The Dark Forest: A Collection Of Erotic Fairytales(149)
“Rebecca, come on, sweetheart. We’ll handle this, and you don’t want to be here for it.” Will nodded at her, his eyes intensely focused on Adam, but she saw him adjusting his grip on the gun and she shook her head.
“Go ahead, princess.” Adam took a few steps forward, and she closed her eyes tight as he spoke. “Time for you to go home.”
“No, I’m not leaving yet.” She stared at William, ignoring Adam’s words. “You can’t kill him, I still have questions.” Rebecca had been avoiding her father’s gaze, unable to face him, but he suddenly grabbed Will’s gun.
“This is ridiculous,” her father muttered, aiming the gun at Adam, but before she could think about it, she’d thrown herself in front of him, her arms wide as she tried her best to block his chest.
“STOP! You can’t do this, he needs to be alive. I have—”
“You are clearly upset, Rebecca, but I will fix this, and then everything can get back to normal. Now, come over here.” Her father was speaking to her like she was still a child, but he wasn’t lowering the gun and that meant she couldn’t risk moving.
He wants to erase this like it never happened.
Just like he erased my mother, and all of these other women.
The papers under her feet caught her eye, and she found herself shaking her head. “Normal? There is no normal anymore. Do you know what this room is? What’s in all of these filing cabinets?”
“It doesn’t matter.” Her father sighed. “You’re safe now. William and I have found you, and we can just put this behind us.”
“I can’t put this behind me! And all of the shit you’ve done? There’s no normal after reading that!” She kicked some of the papers towards him, and he lowered the gun to lean down and scoop them up. After a moment his jaw went tight, and his eyes flicked to the stacks of folders and papers across the table.
“What is this?”
“This? This is what you did to all those women, what you had Dr. Haisch do to all of them! Tell me, tell me if you really did this. Tell me the truth!” There were tears in her eyes, her voice breaking as she tried to hold onto her composure, to bring back the anger so she wouldn’t break down.
Daniel Sinclair wadded up the papers in his hand and tossed them onto the table. “You’re upset, but while I’m not sure what he’s told you, I can assure you it is all easily explained. I can help you understand, but now it is time to move so William and I can finish cleaning up the mess you’ve made.”
“My mess?” A bitter laugh burst from her lips, her eyes flipping to William, who avoided her gaze so she had to look back at her father. Baby blue eyes, pale blonde hair, immaculately put together—a monster. “You’re calling this my mess? I was taken because of you! So, what about the mess YOU created, Dad? What about all of this shit you’ve done, I mean, who the fuck are all of these women? What did you do to them? To my MOTHER?” Her voice rose until she was screaming, but the only reaction she got was an exasperated sigh.
“I am done coddling you, Rebecca. You’re old enough to understand that not all children are born in some love story. I wanted a child, your mother agreed to provide me one. She was compensated for her time. Now, if you’re done with your temper tantrum, it is time to go.”
“And what happened to her? What happened to her after you got me?”
“That woman is not your concern, Rebecca. You should be grateful I worked so hard to get you, to get someone worthy of inheriting my company. Not just in having you born, but in all the time since. She birthed you, but I made you.” He gestured at her, his voice growing colder. “I gave you the best tutors, put you through the best college, I have given you every opportunity. You are my legacy, poised to inherit Monarch Systems, and for that you should be incredibly grateful.”
“Grateful?” She laughed and she saw the flicker of rage on her father’s face, underneath the perfectly composed shell. “I should be grateful that I’m the result of every terrible thing you’ve done? Grateful that you destroyed others to turn me into some vessel to carry your name forward? Well, guess what, Dad? I don’t want to be your fucking legacy! In fact, I’m going to tell everyone what you’ve done. I’m going to be on every news station, in prime time, telling all your dirty secrets.” She was seething with righteous anger, glowing with it, when she felt Adam’s fingers wrap around her arm.
“Princess, stop.” His whisper came from close behind, a touch of warning in his voice, but she shook him off.
“I’m going to destroy your fucking legacy. Whatever piece of Monarch Systems is still standing, I’ll personally make sure it gets burned to the ground. For Clarissa, for the other women, for everyone you tore apart.”
“All right, Rebecca. If that’s how you feel, if you don’t want my legacy, then you won’t have it.” He lifted the gun, and for the first time she saw the emptiness in his eyes. The soulless darkness underneath the prince charming fa?ade—and then the world spun. The gunshot rang out too loud in the small room, someone shouted, and she found herself crushed against a warm chest, muscular arms tight around her.
Looking up, she realized she was staring into Adam’s tawny brown eyes, too wide for a moment, and then he wavered on his feet, pain twisting his features as he released her. She let out a scream and tried to catch him as he collapsed to the floor, but he was too heavy, and she ended up on the floor with him. “Oh no. No, no, no, what the fuck did you do?”