“Candace--”
“It’s true. Everybody was better than me.I was just the Riccis' daughter.Nothing. Nobody. Why would you treat me like that back then, then pay fifteen million dollars for me at a stupid auction when I tell you I can’t be with you?”
I stare back at her wondering how the hell I'm supposed to explain myself.“Candace the past is difficult to explain.”
She shakes her head. “No, it's not.It's simple," she blurts. "I loved you so much and you didn't even know I was alive.If you did you would have known what was happening to me.You would have known that fucking man Uncle Lucas had no love for me.When he couldn't have my mother, he came for me.Every night when Papa was away, he'd come for me, and sometimes it wasn't just him.He raped me over and over again."
As her hands fly up to cover her mouth, a bolt of shock punches my gut, then squeezes my heart.My head pounds at first from the impact of her words, then it feels like it might explode.
A shudder runs through me, and I rivet my gaze to hers as she shakes her head.
"Candace, what? What did you just say to me?" I grab her and squeeze her shoulders.
"No... I can't talk about it.I mustn't talk about it. He said he would kill me." Tears choke her voice, then stain her cheeks.
I reach for her and hold her to me as she yields to the deep sobs that take her.Her shoulders wrack with it and she crumbles in my arms, falling apart like I hoped she wouldn't.
And I fall too, hating that I was right.Hating it more that I wasn't there for her.
“I’m sorry, my angel,” I whisper into her ear."I'm so sorry."