Chase’s father was a lot of things, but nice was not one of them. The man did not have a kind bone in his body. I swallowed hard, feeling sick to my stomach, not wanting to process where she was going.

“I remember feeling guilty for all the times we badmouthed him, thinking that Chase and Kim parents were the worst. Can you believe that?” She wasn’t asking, more like scolding herself. “He convinced me to stay the night at their apartment since I was probably not in the best shape to go home. Said he hoped another father would do the same for Kim. So when I found myself at their kitchen island, just like I had been a million times before, I felt safe. It felt comfortable. I remember being relieved that my high was coming to an end, or so I thought. He handed me a glass of wine to calm my nerves, said we were close enough to twenty-one. And well, the rules never did apply to him, did they?” She exhaled with disgust. “Instead, two sips added to my already altered state and intensified the high. Everything was accentuated tenfold. And somewhere along the way his supportive words turned into something else ... he turned into someone else. He wasn’t my best friend’s father anymore. I didn’t know who he was, but he was whispering things I’d never imagined in my ear, promising to take away the pain.”

The intense pressure behind my eyes started to pulsate. Any moment a vessel was going to rupture, leaving my pooled blood to boil.

Jack Colton was lucky he was already dead.

Her voice was barely above a whisper, but I heard every word.

Crystal fucking clear.

“I knew it was wrong. It felt wrong. I hated it. Every single second. I was screaming at myself on the inside, but I never said no … I never said no.”

She slowly peeled open her eyes, terrified to look at me. Time stood still.

“Please, Asher, say … something. Please,” she gasped like she was in physical pain. Her shaking legs buckled and she sank to the floor.

I had no words. Not one syllable. Instead I clutched her against my chest as tight as humanly possible and carried her to the couch. The ache of my bruised ribs was nothing compared to the pain in my chest, the devastation—on so many levels.

When her quiet sobs ended, she touched my torn cheek and said, “I’m so, so sorry that I lied to you. I never wanted to hurt you. But you have to understand, I’ve spent a lifetime protecting my son from the truth. I couldn’t risk rocking his world until I knew what this was between us. It was never about trusting you. I have always trusted you, I needed to trust in us.”

My fury was no less, but it was aimed in a different direction. I believed her, every word.

“I believe you.”

Talia sighed and dropped her shoulders, relief written all over her face. But I was far from relieved.

“Why?”

Her tortured eyes told me she knew exactly what I was asking. I needed to know.

As screwed up as it was, I followed Talia’s logic. I got that she refused to believe that piece of shit raped her, based on a technicality. I got that in desperation she seduced Chase, knowing that their entire family were clones and there would be no denying the relation. I got that losing Kimi shredded her, and she needed to disappear after Chase’s reaction to her pregnancy bomb. I got that she blamed herself and had accepted responsibility for her entire situation. I didn’t agree with any of it, but I got it. I got her, I knew her.

What I didn’t get was why she stayed away. The Talia I knew was exactly how she depicted herself on stage—she was confident, invincible, and beautiful. Confident enough with time to tackle her pain and humiliation. Invincible enough to survive her mistakes and forgive herself for deceiving Chase, and recognize who was really to blame. And beautiful enough, inside and out, to make things right with us—her best friends, her son’s brother. More than anything else, I knew the woman holding my face was still that same woman. That woman didn’t keep a twenty-year secret. That woman wouldn’t share my bed for months and lie to me. So the question remained, why?

“California was Mom’s idea. She thought it would be a fresh start for both of us. And even though I never told her who he was, well, at least not right away, she supported me. I couldn’t have done it without her. I wish I could say the same for my father. We barely spoke. It was really hard at first, being the disappointment, being the pregnant girl on campus. But the moment I held my baby in my arms, nothing else mattered. Nothing. He was perfect. Sweet and innocent, trusting, and fun. He was Tack. He was my world. And still is.” A breathtaking glow radiated from her face when she talked about her son.

