1933563885-Tower-of-Secrets-Lucas

by Tower of Secrets (lit)

  “I should have let you die. You have been nothing but trouble. The pleasure I got from torturing your mother was worth it, but this, you goddamned bitch, this is too much. Get your things and get the fuck out of my house. I never want to see you again!”

  She pushed herself against the wall, carefully standing, head spinning.

  “What have I done?” Tears began to flow despite her efforts. “I’ve done nothing but love you.”

  She withstood the slap that time, though her cheek stung like hell. She closed her eyes to the pain.

  “You think I’m a complete fool, don’t you? You and Montclair have been working together to ruin me. You stole my patent, cost me millions and don’t think I haven’t noticed what’s beneath that shawl. You’re carrying his bastard! Get the fuck out of my house, Marina. You are no longer my daughter.”

  She watched him walk back towards the door, her world splintering along with her heart. She couldn’t take any more. She was going to break; she felt it happening.

  “Why?”

  Her tear filled voice carried her pain, but he acted as if she’d said nothing, striding through the door and slamming it behind him.

  Rage and fear filled her veins. How was she supposed to leave? Where was she supposed to go? She’d never been away from this fortress in all her life. She didn’t know the first thing about the real world. The thought of being completely alone terrified her. She pulled open the door, running after the man her whole life was built around.

  “Daddy, why? What did I do?”

  He shook her off his arm, turning towards her with hatred, but she refused to fear him.

  “I found your e-mails, your chats, you whore. The only thing I couldn’t figure out was, did he find you, or did you find him?”

  “I…I don’t know…”

  He slapped her again, but she forbid the tears.

  “Don’t lie to me now, Marina. I have all the proof I need on my computer.”

  She stood in shock, small twinges of pain splintering her womb. He laughed then, a cold heartless sound she remembered from when she was very small.

  “Don’t tell me you are so stupid that he used you and you didn’t even know it. Don’t tell me you let him fuck you—impregnate you—and you had no idea he just wanted to use you to get to me.” His head dropped back with sharp bursts of laughter. His long white hair fell over his forehead when he straightened again. “You’re a slut and a fool and I want you and that bastard out of my house, now, Marina. I will not support a Montclair or any woman who’s fucked one.”

  Shock and disbelief pummeled her. Disoriented, she stumbled back against the nearest wall. Legs too weak to hold her, she slid to the floor, watching him walk away from her as if she was nothing. She grabbed her baby as the first sharp pain gripped her. Closing her eyes, she simply wished for death.

  Chapter 12

  The quiet of driving on pavement changed to the crunch of dirt and rocks as Marina took the turn onto the old road. The dust swirling up from beneath the tires blurred the vision in the rear view, but she figured it didn’t really matter—she hadn’t seen another soul for the past hour and a half, even on the main road.

  As she drove, the cool air tempered the sun’s heat. For the first time in three months, she smelled the scent of mussels and tasted the tang of salt in the air.

  The ocean.

  She smiled. Silly thing to miss, but she had missed it. Surprisingly, it was all she had missed. Her heart instantly reminded her with a sharp stab that the ocean was not the only thing she missed. She missed Sebastian, sometimes so much she still wished her heart would just stop beating altogether instead of limping along half-dead and hemorrhaging.

  Finally, through the pines, she saw a glimmer of the ocean. The sun’s reflection nearly blinded her, but the little bit of joy it brought was worth it. To the right, the house instantly came into view. Her nerves shot through the roof. This was it. After all these months, this was finally it. She swore what was left of her heart was going to give out with the stress she’d been under these past few months all culminating in this visit.

  The car engine halted. She heard seagulls and waves rolling to shore in the distance. For whatever reason, though, she couldn’t bring herself to get out of the car. She’d wanted this from the second Sebastian’s letter had arrived. She laughed. It was almost the same as the night he took her virginity. She’d wanted that for years, too, and it had been the most wonderful experience of her life. She closed her eyes to the pain and drew a deep breath.

