AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Well, how about a dance anyway?” Paxton asked, still smiling. “Now that I’m here.”
She blushed and dipped her head. “All right. You don’t mind, do you, Greg?”
“Of course he doesn’t mind,” I interjected. “He can have a nice father-daughter dance with me.”
Dad glowered at me, slightly shaking his head. “Sienna,” he hissed as Paxton spun the woman away. “What the hell are you playing at?”
“Careful, Dad.” I pasted on a huge fake smile and lifted my arms so I could place my hands on his shoulders. “Lots of media here. You wouldn’t want those cameras over there to capture us fighting in public, would you?”
His lips curved into a fake smile of his own, and we began a slow waltz. “So what are you doing here?” he asked in a low voice. “Are you trying to embarrass me even more than you already have in the last few weeks?”
“No. Tate told me about the event, and I thought it would be nice to attend. He’s my best friend, remember?”
“Hmph.” Dad grunted. “Where’s Michaela? You’re normally a trio.”
“Oh, I know. But we figured we should just let you invite her, seeing as you’re so close to her.”
He stiffened. “What are you talking about?”
“I know about the affair, Dad.”
“Affair? What affair?”
I scoffed. “Don’t play dumb. And don’t try to run away from me, either. There’s a camera trained right on us at the moment, and I know how much you hate looking bad in the eyes of the media. So just keep smiling and dancing.”
His smile looked more like a snarl now, but he managed to fix it. “I take it Michaela finally told you?” he asked in a low voice.
I lifted my chin, stared into his eyes, and lied my ass off. “Yes. She told me all about it.”
“What are you going to do about it?” he asked. His face had paled slightly. “Are you going to turn me in? Tell the media?”
“Hmm. I don’t know.”
“Perhaps I was too hasty in cutting you off, sweetheart. I shouldn’t have acted in anger like that. If you need money, just tell me how much and I’ll make it happen. I can also make some calls to get you readmitted to Worthington next semester.”
My nose wrinkled. “I’m not interested in any of that. I just want to know the truth. That’s all,” I said. “So tell me your version of events. Michaela’s story didn’t quite add up, in my opinion.”
Dad let out a weary sigh. “What do you want to know?”
“Well, firstly, I want to know when it started. Michaela told me she was only thirteen.”
“What? That’s not true at all!” he replied. He was still trying to maintain his composure, but his cheeks had reddened, and his eyes were flashing with barely-contained fury. “She was fifteen! Not thirteen!”
Sickness rose in my throat as his words registered in my head. Holy shit. Michaela was only fifteen when it started. My father had literally groomed a child.
“I’m not one of those disgusting bastards who touches kids,” Dad went on in a low voice after giving me a quick twirl for the nearest camera. “You know she’s always looked so much older than her age.”
“That’s not how it works, Dad. Age matters. She was a kid, and you groomed her.”
“It wasn’t like that. She seduced me.”
“Again, she was fifteen,” I hissed. “You had all the power. You could have rejected her. You should have rejected her. She wasn’t old enough to make proper decisions, and you knew that.”
“You don’t understand,” he muttered.
“Explain it to me, then.” I spotted a reporter nearby and stretched my lips into another fake grin. “Tell me how it started. Mom was still alive, right?”
He nodded and lifted a hand from my shoulder to rub his jaw. “It was summer break. You, Tate, and Michaela were having sleepovers at our house all the time,” he said. “Michaela was constantly strutting around in those little bikinis, but I didn’t think anything of it. Not until one night when she sneaked into my study after you and Tate were asleep. I was working late, and she must’ve seen my light on.”
