Page 50 of Tainted Love
“Fair enough.”
“What about your dad?” I throw his question back at him.
“He left, too. Not long after Attie was born, he would randomly take off for weeks. Three weeks after her fourth birthday, he left for good.” He looks over and gives me a lazy smile. “I guess we have more in common that we thought.”
“Were you and he close?”
Elias shrugs. “I thought we were.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Eh, I’m not.”
“Is that the worst thing that happened in your life? Your dad leaving?”
His laugh is humourless. “Not by a long shot, Duchess.”
“Then what is?”
“The demons living in my closet would give you nightmares.”
I suppress a shudder at the haunted truth behind his words. “Eli?—”
“What about your dreams, Beatrice?” he asks, a small smile tugging on the corner of his lips as he studies me. “You want to be a lawyer like your dad?”
“No,” I whisper, immediately hating myself for divulging more secrets to him so easily.
“No?” he repeats.
I shake my head.
“Then why waste the next four to six years of your life studying something you’re not interested in?”
Ignoring his heavy gaze on me, I fix my eyes on the section of the bench he tongue fucked me on the other morning and reply, “You wouldn’t understand.”
“Try me.”
I don’t know what’s gotten into Elias, but he almost sounds like he cares. It has me feeling even more vulnerable than when he tried to own my body.
“Growing up, it’s always been just me and Dad against the world,” I say quietly, blinking away the tears burning the corner of my eyes. “After Mum left, I was all he had. He worked his arse off to get where he is today, all while raising me and giving me every spare second he had left. Dad wants what he thinks is best for me, and to him, that’s a secure job in the family firm. And I want to make him happy.”
Elias reaches over and uses his thumb and forefinger to grip my chin, lifting my head to look at him. His bloodshot gaze burns into my soul. “Why do you think it will make him happy?”
I shrug. “It’s always been the plan.” My life has been mapped out since I before I was born.
“But what about whatyouwant, Duchess?”
I swallow around the lump forming in my throat. “It’s not that simple.”
“It is that simple. What doyouwant?”
I try to shake my head again, but his grip prohibits my movement. “You’ll think I’m stupid.”
“You’re anything but stupid.”
Sighing, I give in and tell him. “I want to study fashion, design clothes, and establish my own clothing line.” The freedom of saying those words aloud to someone other than Maya makes it feel like a weight has been lifted off myshoulders.
“See?” he says, finally dropping his grip on me. “Wasn’t that hard, was it?”
