I begged him to stop. I screamed but his palm against my mouth made it impossible for my pleas to be heard.
It wasn’t until my mom found us that the beating had stopped.
I swore it broke her just a bit more, but this time I couldn’t comfort her.
I was too far gone myself.
I’d hidden my pain deep inside my soul, taking years to heal myself. But my father’s threats remained, and deep down in my very bones, I knew he’d hurt my child. I couldn’t risk that, not without funds to protect her and myself.
“Why didn’t you tell me that your father threatened you when you came to my penthouse all those years ago?” Lykos repeated his earlier question.
“Because my problems weren’t yours. All I needed to do was protect Aria,” I whispered my admission, “and you were my only option. Rest of it doesn’t concern you.”
His threats to me didn’t matter. I could take them. I could survive them. But Aria… she needed to be protected at all costs.
“He threatened our child and the mother of my child. All of it was my problem and my concern.” Lykos’s gaze sharpened, and his voice was cold as a whip. My breath hitched. “Violet, is he still a threat to Aria?”
I let out a shaky breath and shook my head. “He doesn’t know about her. He believes I had an abortion.”
“You wanted to keep her,” he stated softly. “Didn’t you?”
I locked eyes with him, recalling my hurtful words to him the night I dropped Aria into his arms. It was the only way I knew how to do it without risking backing out.
“Yes,” I admitted. “But I was broke, my parents withheld all funds from me for years. If my grandfather had left me his fortune earlier…” I pushed my hand through my hair. “Anyhow, it’s pointless to debate on what-if scenarios. Things turned out the way they did. The main thing was that she was safe and protected.”
“Why not make him pay when you got your fortune?”
“I wanted to, but it would hurt my mother too, and that I couldn’t do.”
“I should have helped you,” he said. “You were in pain, surviving the abuse from your parents, and I did nothing.”
I blinked, my vision blurring. “You didn’t know. And anyway, you had your own demons to fight.”
“No matter. It’s high time you and I made ourselves, Aria, and Dimitros a priority.” His voice was steady. “Starting now, that’s what we’ll do.”
“I’d like that,” I breathed.
And like the clouds had parted to reveal a clear sky, the future no longer felt so bleak. There were possibilities I was almost afraid to name.
I imagined a life where I wasn’t alone. A life where I could stand beside Aria not as a stranger passing through, but as her mother. I wanted to learn all there was to know about her and her brother, from the big things to the small, inconsequential things. I wanted to be a part of it all, and whatever needed to be done, I would earn a place in their lives.
And then there was Lykos.
I didn’t know where things would lead with him—whether there was even a future for us—but I was willing to take a chance.
We didn’t have answers. We didn’t have a plan. But I wouldn’t have to figure it out alone.
TWENTY-SIX
LYKOS
Hours later, I was alone in my bedroom. Violet had long since retreated to hers, and I was still feeling off-kilter from her confession.
My jaw clenched so tightly it throbbed as I stared out the window into the dark night. Life hadn’t dealt Violet or me a gentle hand, but that would change.
I dragged a hand down my face.
Violet hadn’t abandoned our daughter. Her father threatened her. Threatened themboth.
