Page 48 of Cruel Titan

Victor looks to Asher who returns his smug grin. “Why do you think I was so quick to help out? Did you really think I would help you? I wanted to help Mom get away from you.”

“Okay, give me the money, and Quinn, you come with me.”

Asher widens his stance, folding his arms across his chest, blocking the path of the door. “That’s not going to happen.”

Nathan takes the opportunity to make a move while Francis is focused on Asher, retrieving a handgun from his desk, he points it at Francis as he moves around the desk, yelling for her to put the gun down.

She lets it fall out of her hand, and Nathan kicks it away, ordering her not to move as he calls for Sophie to get building security and the police on their way.

“They’re already on their way,” Asher says, moving quickly across the room before wrapping me in his arms, pulling me into his consoling embrace. “Are you all right?”

“No,” I reply, resting my face against his chest.

He kisses the top of my head. “Me neither, but we will be.”

I hope this time, more than any other, he is telling the truth.

* * *

Candace is sitting at the table across from me as she has so many times, but for some reason, today feels different. I guess a crazy lady holding you at gunpoint will do that to you.

“Quinn, I …”

“It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not. I shouldn’t have left you. It’s the worst mistake I’ve ever made in my life. I was scared, and I figured you would be better off without me.”

Shifting uncomfortably, I look to Candace. I need to know these things because I don’t want to hate her. Even if I don’t ever have a motherly bond with her, I just want to stop hating her for leaving me. “Why would you think that?”

“After the accident, I had a really hard time coping with Katherine’s death. I wasn’t drinking or anything, but I was distracted, not to mention the four of us were piled into a car meant for two riders. Katherine and I were singing and screaming at the top of our lungs, laughing so hard because the guys were complaining about our horrible voices. I looked down to change the song and when I looked back up, I’d veered too far over, but it was too late and I overcorrected, causing the car to slam into the side of the mountain. The passenger side hit, which is where Katherine was seated on Stanley’s lap.” Candace wipes her face, attempting to pull back her emotion, just like I do. “She was my best friend. She was the smartest, kindest person I’d ever known. While Nathan, Stanley, and I had just graduated from high school, Katherine had finished a year earlier, opting to graduate a year ahead of our class and would be attending her second year at university. Instead, she had a funeral. I never meant for anything bad to happen, but it was my fault. I started drinking after that, and just taking my anger out on everyone around me, including Stanley. He tried to make the best of a bad situation and he adored you but hated me. I think that’s why he went along with what I thought was Barker’s plan. He was so angry with me that Katherine was gone that he wanted to make me suffer; he wanted me to lose a person I loved too.”

“Why did you lie about my birthday?”

“Barker knew what happened, and after all the chaos was over, he said that if I didn’t take you and leave, he’d tell the police the truth. Nathan never knew I was pregnant. I didn’t even know until the hospital did blood work. Barker discovered the pregnancy while he was trying to control all the details surrounding the accident. We’d already given false statements to the police to cover up the truth, and Barker convinced me that even if it was an accident, I’d lose custody of you for lying. And he said he’d spend every penny he had to take you if the police didn’t, but he was against Nathan and I being together. He didn’t want Nathan to raise you. He wanted to take you and put you up for adoption. He said the only way I could keep you without interference from him was to break up with Nathan and lie about your birthday. He never wanted Nathan to think you were his if he ever found out about you. He designated August nineteenth so I would always remember the day that I caused Nathan trouble. Barker hated me with Nathan because I didn’t come from a wealthy family, and he said having a baby so young would deter Nathan from his future.”

“So, Nathan didn’t know what Barker had done?”

“No. Not long after I left you and Stanley, I searched for Nathan because guilt was eating me alive. I’d hoped even if he hated me for lying, he’d keep you safe. And the Nathan I’d always known would do just that. But when I finally contacted Nathan, Barker approached me again because Stanley told him I’d left. Barker said Nathan would pay the price, and I knew Stanley loved you as his own and it would rip you away from him and the only life you’d known, so I didn’t say anything. After the accident, Barker had a fit when he found out you were coming to live with us. Nathan thought it was because you were mine and Stanley’s daughter. Two poor scholarship kids that would reflect badly on him when we brought you here. Nathan was livid. He accused Barker of looking down on the very people he claimed to help with his foundation, and threatened to go public with the story. That’s why Barker handed over the foundation, and that’s why Nathan wanted you to help. It was about so much more to him.”

“I don’t understand any of this. Why would Francis stick around all these years if she hated Nathan so much?”

“Barker paid her off. He offered her a very large sum of money to stay on. He didn’t even have her work most of the time. He basically just paid for her silence. It was all part of covering up the accident. I was a little concerned when she came to us over the summer, saying she needed a change of scenery and wanted to help out. Of course, Nathan didn’t think anything of it. I only agreed out of guilt for taking her daughter from her, never guessing that she held a grudge because she never let on like she thought it was anything but a horrible accident. But it seems like she just wanted to be around to bask in her years of hard work of keeping you away from Nathan and make sure she kept it going. I always thought it was just Barker being a jerk but he just admitted to Nathan that using Katherine’s death date for your birthday and some of the other stuff were Francis’s requests. She’d truly been planning this all along.”

I’ve been nothing but hateful towards Candace since I’ve been here. “I’m sorry.”

“No, Quinn. You don’t owe anyone an apology. You were born into this. You didn’t ask for any of it.”

Nathan walks into the kitchen, his phone up to his ear with a grin. “Okay. Thanks, Monica.” He clicks the phone off, looking to us like we should be celebrating but he hasn’t told us what exactly we should be excited about.

“They just arrested Victor on fraud and embezzlement charges. Everything was done through his company and we managed to get Monica set up on the board just in time. Her and the kids are finally free of the douchebag.”

“I’m going to check on Victoria. I’ll be back in a little while.”

“Okay,” Candace says, standing from the table.

“Hey, Quinn,” Nathan calls from behind me as I turn to look at him. “I’m still here if you need anything or have any questions.”

Nodding. I step out of the door, thinking about the connection I’ve had with Nathan since I arrived. There’s always been something that felt safe about him. Regardless, it’s still going to take me some time to adjust to this news.