  And look how that turned out.

  Gathering her courage, she pushed open the car door and got out, just as a man with silver-streaked black hair appeared. Tall and muscular, he seemed…quiet, was the best description.

  Marina’s breath accelerated again.

  A second later the woman she’d expected followed the man out the door. Her long dark hair pulled back in a single blue ribbon, she wore no make-up. Marina thought she looked happy. Really, truly happy. At peace.

  Marina watched the man take the woman’s hand to help her down the steps of the wooden deck. Her heart did that stupid pinchy thing again that it did any time she saw a happy couple. She drew a breath against tears she knew would well up next.

  “Marina! Oh, child, you have no idea how much we’ve been looking forward to this.”

  She stood still as he looked her up and down with a strange almost paternal smile on his lips, lips that were a little too familiar.

  “Neither of us slept last night, did we, darling?”

  Marina smiled shyly as she locked eyes with a woman she had hoped would stir some memories in her but didn’t.

  “Hi.”

  Her throat shut down, or maybe it was her brain. She wasn’t sure, but whatever the case, all the eloquent things she’d been planning to say flew out the window. The stupid tears welled up, slipping down her cheeks, regardless of how she tried to push them away.

  “Marina, I’m sorry, I promised to be…oh, I don’t even know. I just want to hug you.”

  The look in her mother’s eyes broke the last barrier on her strained emotions. She flew into the arms of a woman she couldn’t remember, but that her heart seemed to know all the same.

  “Marina, I swear I never knew. He convinced me you were dead. I never knew.”

  Marina straightened out of her mother’s embrace, wiped the tears from her cheeks with her fingertips, drew a breath against a wave of nausea, and did her best to smile.

  “The whole thing was pretty screwed up. I don’t blame you. I never even suspected.”

  Her mother’s fingers gently touched her cheek.

  “You were so little. How could you?”

  The three of them stood for a few minutes in silence. Marina tried to take everything in. She couldn’t believe this was her mother, alive and well and…happy.

  When Sebastian had sent her the letter, with all the documents and information she needed to find her mother, she’d had a hard time wrapping her mind around the fact that her mother had in actuality left her father for Sebastian’s. How weird does a world have to be for that to happen?

  “Marina, you must be tired from the drive. Come inside. We have lunch ready. Or I can show you a room to lie down in for a while. Whatever you like.”

  She smiled at him. He looked so much like Sebastian. It would take her awhile to get used to him. She certainly hoped the pain she felt every time she looked at him would subside soon, anyway.

  “Thank you Bernard. I think I would like to lie down for a while, so long as you both won’t think me terribly rude.”

  Sophia smiled and placed an arm around her daughter’s shoulders.

  “Of course not. You’ve been through so much. I’m just so glad your doctor finally let you make the trip, although I do wish you’d let us come to you.”

  They started the walk back to the house. Marina wasn’t sure how to respond to that. Finding out her mother was alive, and that Sebastian had indeed just used her to get
to her father had been so much to handle, she needed the time to come to grips with it all. She knew though that both Sophia and Bernard never really understood why she didn’t want them with her while she recovered and she knew it had hurt them, but the way she saw it, they all had a fresh start and years to grow into a real family now.

  The A-frame structure set amongst the pines over looking the ocean felt incredibly welcoming as Marina stepped inside. It felt like a home. Wood and stucco and plants and light flooded through floor to ceiling windows. It was everything the fortress she’d shared with her father was not.

  “Lie down and don’t worry about anything. I’ll bring in your bags and they’ll be here when you wake up.”

  Bernard smiled at her again, she tried to smile back but at the moment, couldn’t find it in her.

  “Thank you.”

  Sophia had tears in her eyes and Marina was struck with how little she’d changed since the portrait that hung on the second floor landing had been painted. She didn’t fight the impulse to hug her one more time. Then she pushed open the door to a beautiful guest room, flooded with sunlight and decorated in colors of mauve and cream.

