Chapter 29

twenty-nine

Tav

I could have had her over and over again, if she hadn’t been sore. Seeing her blood mixed with our cum streaking the length of my dick got me hard all over again. I’d never been one for virgins, preferring not to bother with the sticky mess of taking one. But Olympia—I’m happy as fuck that I’m the first one. The only one.

The only one there’ll ever be.

After having her, I poured a bath for us both, and held her until the water turned cool. Then I washed us both in the shower as she blinked heavy eyes at me. Pride filled me because I’d thoroughly exhausted my woman.

She’d been asleep, naked, in my arms within minutes of laying down in bed.

Glancing down at the woman sprawled in my bed, I grin wide. She’s still out cold, her breaths coming in and out, in a deep, steady rhythm, I could listen to for the rest of my life.

Love. I really love this woman.

Who would have thought I could fall in love with the woman who’s sister had a hand in delivering me one of the worst blows I’d ever been dealt?

I’d thought I’d loved Ophelia. I was wrong.

I never felt even close to Ophelia what I’ve come to feel for Olympia. This all-consuming need I feel to be near her, to see her smile. To avenge her.

I’d been entranced by Ophelia’s beauty, but Olympia has her on that, too. She’s fresh, and sweet, and clean in a way Ophelia has never been.

She makes me feel clean, and hopeful.

Pulling my arm slowly from under her so as not to wake her, I slide from the bed and pull on a pair of sweats, ignoring the hardening of my dick as I take in the sight of her laying in my bed. The scent of last night clinging to the air.

Mine. She’s really mine.

And I’m hers.

Sliding my hand over my head, I hope to fuck that I’ve proved it to her. Walking barefoot, sans shirt from the bedroom into the kitchen, I start the coffee pot and feel my brows climb when I see my phone sitting on the island counter. It’s the first time in my adult life—or more like the first time in my life since owning a phone—that I’ve not had the thing sitting close as I slept.

Touching a finger to the screen, I see a notification from my porch camera, and freeze at the sight.

At four in the morning, a taxi pulled up to my house and a man got out of the car. A man I recognize instantly even though I haven’t seen him in over a decade.

A sick weight settles in my gut as anger spills like acid in my chest. I’m at the front door, disarming the system and pulling open the door before I’ve thought it through.

On my porch, sitting in one of my deck chairs, is a man with his head in his hands. He’s bent over, elbows on his knees, shoulders slumped in broken defeat.

The grey suit he wears might be crisp and new, but the man inside it is worn and haggard. White streaks taint the black hair at his temples, and when he lifts his head to lock his eyes with mine, I see the same of the hair on his unshaven face. Deep lines crease the skin around his eyes and mouth, a telling sign of the years he’s lived with the witch he’s lived with.

“Cole.” I don’t flinch at the name. Refusing to let him see the name as the weakness it is, I fold my arms over my chest and lift my chin.

“William.”

“My little girl is here.” His eyes—I now see they are red-rimmed—slide to the still open front door of my house.

“She’s not your little girl. She hasn’t been your little girl since the first time you failed to protect her from that bitch you call a wife.”

His head bows again, and a sound leaves his lungs that is on the pathetic side of sad. There’s a long pause between us, then, without lifting his head to look at me, he says in quiet defeat, “Can I take that to mean you’re protecting her now?”

“I’ll protect her with my last breath.” Anger has my fists clenching tight. “Something you should have done, as her father.”

“I know.” He lifts his head to look at me. Shame and failure shine bright in his gaze. “I failed her. I failed my family.”

“Fuck your family. You failed the only good thing that came out of that shit show.”

“I know.” I’m only slightly impressed when he doesn’t drop his head again. Instead, he clasps his hands together between his knees before he leans back in the chair. “I’m here because,”

“Tav?” My gaze snaps to the open door to see Olympia coming closer. Her expression is confused, and she’s wearing nothing but one of my t-shirts. She looks delectable, and I want to do nothing more than send her limp-dick father away so I can devour her again.

