Page 104 of Sweet Possession
“Don’t,”she interrupted me, her voice hard, a tone I’d never heardfrom her before.“Don’t call methat.”
My brow quirked in surprise.“Cora-”
“Justgo,”she said, tearing her gaze away from me.
“Not happening, Cora,”I snarled, taking a step toward her, mytemper now only hanging on by a thread.
She suddenly stood, slamming the ice pack down on the table.Despite her fury being aimed at me, I was proud of her. Not so long ago, she was too scared of her own shadow to ever stand up to someone. She’d finally found her voice. It wasjusta shame she’d been pushed to breaking point to findthatvoice.
“I don’t want you here, Fox!Justleave me the hell alone! I’m notgoing to be made a fool of anymore! Go back to Lily and enjoy your lives together and let me be!”
I chuckled, crossing my arms across my chest.“Anything else to add,Cora?”I asked, cocking my head.“I’ll give you one chance to get everything off your chest right now, because after tonight, we’re going to put your trust issues to bed, once and for all, baby girl.”
“No! After tonight, I never want to see you again. I’m leaving Vegas,and I’m getting as far away from you as I can!”she bellowed, her voice shaky as her eyes brimmed with unshed tears.
I unfolded my arms, my gaze narrowing on her.“Let me make thisclear to you, Cora,”I growled, my voice low.Deadly.“You’re not goinganywhere without me. You’re mine. And if you think I’d ever let you go, you’re out of your goddamn mind.”
I prowled toward her, the last few hours of worry, anger, fear,and every emotionthathad gone through me leading up to this moment bubbled to the surface.
I’d done everything in my power to earn Cora’s trust, and I wasn’tgoing to lose it now. It was time for her demons to learnthatthey didn’t control her anymore.
“I’m not yours,”she replied, her voice breaking.“I never was.”
“Ifthatwere true,thenwhy the fuck did I tell you all about Jessie?”Icarried on stalking towards her. Surprising me, she held her ground, not stepping back like I expected her to.“If you weren’t mine,thenwhy the hell did I make it so the men who wanted to sell you couldn’t hurt you ever again? Why do I intend on ending your dad’s life so he can never lay another finger on you?”I stopped in front of her, her breath coming out in short gasps as it took all of her strength to not let her tears fall.“If you weren’t mine,thenwhy did I spend an entire afternoon getting an engagement ring custom-made for you?”
Her eyes widened as her jaw dropped to the floor.
“Wh…what?”
Closing the last bit of space between us, I gripped her chin betweenmy thumb and finger, holding her so she had to look at me.“I meant what I said, Cora. Get everything off your chest now, because when it’s my turn to speak, you’re going to listen to every damn word I’ve got to say.”
I released her chin, and took a step back, waiting for her to speak.But she could only gape at me. When she blinked, a tear slid down her cheek.
“My turnthen. I did lie to you. The other day when I said I was atwork, I wasn’t. I had lunch atLe Voile. Want to know who I was with? ‘Cos it sure as fuck wasn’t Lily as she claimed.”
She didn’t move, notevento shake her head.“I was with Savannah. Itook her to the restaurant as a thank you for giving up her afternoon to come to the jewelry shop with me and helping me design the ring I wanted to propose with, because every damn ring I’d seen up tothatpoint didn’tseemspecial enough to give to you. I lied to you because I wanted to surprise you when I got down on one knee and asked you to be my wife.”
Her breath hitched. I wasn’t sure if it was at my words or the coolnessin my tone but I didn’t care. I needed her to hear everything I had to say.
“I have no fucking clue how Lily knew I’d gone out drinking, but if Ihave to get the security footage from every bar Nash and I drank in to provethatthe two of us were celebrating my intention to propose to you, I will.”
She continued to gape at me as if I’djustspoken a foreign language.ButI was far from done.
I grabbed my phone out of my back pocket and quickly loaded up thephoto gallery, scrolling through months and months worth of photos until I found the one I needed.
“She showed you this photo, right?”A sneer of disgust formed onCora’s lips as she turned her head away from the photo I held in front of her.
Truthfully, I’d forgotten it was on my phone. Lily had sent it to me aftershe took it, and I’d silently told myselfthatI’d delete it the following morning, but I’d forgotten. It was a good job though, the photo was the evidence I needed to prove to CorathatLily was lying.
“But I bet she didn’t show you this bit, did she?”Clicking on the photo,I brought up the metadata on a separate tab before holding it back in front of Cora.“See the date, baby girl?Thatphoto was takenmonthsago. The night Onyx opened.”Tentatively, she looked back at the phone, a small gasp leaving her when she saw what I was showing her.“And I bet she didn’t show you this.”I clicked back on the photo, zooming in on the table next to the bed where there was a poster laying face up. A poster reading,‘Welcome to the opening night of Onyx, a Carson-Fox Resort,’with the date written in big letters.
Her eyes scanned over the poster several times, and I gave her aminute to read it, knowing it took her time to make sure she’d read correctly.
“Cora,”I said, repocketing my phone and letting out a sigh.“I knowyou’ve had a lifetime of lies and betrayal thrown at you, and I’m not stupid enough to thinkthatit can all be undone within a matter of weeks. But I’m not your dad, baby girl. When I tell you I love you, I damn well mean it.”I reached up to cup her cheek, another tear falling from her sorrowful eyes.“When I tell you you’re the best thingthatever happened to me, it’s because it’s the truth. And when the day comes when I propose to you, and tell youthatI want to spend the rest of my life with you, it’s because I can’t imagine a day without seeing your beautiful smile. It’s because I never want there to be a day when we don’t go to sleep together with you in my arms.”
The dam broke. Tears streamed down her face as she began to sob. Ipulled her into my arms and let her cry.
And she did.
