Page 75 of Boss

Tarek continued. “Your father was threatened. The neighbors were going to make sure he left town. They were the ones that chased your father out of town. Not my family. They were the ones that caused that accident.”

“So you knew what happened to me?”

“No. Yes. I heard about it. But I had my own problems. My brother Dale turned on me. Told my father all about Clarissa. You don't have any idea what she meant to me,” he said.

He sat up.

“I know what happened to her. What you and your family did. It’s sick. You might as well have put a bullet to her head, it would have been less cruel.”

“Dale introduced me to Clarissa,” Tarek said. Kassidy froze. “That’s right. She was the friend of some girls he used to fuck in town. Told me she would be easy piece of ass. I was so desperate to get my brother to stop hating me that I mimicked him. But Clarissa was different. And for a short time I was different too.”

“You’re twisting things...”

“I loved her. She was young and confused. Her father was going to lose everything he had. Everything. And all she had was a secret she couldn’t tell anyone.”

“So is that why you forced her into aborting your child? To keep that secret from getting back to your father?”

Tarek threw his glass at the wall. “A fucking lie! I didn’t know she was pregnant!” he shouted.

Kassidy frowned. “You did—”

“She couldn’t reach me. So she went to Dale. She trusted him. She told him about the baby. And that is what sealed both our fates. My father threatened to tell her father. This was before everyone had a fucking cell phone or were so comfortable sending text messages. I had no way of contacting her. She had no way of contacting me. Dale was who we both trusted, and he played us from the start.”

“I feel sick,” Kassidy said. Tarek didn’t even glance her way. He kept talking. “After your family died people were arrested. Did you know that? A man went to jail for causing the accident that drove your family off the road.”

Kassidy frowned. “Yes. I knew a man named Sanford went to jail. He worked for your father.”

“No. Everett Sanford owned a restaurant on the boardwalk. He was a small time business man. I wouldn’t be surprised if my father paid him off to get him and his buddies to chase your family out of town.”

“Stop it. You’re twisting things. My father was scared that night. My mother too.”

Tarek shook his head. “I had nothing to do with it.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that they are dead!”

“No. I’m sorry you lost your parents. But you aren’t the only fucking person that loss in that war. Clarissa and her parents knew MGS was too powerful to stop when your father died. The other resort owners on the beach were terrified and willing to sign off. Maybe Dale told her I didn’t want the child. Maybe Dale told her that I was responsible for the death of your family. Who the fuck knows? The deal she made with my father through Dale was to abort the baby we made out of love. And she did it to save her families beach and those fucking turtles! That's what Princess Clarissa did.”

“No,” Kassidy shook her head. “She did it to stop all of you. You're lying.”

“I don't lie sweetheart. You want to know why I hate my father. Why I tried to destroy him and Dale? Why I waited all these years for my chance to take this company from them, because he took my child from me.” He went into his pocket and removed his wallet. He opened it and removed the picture of Clarissa. Tarek stared at it for a moment, and then he threw it in the fire. Shocked Kassidy nearly went after it. She looked at him with disgust.

“Clarissa killed herself!” Kassidy broke down in tears. “She killed herself because of you! I know that much for a fact.”

“She killed herself because of her own fucking guilt and the fact that I wouldn't forgive her for murdering our child. You like to do research on me; you should have done more research on her!”

Kassidy wiped her tears. She thought Tarek had forced Clarissa to have an abortion. But one look into his eyes she knew his pain and his loss cut as deeply as her own.

“We aren't talking about this anymore,” he mumbled and tried to stand. She grabbed his arm to stop him.

“Tarek! I spent all of my life thinking about you. Only you. And getting revenge for her. Instead of mourning my parents I blamed you. I was only able to heal my broken life because I hated you.”

“This is hate? You coming here, making me fall in love with you.”

“Fall in love?” she frowned.

“You know what I mean. You played games, just like Clarissa. Assumed the worst about me. Just like her. You're just like them. I'm the monster. I'm the cancer. I'm the one to blame.”

“She killed herself!” she shouted.

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