It had been fake. The entire hit job had been taken over by Silas …
“ … When you came back to the house,
after I told you to run,
” he gave her a pointed look, “Silas told them to cut the surface of my neck. When I woke up, I was in an all-white room with a bed and food next to me. My neck was sewn up and I could feel my legs again. For the past six years, Silas has been punishing me for helping your mother.”
“Helping her with what?”
“Helping her rebuild her father’s empire, Carter. Distracting him so that she could build an army. I had always planned to reunite you and your mother, baby girl. However, I wasn’t going to do that until Anastacia could protect you from the Steele family, and you could defend yourself during an attack.”
“Why didn’t you ever tell me about Silas, though?” Carter asked.
Robert sighed. “It was stupid. One, it was your mother’s wish that you didn’t know about the weakest point in her life. And two, I didn’t want you to know I wasn’t your biological father. I was Daddy, and I loved being your only father. I had no intention of claiming you as my own, but when you called me Daddy … I couldn’t help but call you my baby. I raised you, Carter. I love you more than I can ever tell you.”
Carter smiled at her father and tried to fight back the sudden emotion that came from hearing his sweet words. “I love you, too, Daddy. No matter who my biological father is, you will always be my daddy. You know that, right?”
He glanced over at her, and quickly returned his eyes to the road. “I do now,” he said softly. It felt good to hear her say those words. He wasn’t going to lie, he’d been a little worried.
“If you loved Anastacia, why wouldn’t you talk about her more?” Carter asked, getting them back on the subject of her past. This question seemed to knock him off balance. She could tell he didn’t want to answer, but she didn’t care. She remained silent until he did.
“I didn’t want you to say too much, baby girl. Silas would,” he swallowed, “he would come and see you sometimes …” He frowned uncomfortably. He didn’t want to go there because he knew she would ask the question that he didn’t want her to. That would put him in the position to lie.
“He visited me without your knowledge, right?”
The tone of voice in which she asked let him know she already knew of the visits. He’d gathered that it was Gabriel that told her; Robert had been told that Gabriel knew of the visits to another of Silas’s children. Because the boy was very smart, he’d probably caught on that Carter was the child. What Robert also caught in her tone was disbelief. She’d asked the question in an ‘I dare you to lie to me tone’, so lying was no longer an option.
Robert swallowed hard. “I can’t lose you, baby girl. I love you too much. So I’m going to beg you—which is something I don’t do ever and you know that—to not make me answer this.”
The emotion that flashed through her eyes was one of heartbreak. In that moment, Robert feared losing his daughter. He didn’t want to, not when he’d just gotten her back.
“Bu–but it doesn’t make any sense, Daddy,” she whispered, a pained expression on her face. “Why would you do that?”
“Baby, I promise there was a reason—”
“I knew,” she said, looking away from him in thought. “I knew it the moment Gabriel told me about Silas’s visits that you had to have known he was visiting me. You would never let anyone get past you like that. But why would you do that? Why would you put me in that type of danger?”
Robert wished he could look at her, but he was still driving. He just hoped she could hear the truth in his voice. “Carter, listen to me. I only allowed him to visit twice a month, and it didn’t start until after you turned five years old. When he visited you, you were not in any danger. I cannot stress that enough.”
“That can’t be true. Mom said he was dangerous, that he would kill me—”
“No he wouldn’t have. He threatened Anastacia often, but only carried out a threat against her twice.”
“What about what he did to me?” Gabriel asked. “I could barely move for weeks after he beat me.”
Robert frowned. “I know, Gabriel. Silas mentioned that to me while I was in captivity. I hate that he did that to you, but there was no way that Silas would have hit my Carterina. He knew that if he did he would suffer my wrath.”
Frowning, Carter shook her head. “It’s still so confusing because Adrien Stone said—”
“Adrien Stone,” Robert interrupted sharply. “What the hell are doing talking to Adrien Stone?”
The moment Carter became tight-lipped, Robert knew she was hiding something.
“Carter,” he said with in a warning tone.
“No,” she stated defiantly. “You answer my questions first, then I tell you my story.”
“Fine,” he agreed in the interest of getting past this.
“Adrien Stone mentioned he worked for Silas, and that Silas was obsessed with mom. He said because I look like her that Silas is sick enough to forget that he is my father, meaning he would—”
“That’s bullshit,” Robert snapped. “Silas would have Adrien’s head for saying such a thing.”
“Well it doesn’t seem that farfetched to me,” Carter defended. “The man sells men, women, and children!”
“It’s not true, Carter.” When Gabriel spoke up, she turned to look at him. “Your father is right.”
Carter looked over to Gabriel, confused. “But—”
“I know, Carter. I find his business deplorable as well, but I know Silas. He is a killer, a dictator, and he suffers from a twisted inanity, but he is no rapist. Rape is punishable by death in the Steele family. I attended the execution of a man that dared to rape one of Silas’s slaves in training. He doesn’t tolerate it. His process for preparing the slaves for sale is insane. He actually makes them love him, they listen to him and do whatever pleases him. After they are chosen by the potential purchasers, the purchasers must earn the slave’s trust before Silas allows them to leave. Once, Silas received word that a man had killed a woman that he’d sold to him. The next day Silas slaughtered that man and buried his wife alive.” Gabriel sighed. “So, yeah. Your father is right. That guy is full of shit. Our father is a sick man, but he is no rapist.”
“Your mother hates him, and even she would tell you that,” Robert added.
Carter was silent for a moment, but she nodded her head in acknowledgment. “Okay then. So I wasn’t in danger. Still, why did you allow Silas to see me in our home?”