But when she steps from the house onto the porch, her body jolting in surprise as she takes in her father sitting there, I know that’s not happening anytime soon.

“Dad—” Surprise nearly knocks her back a step, but I catch her. Tugging her back into my chest, I wrap my arm around her waist and thank fuck that she’s tiny and my shirt nearly hits her knees.

“Sweetheart.” William stands and sweat beads on his forehead. “You haven’t been taking my calls.”

“I blocked you,” my girl says coolly. Around her waist, my arm pulses.

William looks like he’s seconds away from falling to his knees and crying a river of regret. The sight clearly has my girl softening, because gentler, she tells him, “I blocked everyone.”

“I understand.” William nods more to himself than her. “I left your mother.”

“Good. It’s about time. I-I’m proud of you, Dad.” She really sounds like she means it.

“I should have left her a long time ago, and I should have taken you with me when I did.”

“Why didn’t you?” The hurt I hear in her voice has my fading anger returning. “Why didn’t you stop her from hurting me?”

“I—I just broke, sweetheart.” The man’s thin shoulders slump. “I just broke.”

“You started drinking.”

“That’s the path many broken men take,” William admits shamefully.

“I was a child, and I needed you,” she says, somehow still gently. “What could have broken you so badly that you pulled away from me so much that you let her hurt me like she did?” Before he can answer, she demands, “Was it Annika’s will?”

Surprise flashes in William’s eyes. “You know about Annika’s will?”

“The question is when did you know?”

“Not until well after the fact. Your moth—Remira, Daruis, and Abe planned that. I loved Annika and,” his eyes drift to me. “I loved you, too. I thought you’d be my son-in-law until—until Ophelia did what she did.”

“Until she spread her legs for my father.” I can’t help the dig. William flinches.

The sight is like kicking a dog while he’s whimpering on the ground. It does nothing for me.

I’m having a hard time reconciling the man who stands before me now with the man I remember.

When William nods, rolling his lips, we wait. Finally, he admits, “I found out about the will around the time that I caught Ophelia with Darius.”

“What?” Olympia gasps.

To be honest, I’m not even a little bit surprised.

William shakes his head, disappointment and disgust alight in his eyes. “A credit card had been opened in Remira’s name. I never would have thought anything about it, but—there were consistent mid-day charges to a hotel room. Always the same hotel room.” He swallows audibly. “Of course, I went. I paid the receptionist a hefty tip to get a key, expecting to find your mother on the other side of the door. I’d been prepared to demand a divorce, already having wanted one for some time. This was going to be my excuse. The reason we couldn’t, and wouldn’t, work. I opened that door with excitement for what I would find, because it meant escape for me and you.” He pauses as we wait.

I don’t even think Olympia is breathing.

William continues, “What I saw is something I’ll never be able to burn from behind my eyes. My little girl, who I was already so disappointed with, split my heart in two that day. That was the day that I no longer saw her as a child, capable of mistakes, and innocent to the workings of the world. Until that moment, I’ll admit I thought Abe had taken advantage of her innocence. After that day, I wasn’t so sure it wasn’t Ophelia who took advantage of—well, everything and everyone in her life.”

“It was Ophelia in the room with Darius?” Olympia breathes, shock and horror in her voice. “And you were going to stand back and let me marry him?”

He shakes his head. “They both saw me, but neither stopped what they were doing. I won’t tell you what they were doing because—I just can’t. But I went home and told Remira. I told her about the credit card, my suspicions, and what I’d seen.” It’s the first time I’ve seen the man smile since I opened the door, and it’s a bitter, angry, sickened thing. “She told me she knew everything. About Ophelia and Darius, and that she gave them the card to use so the affair would remain discrete, and no more shame would be brought onto the family. She told me to forget it, and that she had her children handled.” His nose is red now, the emotion leaking from the very pores of his skin. “I told her I wanted a divorce and that I was taking you with me.”