  Though exhausted, she couldn’t resist a quick look out at the balcony off her room. As she opened the sliding glass door, the sound of the ocean filled the room. It made her smile, made her feel at home in a strange way.

  “Marina.”

  She turned at the voice, a lump in her throat at how very much Bernard sounded like Sebastian. Placed a smile on her face and summoned the last of her strength to answer whatever it was.

  Only the face she saw wasn’t Bernard’s. Dizziness swamped her, making her lean hard against the doorframe. Within a second, Sebastian had swept her from her feet and placed her on the bed, bringing back so many memories that had been wonderful and now were so painful she couldn’t bear them.

  The tears ran freely down her cheeks. She couldn’t find any words; she only looked at him, her heart longing despite everything her head knew.

  Sebastian looked down at Marina, more beautiful then he ever remembered. He touched her cheek, pushed back her hair, unable to resist touching her even in small ways. Every second of the past seven months had been excruciating torture. How he ever thought he’d be able to live without her was beyond him. She was a part of him, and without her he’d never be complete.

  “‘I’m sorry’ doesn’t begin to cover it, I realize, but if you’ll just let me…”

  She sat up and shoved his hand off her.

  “Just let you what?”

  He saw the pain he’d caused her etched on her face, in the set of her mouth, the depths of her eyes and for a second he doubted his father’s well-meant advice.

  When she moved, heading for the door, Sebastian knew this was the defining moment of his life. Everything he was, everything he would become hinged in this moment in time. He shoved away fear and doubt and grabbed her hand, pulling her back towards him, cupping her cheek in his hand, exuberant when she leaned into his touch.

  “Marina, there is no excuse for what I did. I was weak. I was a coward. I do not deserve another chance and I won’t blame you in the least if you refuse me, but…” He stepped back just an inch, moved his hand from her cheek to her belly. “For all of us, please…” He glanced at his hand resting on his child, remembering the pain he felt at learning of the child and how terrified he was when she nearly lost him. Raising his gaze back into the eyes of the only woman he would ever love, he knew he had to make this work. “Please, just hear me out.”

  He watched emotions flicker in her eyes. He saw fear, he saw anger and hurt, but more he saw hope and it was that he latched onto.

  “I love you. I know I have a horrible way of showing you, but that was exactly what I was trying to do when I left, and when I sent you the information about your mother. I just…I was…fuck!”

  He walked away, over to the glass doors and looked out over the water.

  “I have no excuse. I have no reasons you should trust me again. I was a coward, Marina. I was terrified of you and what I felt for you and I…”

  He turned back, met her gaze and this time he saw the crack in her anger and through the crack, he saw her love for him.

  “I nearly lost the baby.”

  “I know.” He moved back to her taking her hands. “I checked with your doctors every day, but I thought the last thing you needed was me. I was convinced I had nothing to offer you and that you were far better off without me.

  “I’ve never loved anyone in my life, Marina. I have no idea what I’d be doing with you. And what if I screwed up our child? I’m a cold-hearted bastard, hardly father material. And you, you deserve so much more than my inadequate attempts to love you.

  “I swore I wouldn’t hurt you again, Marina, I can’t imagine I’ll do anything but.”

  Marina’s brain was flashing through everything this man had put her through. The pain he caused her when he walked away. The fear she’d felt every day that he’d left her alone. She could walk away, heal eventually, but would she ever truly be whole without him?

  Oh, she’d go on, have their baby and somehow find a way to make a life for them, but her heart…he owned a piece of it plain and simple.

  “I love you, Sebastian. You’ve owned my heart from the first night we talked. I won’t lie to you, I’m hurt and I’m scared to trust you again, but at the end of the day, I just don’t want to do this without you.”

  She rubbed her belly where her son kicked his approval and laughed.

