaze. “Baby, it’s really not his problem. This is on me. I’ll find a way. I’ll make it work. My career is over anyway.”
Jacob is too private. Too willing to take everything on his own shoulders to his detriment. When it comes down to it, it’s not fair. The scales have to tilt in our favor once and for all.
“No. It’s not.” I face Dad. I’ve spent years being afraid he’d reject me, and disgusted because if what I did with Daniel. But Jacob has changed me. I see the truth. I’m not alone. I can reach out to those who love me and want the best for me. I don’t need to suffer any more.
Jacob is my light, my deliverance, my soul’s craving after years’ worth of starvation. And if exposing every last secret wound and humiliation is the price I have to pay to keep him firmly rooted in my world...well, it’s a small one in the grand scheme of things.
Because the real tragedy would be letting him slip away.
“The dean is blackmailing Jacob. He forced Jacob to funnel university funds into the dean’s own private bank account and set it up to look like Jacob has been acting on his own. Jacob won’t only lose his job. He’ll go to prison if he doesn’t do what Marcus tell him to.”
Adeline sucks in a breath and Dad curses under his breath. I press on, not giving any of them time to speak.
“That’s not all. I…I’m in trouble too.”
“What’s going on, Steph?” Dad says. “How are you in trouble?”
My heart races as I prepare to detonate the biggest powder keg. “There is...so much more going on. With me, with Jacob, with...with everything.”
So many times, I’ve sworn I would never burden my father with the truth about Daniel. But that vow was made from a place of fear and shame—the wounded, naive part of myself that believed suffering silently was somehow the best path forward. Well, no more. Not when I’ve finally glimpsed the truth of how vital Jacob is to me.
There’s no going back now. I only have everything to gain.
“It started when I was sixteen,” I rasp out words that cut like glass. “That’s when Daniel first...when he seduced me.”
Dad’s jaw slackens as his eyes widen in obvious shock. Adeline pales, before glancing from me to Dad and back again. “Daniel Adam? From…work?”
“He’s the one.” I nod, blinking back hot tears. The vault of memories I’ve kept locked away for so long finally bursts open.
“I was just a kid—so desperate to be seen as mature beyond my years. Daniel preyed on that, laid it on thick until I fell for everything he said, hook, line, and sinker.” A hiccupping sob forces its way free. I fold into Jacob’s body when he collects me and holds me against him. “By the time I realized what a sadistic, opportunistic predator he truly was...it was too late.”
I draw in Jacob’s scent, letting it ground me. Daniel can’t hurt me here. He doesn’t get that power. Not anymore. I can’t look at Dad or Adeline as I force out the next harrowing admission.
“He took photos. Intimate, explicit ones of us. Together. My one and only time.” Bile scorches my throat, my voice going watery and reedy. “And he’s been using them to blackmail and manipulate me ever since.”
A harsh, guttural sound punches from Dad. Adeline actually recoils, one palm flying up to muffle a horrified gasp.
“That asshole,” she whispers.
“Tell me everything.” Dad bites out, each syllable precise and lethally devoid of inflection. “Every detail that sadistic son of a bitch has put you through. I need to know it all, in order to comprehend just how badly I’ve failed you as a father.”
The stark rawness in his voice nearly buckles my knees. “Dad, no...this wasn’t your fault. None of it, I swear—”
“Like hell it wasn’t!” The roar detonates between us. Dad’s fists are clenched so tightly the tendons stand out in harsh relief against his forearms, every line of his body vibrating with a fury so potent it’s practically radioactive.
“My own daughter, subjected to years of manipulation?” He actually growls, low and feral. His eyes glitter with incandescent rage. “This ends. As of this moment, we go full nuclear against Daniel Adam and ruin him forever.”
The vehemence in his tone sends a full-body shudder through me. Because, for the first time in nearly half my life, this is out in the open. I don’t have to keep this secret any more. It can’t harm me anymore the way I’ve let it. I’m still horrified, but the relief that pours through me is dizzying. Jacob’s palm settles over the frantic thundering of my heartbeat, anchoring me back to the moment.
“And Marcus Sotheby,” I say. “We’ll stop both of them.”
Dad levels a sharp, assessing look at Jacob. A muscle feathers in Jacob’s jaw, but he doesn’t look away. Just holds Dad’s gaze steadily, the air between them practically crackling. But I can also detect the undercurrent of white-hot indignation simmering there. Dad hates nothing more than what was done to his wife by her own father. He’s already razed the ground with Harry’s blood, and now he’ll do it again.
“In my experience, not everyone who is blackmailed is guilty,” he states flatly. “My daughter would never have fallen in love with just anyone. I trust her and now, by extension, I am deciding to trust you.”
Then he shifts his piercing focus to me, and the weight of a thousand unspoken words passes between us—a lifetime’s worth of longing and love and paternal protection, both given and shamefully neglected over the years. When he finally speaks again, his voice has gone quiet yet somehow even more intense.
“Mark my words, Steph...this ends today. By whatever means necessary, we’re cutting out the rot that’s been allowed to fester.” He shakes his head slowly, mouth set in a grim line of finality. “Daniel and Marcus Sotheby will get what they’re due. I’m taking the gloves completely off for this one.”
A profound sense of relief settles over me. Because I’m not alone in this anymore. Not just Jacob standing at my side, but my family too.
For the first time in forever, I’m...liberated.
The shackles and chains from the past have been unwound. I can finally breathe.
Dad’s eyes blaze as his gaze lands on each of us in turn. “I’m bringing in Tristan to help. Those assholes are going down.”