Chapter 25 #2
She was trembling. “Carrington has a picture of you standing over the body, but this is about me.”
Did she honestly believe a picture could be taken? However, in hearing what he’d used to try to lure her into betraying me, my anger was on the rise. Right now, she needed me to keep my mouth shut.
“After my mother died, my father was full of despair, but he did everything in his power to make me happy again. We didn’t have much at all, my mother’s illness taking his savings.
So he worked two jobs to ensure I had a normal childhood.
We couldn’t go on vacations, but every year when the fair came to town, we went.
He saved up money so we could have a blast for two days. He sacrificed everything for me.”
“He sounds amazing, Penelope.”
“He was. When he got sick, what little insurance we had barely handled his care. We were close to being destitute. Thankfully, he was lucky, at least at first, even going into remission. But the cancer came back with a vengeance. I was sixteen at that point and while I worked at a local fast-food joint for a few hours every week, there were laws to follow for companies employing minors. We got to the point we were almost out on the street. A friend of mine told me about a place I could work where I’d earn a lot of money by just working a couple nights a week. ”
I could hear the pain in her voice. “You don’t need to go on.”
“Yeah, I do. I’m tired of keeping the secret and being embarrassed by a choice made so long ago.
One that I’d do again in a heartbeat. I went to work for a strip club.
Of course I lied about my age and was able to disguise who I was.
Not that anyone at the club cared. I was a hot commodity.
My friend had been right. I made a lot of money and was able to stay in school, even graduating at the top of my class.
The best part was that we had some breathing room so my father could try and recover. ”
“But he wasn’t getting better.”
She shook her head, tears forming in her eyes. “No.”
In holding my breath, I realized I ached for her. Not because I was angry with her choice, but because I was furious she’d been forced to make the difficult choice.
“That wasn’t the end of it.” Her voice dipped lower.
“Even with everything I did, the money brought in still wasn’t enough.
The chemo cost a fortune and the bills were piling up.
I told my story to one of the girls there, another dancer.
Anyway, it got back to a regular. I didn’t know who he was at the time, but he’d been kind to me, not like the men who treated me like dirt.
He made me an offer, one I couldn’t refuse. ”
The hitch in her voice crushed down on me, but I resisted pulling her into my arms.
She pressed her hand against her face. “I, um… He offered me a couple hundred thousand dollars for one night. One night and offering my virginity. I just… I had no other choice, Christian. None. He wasn’t horrible.
He wasn’t abusive. In fact, he was very sweet and he kept his end of the bargain.
For a few months, my dad felt so much better.
But then it failed. I lost him only days after my seventeenth birthday. ”
As she took several gasping breaths as if a weight had been lifted from her, I moved closer. Still not touching. Not yet. I hoped she’d reach for me first.
“If you’re thinking badly of me, don’t. I’ve done enough of that to myself.
Maybe I was wrong, but as I said, I’d do it again if it meant taking suffering away from my father.
And I’ll be damned if that fucking piece of shit I trusted is going to use it against me.
He will not drive me into silence, nor will he push me into doing something I don’t want to do. ”
I pulled her around to face me, cupping her face. “Do you think I’d ever criticize you for caring about your father?”
“You damn well better not.” At first, she pushed her hands against my chest, gasping for air. Then her long fingers wrapped around my shirt, taking a step closer.
“Not a chance, baby. What you did was heroic.”
“No one has ever said that to me. Carrington can’t really hurt me, but he can work to destroy you. Trust me, that fucker will use that picture against you if I don’t help him.”
My mind was already processing how best to handle Carrington.
I shifted my hand, curling my index finger and lifting her head.
I even crouched down slightly so there was no chance she could look anywhere else but directly in my eyes.
“As I’ve told you, I’ve made some… difficult choices, but I can promise you whatever picture he showed you was fabricated.
I haven’t been in Paris in months. That’s easy to prove with aviation records. ”
Relief crossed her face and she pulled me closer. “You’re not lying to me?”
“No, I am not. I don’t obtain business through use of extortion or other unscrupulous methods. There’s no need and I worked very hard to achieve a certain reputation, even if I’m considered merciless.”
“Even after what you did with your employee?”
She was a tough woman. I swept the fingers of my other hand down her soft cheek while thinking of a decent answer.
“Brandon was caught selling intellectual property including everything another firm would need to derail our attempts at obtaining the property and winning the project. That much I was able to discover. Who he sold it to has eluded me.”
“But you think it might be Carrington.”
“Doesn’t that make sense?”
Her lower lip was quivering, but the fire in her eyes was wild and on point. “Yes, it does.”
“I’m curious. Does the name Southshore Limited mean anything to you?”
I sensed her mind was processing the name. “No. I’ve never heard of it. Should I have?”
“Maybe not, but it’s the missing piece that will tie the sabotage to Covington and I’d hate to think it had anything to do with dear ole George.”
“You’re right.”
“Don’t worry about Carrington. I’ll handle him.”
She arched her back. “Will you promise not to kill him?”
“Mmm… You’re asking a lot.”
Her saucy smile sent another wave of desire through me. “Promise me.”
“Alright. For you. But that doesn’t mean I won’t ruin him.”
As she inched closer, I inhaled the sweet scent of her perfume, savoring the moment before I devoured her. “That’s just fine by me.”
Perhaps we really were very much alike after all.