“I’m not weak. I’m just finally coming to my senses. Why are you fighting this so hard, William? He’s in prison, you made sure of that. He’s not a threat to you now, but you still can’t let it go.”
“Let it go? My wife got pregnant by another man. Not only that, you just tried to kill yourself because of him. How do you expect me to let that go? Do you know how that looks? What will our friends and my colleagues think?”
“Your friends and colleagues? That’s what got us here in the first place. You had too much pride to let Sophie know her own father.”
“It wasn’t about pride, Alana. He’s a fucking criminal. What could she have gotten from him? I’ve given her everything. I’vegiven you everything, yet you’re still holding on to that man. Do you think you would have the life you live with him? If I hadn’t sent him to prison, someone else would have. I did you a favor. I made you somebody and raised another man’s child. Sophie is mine; she’s always going to be mine. I love her more than anything so I will not allow her to ruin her life, to destroy everything I’ve built for her.”
“You’re so selfish. It’s her life, her fucking life. I let you take mine from me, but she deserves to be happy. You think Lincoln makes her happy? He’s just like you, and if she marries him, she will be miserable just like I was.”
“Miserable? And you have the nerve to call me selfish? You weren’t miserable when I put you in our million dollar home and provided you with cards with no limits. You seemed perfectly fine to me, but the second you lay eyes on his little protégé you started reminiscing about the life you didn’t have. Maybe that was good enough for you, but it's not for Sophie.”
“Why, because you said so?”
“Yes, because I said so. You love him so much, then be with him. You can make weekly visits and sit your ass in the visitation room holding hands across the table, but Sophie will never have that life. You better tell him to keep that man away from her or he'll end up in the cell next to him.”
“Why are you out here?”
Trooper’s voice startled me. I was so caught up and confused by my parents’ conversation I hadn’t even noticed him behind me until his hands were on me.
“I… I… was…”
“Didn’t I tell you to come alone?”
My father’s voice caused me to look in his direction. He was speaking to me, but his eyes were on Trooper. I ignored my father and asked what had been on my mind for a while now.
“You two know each other?” I questioned, turning my head to see Trooper looking in my father’s direction.
“No, we don’t,” my father said quickly with a look that exposed his lie.
“Don’t lie to me. I just heard you and Mom.”
This time I turned to Trooper. I would know if he was lying and I prayed he didn’t.
“Do you know him?” I questioned and pointed at my father.
“No, but he knows me.”
“Why would you lie?” I asked, turning to my father.
“I didn’t lie. I know who he is, but I don’t know him, Sophie.”
“But you know my father, right?”
“Sophie, come with me so we can talk, sweetheart.” My father reached for me, but I stepped back.
“No, we’re not doing that. Who is my father? Tell me who the fuck my father is and why you sent him to prison.”
I felt my chest heaving then Trooper’s hands on my shoulders, but I shrugged him off. I didn’t know what the hell was going on, but whatever it was, he was part of it.
“Sophie, your father’s name is Sinclair Taylor. They call him Story.”
My mother’s voice brought everyone’s attention to her as she stood in the doorway of her hospital room. She was dressed in a hospital gown covered by a robe. Sadness in her eyes conflicted with love I never saw when she looked at the man I had always known to be my father.
“I warned you, didn’t I? I told you if you ever told her, you’d pay with your life, Alana.”
“Nah, playboy, not like that, not today.”
Where my father’s voice had been erratic, Trooper’s was calm and controlled. They both drew their guns at the same time. My father’s gun, which I never even knew he had, was aimed at mymother and Trooper’s was aimed at my father. How in the hell had we ended up here?
