Reveal Me, Sir (Doms of Decadence 9)

She shook her head.

He sighed. “Ria, what am I going to do with you?”

She sniffled. “I don’t know. I obviously heard things wrong. I was terrified. I knew I hadn’t done anything wrong. But you sounded so angry. So cold.”

“You weren’t the one that Carson was advising me to get rid of. God, even if you had betrayed me, I’m certain he’d have found some way to sneak you out of the house and keep you safe. It was Gabrielle who betrayed me.”

She froze in shock. “Your girlfriend?”

“Yes. She was feeding him information. She was also sleeping with him on the side.”

“Oh, God.” She felt ill. Not only had he been using her, he’d been cheating on her. She felt so cheap. Dirty.

“In one night, I lost two women I trusted and loved.” His voice was stark.

“Oh, Freddy, I’m so sorry.” She undid her seat belt and climbed on his lap. “I’m so sorry. I love you. I should have come to you.”

He ran his hand up and down her back. She’d missed this. She’d always felt safe around her big brother. He’d always been more of a dad to her than her own father.

“I will not lie. It hurts that you didn’t.” He stilled. “You tell Carson I said that and I really will kill you.”

She snorted out a laugh that ended in more tears.

“Shit. Too soon?”

“Too soon.” She buried her face into his neck. “I fucked up, Freddy. Just like I always do.”

And she’d nearly lost everything.

“Hey, I won’t have that.” He pulled her back, giving her a ferocious frown. “You made a mistake. Made assumptions. And you didn’t trust me like you should have. But you’d just found out a man you thought you could trust had betrayed you. That’s bound to mess with your head.”

“Yeah, but what about the rest of my life? I fucked that up all on my own.”

He narrowed his gaze, his handsome face growing cold. “Is this about that idiot back there? What happened between the two of you?”

“I love him, Freddy.”

“What?”

“But I messed up. Big time. I never told him the truth. I couldn’t. Not just because of you. But because he wouldn’t understand. And now he knows I lied to him. He’s had that happen to him before. He has to hate me now. He’s a good man, Freddy. He wouldn’t fit into our world. He does everything by the book.”

“He doesn’t live in the gray?”

“I don’t even think he believes there should be gray.”

He continued to run his hand up and down her back. “Then fuck him. He doesn’t deserve you.”

She smiled sadly. “You’ve got that the wrong way around.”

“No, I don’t. You might have been raised in a fucked-up family, but you’ve always been a good person. You didn’t have it easy, but you rose above that shit to be a courageous, loyal, and loving person. I’m proud of you.”

Warmth filled her, soothing some of the hurt. “Thank you.”

“I know our fuckwit of an old man would never have told you that and that it doesn’t mean the same coming from me—”

She shook her head, placing a finger over his lips. “No, it means more. Because it comes from the only real dad I ever knew.”

“Jesus, I’m not fucking old enough to be your father.”