“I didn’t see you at the funeral. And not because I wasn’t looking, Tal, because I was.”
Her eyes pooled with tears again, but she didn’t let them spill, rather she blinked them away and took a deep breath before she delivered the final blow. Or so I thought.
“It broke my heart … not being able to say goodbye, not having the chance to make things right with Chase, not seeing you. He stole that from me, too.” She tried to shift her gaze from mine, but I captured her chin between my fingers.
“Talia?” My voice was not my own, it was steady and controlled. I didn’t want to lose her.
Her answer sent chills down my spine. “I. Hate. Him.”
“Talia?”
“The day before the funeral, without me knowing, my father called Jack. He thought he was doing him a favor, father to father; giving him time to prepare his family, lessen the shock. He still assumed Tack was Chase’s. When that monster walked in, he took one look at Tack and one look at me and screwed me worse than he did the night he stole my virginity.” Her words knocked the wind out of me and I ground my teeth, because it was better than the alternative. “Yeah, you surprised? I wasn’t as slutty as everyone thought—good cover for my immature daddy issues. I was just a whole bunch of talk and no action.” Talia sensed my irrational rage. My blood officially boiled. She palmed both of my cheeks and forced me to look her in the eyes. “Stop. Don’t give him the satisfaction. He’s dead. He can’t hurt me ever again. Please stop, you’re shaking. You have to calm down.”
“Tell me what he did to make you disappear and change your name, and I’ll consider not exhuming his corpse to rip what’s left apart piece by piece.”
“Please, don’t. It was years ago. It’s over. It’s done, Asher, please.”
“Tell me,” I hissed.
“He knew, the whole time, he knew … he didn’t even wait for my mother to usher Tack out of the room before he unapologetically announced that screwing me wasn’t worth the trouble of dealing with this shit.” Her voice quivered, but she paused to rein it in. “Those were his words, he referred to my son as ... shit. It was the most humiliating moment of my life. I’m haunted by the look on my father’s face when that bastard said he did me a favor, said I was a tease who was begging for it the way I performed on stage, that he saved me from going home with some random low-life trash that night.” She cringed when she enunciated the words ‘begging and performed.’ “In the same breath, he cursed me for being stupid and not taking care of my situation when I had the chance. He was furious that I had the audacity to show my face back in his circle and told me if I knew what was good for me I’d take my bastard child and go back to California. He knew about Tack all along. I didn’t know how he knew, but he did...”
I interrupted, needing clarification, because I was about to spit fire. “And your father just sat there?” Another man lucky he was already six feet under.
“God, no. Actually the complete opposite, my father was completely crazed. He looked seconds away from having a massive coronary. I had to physically refrain him from attacking him. I had never seen my father so distraught. See by then, I had three years to come to terms with how sick and twisted Jack Colton was. I already hated him. My dad had no idea. I was actually relieved he wanted nothing to do with Tack. I wanted him nowhere near us. I told him he didn’t need to worry, that I’d rather die than tell my son who his father was, and that after Kim’s funeral, he would never see me again. He could forget we even existed … but that wasn’t good enough. I never dreamed he could do or say anything else to make me hate him more … I was wrong. So wrong.”
She leaned her head against the back of the couch and turned her head to face me. She looked vacant. Like she could see through me. Her voice was raspy and strained. “He said if I knew what was good for me and Tack, I would go back to California and change my name. Not just stay away, but disappear, as in off the grid, his grid. My father cursed him and threatened to make him pay. That monster didn’t even blink when my dad used the word statutory rape. Just stood there like he held all the cards … because he did. So much for empty threats. Jack rambled on about some investments they were involved with together and how the pyramid was about to crumble. He mocked my dad for how stupid he was not to realize his name was inked on every fraudulent document.”
“The Ponzi scheme.”
“Yep. Then he said the fate of my life, Tack’s life, our life together was in the palm of my father’s hand. We either disappear or he would let the whole thing fall. They’d both lose a fortune, but my dad would face prison time. Prison! I couldn’t let my father go to prison.”
“Son of a bitch. When it all finally came down, Chase bailed his sorry ass out from that pile and I helped keep HIM out of prison!” The irony of the sick situation twisted the knife already in my gut.
“My father was ready to take the fall, he didn’t care. He was willing to do that for me. He said I sacrificed enough and he was proud of the woman and mother I had become. I would’ve never let him do that. I couldn’t. And it wasn’t until the monster’s final words that my father finally agreed. We had to leave; there was no other option. He…” She tucked her knees to her chest and began to rock slightly. Her eyes welled yet again, but this time they were full of fury. “He had evidence.”
I didn’t think my insides could burn any hotter. My fists ached to meet contact with something, anything.
Balance, cock, torque, strike.
“What if it’s still floating around? I know he’s dead, but what if he didn’t destroy it, what if it’s still out there? Oh god, what if Tack ever saw it? Oh god.” Her fury turned to panic. She was losing it. I knew the feeling.
“Tal, stop. Please. Look at me.” Her wild eyes were frantic and searching. “Look at me, Teeps.” I cupped her cheeks just like she had done to me not just a few minutes ago. “Calm down and tell me.”
“He took pictures of me, that night, ahhh! I remember so clearly his beady grey eyes turning almost black as he spoke. His glare was so intense I felt it penetrating my bones. He threatened to expose them to the world if I didn’t go—we didn’t go.”
“That bastard not only violated you, he documented it, son of a bitch! And then he forced you to change your identity, taking you from us.”
Her spacey eyes caught mine before she collapsed like a lead weight against my chest, trembling. Her erratic heart beat in time with mine. Inhale. Exhale. We both struggled to regulate our breathing. I thought maybe she was done speaking, she seemed like she had nothing left. I wasn’t done. I was far from being done. I gently swept beneath her eyes to wipe away the sorrow, the anguish, the fear my Talia had lived with for so long. Too long. No more. I squeezed her tighter reminding myself she was here now. But I wasn’t sure I was going to get past the fact that he singlehandedly stole nineteen years away from us and from us knowing Tack.
She sat up a little, begging my fiery eyes to meet hers before she continued, “He gave us twelve hours. He actually set a time stamp ... he said if we were to ever walk on his sidewalk, let alone come within a hundred mile radius of the air he breathed, or if I betrayed him to stay for Kimi’s funeral, he would screw us over even harder. The scary thing was we had no idea what he was capable of. There was no way I could risk calling his bluff. Not when there was more than just me involved. Tack and I had to disappear. It was easier. It was the only choice. There was no way I would allow him to grow up anywhere near that monster. He deserved better, we both did.” Her voice was quieter now. She took my hand in hers and gently stroked across my tender knuckles. At this point I had nothing else to say, my mind was made up. I knew what I had to do.