Page 40 of I Would Beg For You

When she shivers, I snap back to my senses. The foyer isn’t the warmest room in this dwelling.

“Come,” I tell her.

Still tucked to me, I take us back to my study where I make her sit on the couch before going to add a log to the fire burning inthe chimney at the back. I pull her another coffee which I thrust into her hands. She takes it and drinks from the cup absently.

Dread gathers in my gut. I know what’s coming, and I have to face it. I did take the pin out of a grenade when we were last here.

Naomi finishes her coffee and fiddles with the glass cup on its tiny saucer. When her green gaze lifts up and finds me, I know the time has come.

“What did you mean about my father?” she asks.

I heave out a sigh and come sit in the armchair to her left. I hover on the edge of the seat; this isn’t a conversation I can relax for.

After a deep breath, I delve in. “What do you know about your parents’ marriage, Naomi?”

She frowns. “What do you mean?”

“Like how they met. How long they were together before…”

“Before she died.”

I nod.

She shrugs. “I never really thought about it. I was five when she passed.”

“Your father never told you?”

A veil of sadness creeps onto her face. “He doesn’t like talking about her. That’s why the governor’s ball is so special to me. It’s one thing I know she loved, the only time he talks about her freely.”

Apprehension is pooling like acid in me now. Naomi knows nothing, it seems. And why would she? Joel Smith only totes around the story of how his beloved Aoife loved the masquerade ball when there’s an audience or a member of the press around.

“She was twenty-three when you were born,” I start, then continue when Naomi gives me a nod. “Your parents had been married for five years already by then.”

I can see her doing the math in her head.

“She was eighteen when they got married?”

I nod. “He was thirty.”

“It’s an age gap, but what’s the problem there?”

I take a breath. “She was fifteen when he first pursued her.”

“Oh.” She went still and stared straight ahead, not talking for almost a minute. I could tell this was news to her. “Ummm, if it was love…” Her voice dwindles with each word.

“It wasn’t love, Naomi.”

“I mean, I knew he married for money but I always hoped he loved her, too.”

I make myself continue. “He set his sights on her, seduced her, then kept reeling her to him. It was almost like Stockholm Syndrome. She lost her mind to him, so much so that her parents had to marry her off when she came of legal age since she was going mad without him.”

“You’re lying.” Her voice held no strength, however. “You don’t know this. You can’t know this!”

“He bragged about it, to my father and their other friend, Antonio. They used to be close, but they fell out with him over what he did to your mother.”

That’s not all he did, but that’s all I’m going to tell her today. The whole truth is much uglier than this.

“He can’t…” she mutters. “It’s not…” Sobs erupt as she folds onto herself, the tears trickling down her cheeks.

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