Page 57 of Torch

Most of Christian’s dancers had become my clients. I had even sent some to Kira and Oscar. We were all still working during the day while trying to get our business off the ground. Exhaustion wasn’t even the word at this point. But each day I found a way to push through. In the end, all of my hard work was going to pay off.

Right as Cream got up from the table, there was a knock on the door of my suite. Lifting my head, my eyes locked with my mother's. My furious mother. I knew this was coming eventually. The day I left my father’s shop, Christian and I went to Blade and Bianca’s home to tell them everything.

Victoria was there as well. It was a touchy subject and I was beyond nervous. For Bianca’s entire life, she thought her father didn’t want her. Finding out he had tried to look for them for years left her speechless.

“Baby, say something,” Blade urged her.

She took a deep breath right before her eyes filled with tears. “What am I supposed to say? I mean, I get that he’s changed and everything, but it doesn’t erase the void I felt my entire life.”

Blade wiped the tears that were running down her face. “I understand, Bianca. But this is the moment to get the answers you've always wanted. Brit did tell us a lot, but maybe you need to hear it from him.”

“I agree,” Victoria said, shocking everyone in the room.

I was sure she would be against Bianca meeting our father. Hell, my mother was acting as if he was the devil himself. I knew most of that stemmed from the pain he caused her. But from what I gathered while talking to him, he wasn’t a bad guy. He just made a lot of dumb decisions at a young age.

“Are you serious, Ma? You think I should talk to him? After everything he put you through?” Bianca asked, looking at her mother as if she had grown two heads.

Even Smoke seemed taken aback by her stance on this. I really wanted to know how he felt about all of this, too. From the expression on his face, I could tell he was feeling some type of way about my father possibly coming back into the picture.

Victoria grabbed Bianca’s hands and looked her in the eyes. “Bianca, I never told you your father was a terrible man. I only told you the facts. But it wasn’t so black-and-white with Bryce and me. Did I know he was married? Absolutely not. But I wasn’t a fool either. I had my suspicions that there were other women. I just didn’t say anything without proof. Plus, things really weren’t that serious between us. We were just having… Fun.” Victoria looked away meekly when Bianca’s face balled up.

“Eww, Mom.” Bianca cringed, making Blade, Christian, and me laugh. She rubbed the back of her neck and sighed. “So how did you go from just having fun to becoming pregnant with me?”

Victoria's face morphed into a frown. “I am not about to discuss my sex life in a room full of people, Bianca. Just know that Bryce and I did what we had to do to protect ourselves from pregnancy, but the universe had other ideas for us. That’s why, when Bryce told me to get an abortion, I decided to move away and raise you on my own. Neither one of us asked for a baby, but I knew I wasn’t getting rid of you. All these years, we thought he didn’t want anything to do with you. Now that you know he tried to find you. I think you owe it to yourself to have a conversation with him. If you don’t want to pursue a relationship with him, that’s fine, but at least allow yourself to get closure.”

Bianca was silent for a few minutes, thinking things over. After a while, she focused on me. “Okay, I’ll meet with him.”

The next night we had dinner at our place with my dad and Bentley. I was scared about how things would go, but within minutes of sitting at our table, I knew everything would be okay. Bryce expressed a heartfelt apology to Bianca and Victoria. The same way he took accountability with me, he did the same that night.

I think Bianca saw the same thing I did. The sincerity in his eyes spoke volumes. All he wanted was a chance to prove himself. To show he wasn’t that young, immature boy from all those years ago. By the time dinner was over, Bianca had given Bryce and Bentley her number. We both talked to them every day. We even took a DNA test so there wouldn’t be any more confusion.

I still couldn’t believe I had two additional siblings. It was crazy how I was forming a bigger bond with them than I had with Morgan. I still held on to hope that one day we could get through our differences, but I wasn’t about to kiss her ass. If Morgan and I were going to be cool again, she was going to have to meet me halfway.

The next day, I paid my granny a visit. She was livid when she found out my mother had been lying about this for so long. She was even more pissed when she found out my mother had hidden an entire marriage from her. She was a little skeptical when I told her I was getting to know my dad. Rightfully, so. Even my dad acknowledged how much of a hellraiser he once was. Hopefully, with time, my granny would warm up to giving him a chance like I did.

I snapped out of my thoughts when I realized I was silently staring at my mother. “What are you doing here?”

She scoffed, looking at Cream from head to toe with disgust. “You can leave now,” she said to Cream, completely ignoring me.

“Mom!” I hissed at her. This was my place of business. It was one thing for her to be rude to me, but I’d be damned if she disrespected my clients.

Cream placed her hand on my shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, Brit. I was leaving anyway.” She threw her purse over her arm and left without another word.

I would make sure to apologize to her for this. Cream was cool, and I didn’t want her thinking that I allowed these kinds of things to happen.

I got up from my chair and grabbed the sanitizing wipes to clean the table. “Ma, this is my business. If you’re going to come here, you need to be respectful to my clients. How did you even know where my suite was?”

“Morgan showed me a video from social media of you and that paid prostitute in a strip club. All your business info is in the bio of your page.”

I knew when Cream and I made that video there was a chance my family would find out about it. I just didn’t care anymore.

“Don’t call her that. You don’t even know her.”

“All I need to know is she takes off her clothes and shakes her ass for a living.”

I rolled my eyes, truly annoyed by her judgment. “Yes, to take care of her three younger siblings and to put herself through school. God, you can be so judgmental.”

“Who are you talking to, Brittney?!” my mother snapped angrily.