Page 43 of Enthrall Secrets
“I love you, Scarlet Winters. And Cameron loves you, and De Sade loves you. You deserve this gift of life. Every breath of it.” He pulled me into a hug. “We need you to see what a gift life is. How can you throw away something so precious? We need you.”
“I’m not sure you do.”
“I know your father hurt you.”
Panic struck as I realized he knew about a secret I’d kept hidden for a decade.
“He rejected you. Yet he spoils your half-siblings?” added Danton.
Yes, Dad was a good father to them. I’d gotten the painful privilege of seeing how he treated them when they’d appeared in the news as an affluent family hailed as New York royalty. My pretty half-sisters, all three of them, often posed at those high-society parties in the latest glamour magazines, all of them out on the town and enjoying their privileged upbringing. They probably didn’t even know I existed. How precious they looked to Dad in photos where they all huddled as one big happy family to prove theirs was a dynasty like no other.
“I’m forbidden from contacting my dad,” I said, sobbing.
“Your mother was his mistress?”
Cameron had known this all along, though I’d never realized it until now. He’d told Danton my dirty little secret. I was more than the black sheep of the family - I was the daughter that never was.
“Daniel H. Rosenberger.” Danton said my father’s name so I wouldn’t have to.
He seemed to know everything; that I was the lovechild of a fast-rising presidential candidate, a man of wealth and status, who just happened to get his mistress pregnant. Her lovechild was quickly stashed away where no one could ever learn of the scandal that would bring down an empire. They buried me in the fostering system.
My birthright was my shame.
“I’m not allowed to talk about it,” I whispered. “Men from my dad’s work visited me when I tried to connect with him. They told me it wouldn’t end well if I contacted him again. He doesn’t want to see me.”
“You threaten his clean-cut image, his aspiration of becoming president of the United States.”
“Yes.”
“You’ve never known the love of a father?”
I shook my head, trying to rid myself of the memories of all those places I’d lived, where the desire to survive was more important than the need for affection.
I’d been thrown away like trash.
Tears stung my eyes and I felt myself being lowered to the ground.
“This is your worth,” he said. “I’ve never loved anyone like I love you.”
“We hardly know each other.”
“True. But I love you. And I want to spend every moment with you. I need you to feel what true adoration is. Will you let me show you?”
“You really believe I’m worth it?”
“God, yes.”
He planted kiss after kiss upon my lips, his tongue slipping inside my mouth to do battle, but I let him win this war because somehow, some way, he was proving I belonged. For the first time in my life I knew what it was to be immersed in the kind of serenity I’d only yearned for until now.
The blindfold was tugged from my eyes.
Blinking, my vision blurry at first, I took in the enormous glasshouse filled with lush foliage.
Butterflies fluttered around everywhere. As my gaze adjusted, I peered at the ceiling, wide open to the sky, which proved they chose to be in here. They could easily fly away.
I gasped at the mesmerizing vision.
A blue and yellow butterfly landed on my shoulder and I laughed.
“Promise me you won’t try to take your life again.” He brushed a strand of hair away from my face.
I stared into Danton’s eyes and smiled to reassure him that life meant more to me now, and I wanted so much for him to believe that. “I promise.”
A butterfly landed on his nose. He gave me a sweet smile, and laughed as it flew away. “I have a secret, too.”
“What is it?” I tipped my chin to meet his kiss and melted as his mouth brushed over mine.
He smiled against my lips. “I’m waiting for you to fall for me first.”
I leaned my head against his chest and sighed.