  “What?”

  She smiled, reached for his hand and placed it atop the tiny protruding foot.

  “We don’t want to do this without you.”

  He rested his forehead against hers. She was surprised to feel his tears drop on her cheeks. She wrapped her arms tight around him, pulling her large body as close as she could get it.

  “I love you.”

  “Princess…” His voice cracked, she kissed his cheek and knew she’d made the right decision to trust him again.

  “Please help me be a better man. I want to be everything you deserve.”

  He kissed her, the salty taste of his tears on his lips. Marina realized she probably wasn’t signing up for an easy life loving Sebastian Montclair, but she knew it was the exact life she’d always dreamt of and that they would indeed live happily ever after.

  TOWER OF SECRETS

  A Siren Adult Fairy Tale

  THE END

  WWW.SAMANTHALUCAS.COM

  Also by Samantha Lucas

  Devlin Kiersen lives his life in fear of being exactly like his father--at the same time doing everything he can to prove it's true. In his spectacular bid for self-destruction, he never contemplates meeting a woman who would make him long to spend eternity in the comfort of her arms.

  Kira Nestor trusts there's more to Dev than the sexy, intense man who awakens her sexuality, introducing her to a whole new world of seduction and desire, but she's out of her depth when it comes to reaching behind his walls and convincing him his heart is safe with her.

  When they come together, everything will change. But will Kira be able to convince Dev that his heart still exists and that true love has the power to change everything, or will he continue to live in the barren hell he believes his due and already knows so well?

  REVIEWS for Body, Heart and Soul

  5 Hearts: "This is such a great book that it would be easy to get lost in the action! There is a lot going on, but Ms. Samantha Lucas is to be commended for her excellent job writing this novel! I absolutely loved the plot as well as the characters.

  Devlin Kiersen, 38, had been involved with Barbara Folsom-Worthington, 53, for the past 12 years. Each summer she hired an assistant to go to a private island with her. This year she hired Kira Kimberlynn Nestor, 24-year-old college senior, majoring in art. By accepting employment with Barbara, she got a brand new, expensive wardrobe, luxurious accommodations, and a social life she had never dreamed possible. There was just one
big problem! Kira didn’t realize what kind of “assistant” Barbara hired every year. Since she was 15 years older than Dev, and she liked to swing both ways, Barbara always hired a young, beautiful woman to keep them both entertained. However, she always let Dev go first!

  This book, as I said, is packed with strong character personalities with lots of energy and high sex drives, as well as sordid pasts. Ms. Lucas has presented them just as you would unfold a family portrait; each person has such depth and, either caring or self-interested, all share a desire to have someone to love. Even though Kira is consistent throughout the book, it is obvious that she is out of her league. To say that they had unusual activities is an understatement! This unique plot, while fast-paced, was almost impossible to put down. I loved the way she developed the two main characters and allowed us to figuratively see into their souls! The sexual scenes were very explicit and quite often; however, I felt they were artistically done and emotionally stirring!

  I really loved this book and feel that it should be read by all; you definitely will not be disappointed. Well done, Ms. Lucas!" —Brenda Talley, The Romance Studio

  5 Hearts: "Ms. Lucas penned a scorching tale of a lost soul finding refuge in the innocence of a woman. Balancing to perfection the sexual elements that guide this story along without overshadowing the premise. Ms. Lucas lends a true grace to her erotic voice—one that calls to the soul, evoking heartfelt feelings and erotic desires. The lives of the characters are fully developed, with believable situations and dialogues. A beautifully done piece of erotic fiction! Body, Heart and Soul is what great storytelling is all about. Ms. Lucas writes with realism and heart and displays this in her characters. If you are hungering for an exceptional contemporary erotic romance that will stay with you long after the book is closed, then stop by Siren Publishing to picked up your copy today. This reviewer cannot wait to see what Ms. Lucas crafts next!" —Janalee, Love Romances and More