When his voice cracks in the moment before it cuts off, Olympia pushes, “What did she say?”

“She poured me a drink and told me to find myself a hobby.”

“The gambling,” my girl whispers brokenly, and my arms tighten around her. I want to absorb the hurt I hear in her voice. I want to pull it from her and shoulder every pain, every scar, everything.

I want to protect her from any future pains.

William nods. “I left her with divorce papers when I left yesterday. I flew in last night and I came—I came here.”

“Why?” I demand, wondering what the man thinks he has here for him that he didn’t have in Carolina.

William looks at his daughter—my girl. My woman. “I’m going to get help. I have an apartment in the city. I’ll go to AA. I’ve transferred to the L.A. Laurier Lines, and I’m planning to begin working soon. But—I understand you’ll be starting at the company soon. I want to make sure you’re okay with me there. I want—I want a relationship with you, Olympia. I want to be in your life.” He sucks in air, his chest inflating. “I’m so sorry that I didn’t fight for you when I should have. I’m so sorry. I want to earn your forgiveness.”

Olympia is quiet for a long moment before she whispers, “You were going to let me marry a monster.”

At the broken sound of Olympia’s voice, William shakes his head. “No, sweetheart, I wasn’t.”

“I had his ring on my finger!” Her scream surprises me, but William doesn’t even flinch.

“Princess,” I coo.

She’s not listening to me. “Darius is a monster!”

I’m going to find a way to destroy my brother.

“As soon as the marriage was announced, I started planning. I contacted a lawyer Remira knows nothing about. I started the divorce paperwork. I got the apartment here—it’s owned by Laurier Lines. Everything I have now is owned by the company, so, as per the prenup she signed, Remira has no access. I’ve left her, and I’ve been sure to leave her with nothing. The one thing she has no right to, no hold on, is anything to do with Laurier Lines. Your grandmother made sure of that when I married the snake.” He smiles sadly. “The only good thing Remira gave me was you, sweetheart. And if you hadn’t have ran, I would have made sure that wedding fell through. I always planned to bring you here.” He sits as though exhausted. “I have the proof, if you want it. My lawyer will send you everything.”

“Why didn’t you tell me your plans.” Fuck, she’s crying. “Why let me think I was alone?”

“I couldn’t take the chance of Remira finding out. But it’s all done now. And my little hobby made sure she has nothing. Nothing at all.”

“The gambling?”

“I don’t have a problem with gambling, Olympia. That was a calculated move, a loss I was willing to pay to hit her where it would hurt. I didn’t foresee her giving you to Darius, but when she did, I made sure that wouldn’t go through as well.” He shrugs. “Now, all she has is the Taviera’s and their generosity to keep her from living like the poor folk she despises so much. She can be at their mercy the way she intended for you to be at their mercy. I honestly,” his shoulders fall forward. “I honestly don’t care.”

It’s my turn to talk. “She won’t have them, because I have everything, I need to destroy them. All of them.”

William’s eyes meet mine and he says simply, “Good.”

“Including Ophelia. When I take down the rest, they’ll see the inside of a prison cell, and have nothing to their names. I’ve been assured all assets will be seized, and I will be the sole owner of Taviera Cruise and Shipping, as per my grandfather’s will and the stipulations he set in place for the shares of his company, any criminal activity by either myself or Darius has the shares transferring to the law-abiding brother, which, in this case, is me. With my mother’s shares in my rightful possession, as intended, I will hold the company exclusively. I have nothing legal to pin on Ophelia, but I’ll make sure she has not a penny to her name when this is through.”

William doesn’t even flinch. “It’s about time that girl realizes there’s consequences for her actions. You do what you need to do. Just—” his voice softens as his eyes drift to Olympia. “Take care of my baby.”

I turn Olympia in my arms, pressing my lips to her hair as I hold eye-contact with her father. “She’s mine now. And I take care of what’s mine.”