Page 49 of Secret Revenge
I wiped her forehead with the back of my hand, watching her fondly as her chest heaved.
She loves me.I still struggled to believe it, but her ecstasy was a testament to what she’d said.
Blackwell.The thought of the man she’d worked for intruded, unwanted, like a spear through my thoughts. In this brief lull the rest of the world came flooding back to me.
The data theft. The attempts to sabotage my name. I almost didn’t care about my reputation, what I’d built. But hundreds of thousands of people depended on Ross Industries for their livelihood.
She’d said she didn’t give Blackwell anything. Nothing he could use against me.
But I knew Blackwell wouldn't give up, especially if he thought Emily had something against me
Emily stirred beside me and I pulled her closer into me, trying to banish the unpleasant thoughts of the outside world. She put her arm around me, drawing close to me until our sweaty bodies touched. I kissed all over her face, and she smiled weakly. I kissed her lips and it felt just as good as the first time I’d kissed her.
Emily watched me quietly with sad eyes, and I wondered if she was also remembering how Blackwell had deceived her.
“Hey… what’s wrong?” I asked, concerned.
She held me tightly and I saw her eyes shimmer. “I feel terrible for stealing from you and betraying you the way I did. The more I think about it, the more horrible I feel for signing up for it in the first place. You tried to show me who you were that very first night, and I didn’t believe you.”
I tucked a loose lock of hair behind her ear and smiled at her. “Some people can be good liars,” I said. “It was only rational of you to doubt me until you saw the truth for yourself.”
”But I worked for your enemy. I should have seen through Jonathan.”
“Blackwell hides his tracks well,” I soothed her. “It would have taken a lot of research to learn that Jonathan’s company was funded by Blackwell. You had no reason to suspect them of being anything other than what they claimed to be.”
But as I said it, a seed of doubt crept into the back of my mind.Emily is so thorough. What if, what if she knew…?
“I still can’t believe Jonathan would lie to me about something so tragic,” she breathed. “Maybe he was kept in the dark, too”
“Listen to me, Emily,” I said as I cupped her face in my hand. “He did lie to you. He’s been one of Blackwell’s men for a long time. He only recently acquired the printing press and has been using it to print baseless accusations against me ever since. But given what my father did to you,” I sucked in a deep breath, “it’s not surprising that you’d believe them.”
Emily looked ashamed, and thenIwas ashamed to feel relief at seeing that look on her face.
She didn’t know. She wasn’t playing me for a fool.
“I’m so sorry,” Emily muttered quietly. “If I had known, I would never have gotten involved…”
“Hey, stop apologizing,” I cut in. “You had no reason to doubt what looked like a legitimate news operation.” I kissed her forehead gently, then kissed her lips. “And…I hesitated, “There’s something about me you should know.”
She looked at me for a long moment with wide eyes and I sighed.
“I-I have always been terrified of love. I found my dad beating up my mom many years ago, and when I stepped in to defend her, my father told me how I would do the same someday. How I would feel so strongly, I wouldn’t be able to control myself. I never let myself get too close to a woman for that reason.”
Emily listened attentively as I spoke of breaking off my engagement with Barbara. I told her how I had avoided any serious relationship, terrified that my feelings would someday harm the one I loved.
The silence stretched a little when I finally finished speaking, and Emily watched me silently. It was an unnerving sight, and I suppressed the urge to ask her what she was thinking. To ask her not to leave me.
“You broke up with Barbara a long time ago,” Emily murmured. “And we’ve seen…that you’re nothing like your father. You’ve done the exact opposite of what he did in every way. Have you ever harmed anybody on purpose?”
“No,” I admitted. “I’ve been too terrified of becoming him.”
“Exactly, Travis,” she said with a small smile. “You’re nothing like your father. And I wanted to believe that you were for the longest time. That I could get revenge on him for you. WhenIsay that you’re his opposite, you can be certain that it’s true.”
As I looked into Emily’s eyes, for the first time, I believed it. Believed that I was not my father, that I would not turn into him. For the first time, I believed that all my efforts to right his wrongs might actually have been successful. I felt tears of relief spring to my eyes.
She was right. She was the only one who could have convinced me of that.
It felt good to do so, felt good to put down the weight of my father’s crimes. My whole life I had carried the burden of his evil hand on my shoulder. For everything I accomplished, I wondered whether I had done enough, or whether I was doomed to repeat his legacy.