“For many reasons, Carter, but the main one was that I needed to form trust between myself and Silas again. That way he wouldn’t spend so much time watching me. The more he trusted the less he watched, the less he watched the more I could focus on helping your mother prepare.”
“So you used me?”
“The blunt answer to that, Carter, would be yes. If he watched constantly, then Anastacia would have never been able to see you. The stronger her army became, the more I saw Silas fear that she would move in and take you away. It was just two visits a month, baby girl, I promise.”
“So that fight we had when I was fifteen … it wasn’t you?”
“No, Carter. It wasn’t. I came home and you were acting different. You were acting like I hurt you. That’s when I ended the visits for good. I cut his face open when he tried to defy me and continue the visits after I’d ended them.”
Carter didn’t feel any relief from this revelation. She just felt violated and very angry at her father for betraying her trust, for allowing his brother to fool her. She unconsciously moved closer to her brother and he wrapped his arm around her shoulder, comforting her.
“This is difficult for me to wrap my head around, Daddy,” she said softly. “You betrayed my trust. You allowed a man that hurt my mother and my brother to come into our home with me. You expect me to understand why you did this, but I can’t. Silas is a monster. Mom will never forgive you for what you did. She’ll be heartbroken.”
“I know, Carter, but I’m not worried about your mother right now. I’m worried about me and you, baby girl.” He glanced over at her. “Letting Silas visit you had a purpose. I wanted so desperately to reunite you with your mother. I wanted to free you both from Silas so that you and your mother could have a real chance at achieving happiness. I hated what Silas did to Anastacia. I hated that he nearly killed you both. He brought both of you to me because he felt remorse for his actions. He wanted me to nurse the two of you back to health. He didn’t trust himself around Anastacia because he was so mad at her for not loving him the way he loved her. After you both were healthy, he offered to take the two of you home with him, and when Anastacia refused, he punished her. He knew you were her weakness, so he used you to do it.”
“Yet you allowed him to visit me,” Carter spat angrily.
“All for the purpose of you and Anastacia finally being with one another, Carter! I apologize for betraying your trust, I really do. I know you don’t understand why I did things the way I did them, but understand this: Silas had an army, a huge army that would have crushed your mother had she have even set foot near you. Therefore, I did what I had to do to ensure that your mother stopped fearing Silas and used her wealth to re-start what her father had built before he died. I did everything that I did because I love you both more than I love my own life!”
“Then why didn’t you just kill him?” Carter screamed. “You saw what he did to my mom, to me. You know how much she hates him. You had access to him, yet you let him live! Had you just killed him, his family would have scattered, there would have been no war, and we could have been a family!”
“That was
not
an option for me, Carterina.”
“
Why
?”
“Because it is not that easy for a man to kill his brother,” he shouted.
Carter went silent.
“Killing my own brother is easier
said,
and
dreamed
, then done in reality! I know it’s ridiculous, and I know it is my weakness to bare, but if you could just give me an ounce of understanding, baby girl, I would greatly appreciate it. I sheltered you, protected you, and wrapped you up in a little cocoon of blissful ignorance for a reason. I told you a little of what I endured in my childhood, but you will never be able to truly grasp the reality of what we went through. Silas and I together. We were all the other had. We protected each other, fought for each other. He fucks up all of the time, but I still see … I guess I just hope there is just the slightest chance for redemption. I don’t know why, but no matter what he does I still have that persistent urge to protect him from himself. I–I’m just so sorry, Carter …”
Carter watched her father’s chest rise and fall with heavy, emotional breaths. His features were tenser than she’d ever seen them before. Carter didn’t know what to do. She really had no idea what to do, or think.
“Carter.” Gabriel said her name softly and pulled her closer to him. Leaning forward, he brought his lips to her ear. “He loves you,” he whispered. “You love him, too. He needs your understanding. This was probably hard for him to tell you, and it was definitely a risk. Yet instead of lying to you, he chose to tell you this painful truth. I understand you’re mad, love, but do not let Silas ruin your relationship with your father.”
Carter turned to face him, and a tear escaped her eye. “But he—”
Gabriel shook his head, cutting her off. “What’s done is done, Carter. It’s in the past. This is the present. We can’t change what happened back then, but we do have a say over what happens next. Forgive him, he loves you. No more pain, my love. In time, you two can repair the trust. It is worth a shot.”
Carter nodded and faced her father. “Promise me that I was never in any danger.”
“I promise, Carterina. Every word I say to you is true.”
Carter sighed and wiped her tears. “Then I forgive you, Daddy,” she whispered. “I know you love me, and that you would never do anything to hurt me. I understand your reluctance to kill your brother, and I apologize for asking you to. I wasn’t thinking of your feelings, I was being selfish.”
Pulling the car over on the side of the road, Robert brought Carter in for a tight hug. “Don’t apologize, baby girl. Don’t ever apologize. I’ve been selfish, too … numerous times. I made so many mistakes when you were a child, but I was young and stupid. I was just trying to do what was best for you.”
“I know, Daddy. I know.” They pulled back from the hug and Carter gently touched her father’s face. “I love you so much. The trust will come back. I won’t give up, if you won’t.”
“I’ll never give up.” Smiling, Robert kissed away her tears. God, he missed his baby’s tears. “I love you, I love you, I love you.”
“Damn, I’m good,” Gabriel murmured as he relaxed back on the seat. “Not even a couple of hours out of my prison and I’m already changing lives.”
Carter smiled and turned to tickle her brother’s side. Quickly gripping her hands, he shot her a glare. “I don’t do tickling, Carter.”
Carter laughed. “You have the sickness, too, don’t you?” When he gave her a confused look, she yanked her hands away from him and started tickling him again.
As she continued to tease her brother,
Robert started the car and got back on to the road.
“Carter!” he yelled, trying to grasp her again.