Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 123579 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 618(@200wpm)___ 494(@250wpm)___ 412(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 123579 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 618(@200wpm)___ 494(@250wpm)___ 412(@300wpm)
CHAPTER SEVEN
Sofie
It’s not quite five o’clock when I make my way toward my father’s office, hoping I can speak to him before he leaves, if he’s leaving. He usually has clothes here so he doesn’t have to go to the house. Over the years, he and my mother have devised all manner of ways to avoid being at home at the same time.
Celeste, Daddy’s assistant, and probable longtime mistress, is packing up when I approach my father’s suite.
“Ms. Baston, good evening.” Celeste adjusts the strap of her bag on her shoulder. “Your father’s wrapping up a call.”
“Thanks, Celeste. Will you be at the party tonight?”
“Wouldn’t miss it.” Celeste offers a parting smile before walking out. “See you this evening.”
When I was a little girl, this office seemed so massive. I felt like Alice in Wonderland, with everything oversize and fantastical. Now when I walk in, knowing the kinds of deals Daddy does behind these doors, it just feels like the black hole Alice tumbled through.
“Keep me posted.” Daddy speaks into the handset, glancing up at me as I cross the threshold. “Yes. Just let Celeste know.”
I sit down in the chair across from Daddy’s desk. Anxiety swells inside my throat, not unlike the day I sat in this very office and told him I wouldn’t be going to Princeton, but was heading to Paris for my first runway show. That bastard Kyle Manchester was a dark undertow in that pivotal conversation, just like he is in this one. Only Daddy didn’t know it then.
The secret I’ve been carrying around for fifteen years hovers on the tip of my tongue, lured out of darkness by necessity. I had put this behind me. After two years of therapy and more than a dozen years living strong and making my own choices, I put it behind me. But now it’s rearing its ugly head again, and though I won’t expose it to the world, I have to tell Daddy. If he knew what Kyle Manchester did all those years ago, I have to believe he wouldn’t do business with him.
“Sofie, this is a surprise.” Daddy shifts his attention to a stack of papers on his desk, giving me a cursory look. “Shouldn’t you be on your way home to get ready for tonight’s party?”
“I’m dressing here at the office.” I fold my hands in my lap. “Leaving from here.”
“So did you need something?”
Right to the point. No affection or concern. My father doesn’t deal in either of those, and I should be used to it by now, but somehow I never am. I should lower my expectations of him, as he has done of me.
“Could I ask you…well, how deep are you in with Kyle Manchester?”
I’ve spent my whole life studying this man, trying to figure out how I can best please him. I can never seem to get that quite right, but trying has taught me a lot about him. And I recognize, even though his face remains completely relaxed, a certain alertness enter his eyes.
“Why do you ask?” Daddy flips open a file, running his eyes over it, but not really seeing it. Not fooling me. I have his full attention.
“He’s not a good man, Daddy.”
His eyes flip up to mine, narrowed on my face.
“Neither am I, Sofie.” A band of steel runs through his soft words. “Neither are half the men we do business with. Neither is Walsh Bennett, if it comes down to it.”
“You’re wrong about Walsh.” I tug the corner of my mouth between my teeth. “But Kyle…”
I inch forward until I’m literally on the edge of my seat.
“Daddy, what if I told you that Kyle hurt me?”
A frown pinches his brows together.
“Hurt you how? When?”
“On prom night, he—”
“High school, Sofie?” His sharp laugh dices my confidence. “Next year this man will be one of the most powerful politicians in the country, and you’re talking to me about prom night? Really, Sofie. I expect better of you.”
“No, Daddy, listen.” I lick dry lips. “On prom night he hurt me. He forced me. He ra—”
“Stop.” Daddy slams his hand on the desk, rattling a bin of paper clips, rattling my nerves. “Don’t say it, Sofie. Not to me and not to anyone else. Have you repeated this nonsense to anyone else?”
“It’s not nonsense, Daddy. If you’d just listen to what happened—”
“And you’re just now telling me something like this fifteen years later?” He stands, walking back and forth and rubbing his chin between his fingers. “No, I think that time and memory twist reality. It’s understandable. You probably expected more from your…encounter with Kyle, and maybe you were upset when he moved on.”
“That isn’t what happened at all.” I borrow some of his steel, weaving it into my words. “I know exactly what happened that night.”
“I can’t let you endanger a man’s career because of something you think happened more than a decade ago.”