“I know.”
And I was to blame. Pretending was so much easier than living with constant anxiety. So much easier than waiting for the switch to flip, for the shoe to drop, for my world to implode like it’d done tonight.
I’d let Sebastian believe there was no one there to claim Kallie. No father to love her or protect her or stand by her side. There was. But Martin would never do any of those things. No. He didn’t love. He used and manipulated and abused.
A rush of nausea swam in my belly as my mind flashed to Kallie’s trusting face. Only this time, that face was painted in terror and confusion and desolation.
That sickness coiled like an agitated asp with the thought of her being at his mercy. Because mercy was something Martin Jennings did not grant. There was no doubt in my mind he cared absolutely nothing about her. He viewed her as an obstacle he couldn’t pass, as hard as he’d tried to get her out of his way.
Now my daughter was subject to his malicious will.
Sorrow squeezed my chest.
I hated I’d hurt Sebastian.
Hated I’d hidden it from him for so long.
Hated most I’d allowed that monster to steal away my baby girl.
April cast me the saddest of smiles and then dropped her attention to the side. “I know I don’t have much to offer, but I’ll be here, Shea, fighting with you, until we bring her home.”
Tears streaked down my face. “Don’t ever say that. You have always been the sanity in all of this. Supporting Kallie and me in every way. I’m not sure I would have made it without you.”
She shook her head, eyes blurry and unfocused as they drifted to the far wall. “All the time I’ve lived here with you and Kallie, I hoped you’d find a guy who would fall head over heels in love with you. With both of you. Someone kind yet strong. Someone who would always stand by your side and do whatever it took to make you happy.”
With her focus still faraway, she sucked in her bottom lip.
“When I found Sebastian in our kitchen that morning…I instantly disliked him. I didn’t trust him. I was sure he wasn’t anything but trouble.”
She gave a fierce, regretful shake of her head. “I just knew he was going to hurt you. I was scared because I saw the way you looked at him. I figured he wasn’t anything but a player out looking for fun while he passed time in Savannah.”
She looked at me simply. “I was wrong. I want to blame him for all this…but I can’t do that. I’m pretty sure he’s the guy who would do anything to make sure you’re happy.”
Simple, simple dreams.
They moaned from within.
A simple girl who loved a simple boy.
How ironic the one thing I’d ever hoped to want with him was being dangled right in front of me.
A family.
But both Sebastian’s and my situations were the furthest from simple.
April glanced back at the door Sebastian had disappeared through. “Why didn’t you tell him?”
I swallowed over the lump of emotion locking my throat. “I was going to…the night when I found out who he was. When I finally admitted I loved him. I was ready to tell him everything. Ready to trust him with everything.”
He was the first person I did.
Trust.
Sadness tugged at one side of my mouth. “As much as knowing who he was scared me, it felt like it was meant to be. Like maybe no one could understand us the same way we could understand each other.”
I gave her a helpless shrug. “He left me before I had the chance. Then he was back and everything happened so fast. Kallie almost drowning…the paparazzi…the pictures. I tried to tell him again tonight.”
Right before the social worker showed up at my door.
But now that I knew his connection to Martin, I found I couldn’t open my mouth to tell him everything. The things he clearly demanded to know. He thought I didn’t trust him. That was a light year from the truth.