Page 14 of His Precious Secret

“No.” I shake my head. “You can stay at a hotel.”

“You’re in no position to be dictating terms here, Rick,” she replies. “Now go upstairs and tell my daughter you never want to see her again.”

“Wait, what? That wasn’t part of the deal.”

“Oh, did I neglect to mention that?” she muses, a cruel smile on her lips. She’s really enjoying this. It’s not enough for her to lie to me, cheat on me, blackmail me, and extort me, now she has to ruin any chance of happiness I have.

“Right now, Rick,” she says as she pulls out her phone. She opens the gallery and presents a photo to me: Taylor and me in bed. “Or I send this to TMZ. Five, four, three—”

“Okay!” A sharp pain embeds itself in my chest as I think about what this could do to Taylor. I don’t care what happens to me. I don’t care about the money; I just have to keep her protected. “I’ll go up there and tell her now.”

“I’ll come with you,” she says as I take the steps.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea…”

“I don’t think you plugging my daughter is a good idea.” She shrugs. “But then again, you didn’t bother to ask me.”

I’ve taken the stairs to the second floor countless times over the years, and some of them were worse than others—like when I knew Brandi was up there waiting for me in bed, and I didn’t want anything to do with her. But even those ascents pale in comparison to the dread that fills me as I put one foot in front of the other and make my way to my bedroom.

My bedroom now. The bedroom that was supposed to be for Taylor and me.

I stop before the door, and Brandi leans against the hallway wall, just out of sight. “I’m going to listen to every word,” she whispers. “And if it doesn’t sound convincing, I’m making the call.”

“You’re a cruel, cold-hearted bitch, Brandi.”

She just smiles. “Uh huh!”

It takes every bit of strength I have to take those steps into the bedroom. Unaware of what’s happening, Taylor smiles and brushes her hair from her face as I come in. “Hey, Daddy.”

I cringe, knowing Brandi is just outside and heard that. I want to shake my head or give her some kind of sign that I don’t want to say what I’m about to say, but I just can’t risk it. This is all about protecting her now, and if I fail at that, I never deserved her.

Before I speak, I let her beauty wash over me. I try not to picture what our lives could have been together, but the images just fill my mind. I see us together, sleeping, eating, exploring the world. I see her finishing college, getting her degree, marrying me, starting a family.

I bunch my hand into a fist behind my back.

Do it. Rip the Band-Aid off. Waiting will only make it worse.

“This is it,” I tell her. “We’re over.”

A look of confusion comes over her face, but she shakes her head and laughs.

“I’m sorry, Daddy.” She smiles. “For whatever I did, I’m sorry. Feel free to punish me—”

“This isn’t a joke, Taylor,” I growl. “I just wanted to fuck you, and now that I have, I have no more use for you. Your mother is leaving. I need you to get your things and leave with her.”

The words spill out of my mouth like poison, burning my throat, singing my lips. I want to cut out my tongue as the sorrow fills her eyes.

“Why are you saying this, Rick?” she asks.

I shrug. “Because it’s the truth. You really think I would want to settle down with an eighteen-year-old girl who hasn’t even been to college? Get serious and get out.”

Unable to bear it any longer, I turn my back on her and stride out of the bedroom. Brandi’s waiting for me like an evil queen. I flash her a filthy look as I pass her and head straight outside and hop in the Ferrari. I gun it out of the driveway and head north. My business meetings will have to wait. I just lost Taylor, the most important part of my life, and I don’t know if I will ever recover.

8

Taylor

Thre

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