“I still don’t understand why you never came back? As pissed as he would have been at first, you know Chase would have had your back.” There was not a doubt in my mind that Chase would have stepped up and pretended if he had known the truth. And he would have been the first in line to deal with his perverted piece of shit of a father, after me.

“I did.”

I expected anything other than those two words.

“At first I was embarrassed, then life got crazy, juggling college and a toddler. I had to take summer courses to make up the time I missed. Time just kind of flew by, but when Kimi…” She paused, her pain was raw. “It was the first time I saw my father in three years. He actually came to California to deliver the news in person. In a way, Kimi’s death gave me back my father and gave Tack his grandfather. Once he laid eyes on Tack, he saw what you saw. At two and a half, it was already obvious. He broke down, but never asked. In the end it was my father’s words that changed my mind. ‘That young man has to bury his twin sister next week, and god knows I haven’t been a good enough father or earned the right to give you advice, but if there was ever a day to let him see Kimi’s smile again, the time is now.’ My father was right and not just about their identical smiles. Every day a little more Kimi came out in Tack, as if God handpicked all of her best qualities and gave her back to us, wrapped in a tiny little person. Chase deserved to share in that gift. And I knew you both would help protect my little boy from that monster. Deep down, I knew Chase would eventually forgive me...” Yeah, she knew him. “After you made him.” She knew me better.

“I didn’t see you at the funeral. And not because I wasn’t looking, Tal, because I was.”

Her eyes pooled with tears again, but she didn’t let them spill, rather she blinked them away and took a deep breath before she delivered the final blow. Or so I thought.

“It broke my heart … not being able to say goodbye, not having the chance to make things right with Chase, not seeing you. He stole that from me, too.” She tried to shift her gaze from mine, but I captured her chin between my fingers.

“Talia?” My voice was not my own, it was steady and controlled. I didn’t want to lose her.

Her answer sent chills down my spine. “I. Hate. Him.”

“Talia?”

“The day before the funeral, without me knowing, my father called Jack. He thought he was doing him a favor, father to father; giving him time to prepare his family, lessen the shock. He still assumed Tack was Chase’s. When that monster walked in, he took one look at Tack and one look at me and screwed me worse than he did the night he stole my virginity.” Her words knocked the wind out of me and I ground my teeth, because it was better than the alternative. “Yeah, you surprised? I wasn’t as slutty as everyone thought—good cover for my immature daddy issues. I was just a whole bunch of talk and no action.” Talia sensed my irrational rage. My blood officially boiled. She palmed both of my cheeks and forced me to look her in the eyes. “Stop. Don’t give him the satisfaction. He’s dead. He can’t hurt me ever again. Please stop, you’re shaking. You have to calm down.”

“Tell me what he did to make you disappear and change your name, and I’ll consider not exhuming his corpse to rip what’s left apart piece by piece.”

“Please, don’t. It was years ago. It’s over. It’s done, Asher, please.”

“Tell me,” I hissed.

“He knew, the whole time, he knew … he didn’t even wait for my mother to usher Tack out of the room before he unapologetically announced that screwing me wasn’t worth the trouble of dealing with this shit.” Her voice quivered, but she paused to rein it in. “Those were his words, he referred to my son as ... shit. It was the most humiliating moment of my life. I’m haunted by the look on my father’s face when that bastard said he did me a favor, said I was a tease who was begging for it the way I performed on stage, that he saved me from going home with some random low-life trash that night.” She cringed when she enunciated the words ‘begging and performed.’ “In the same breath, he cursed me for being stupid and not taking care of my situation when I had the chance. He was furious that I had the audacity to show my face back in his circle and told me if I knew what was good for me I’d take my bastard child and go back to California. He knew about Tack all along. I didn’t know how he knew, but he did...”

I interrupted, needing clarification, because I was about to spit fire. “And your father just sat there?” Another man lucky he was already six feet under.

“God, no. Actually the complete opposite, my father was completely crazed. He looked seconds away from having a massive coronary. I had to physically refrain him from attacking him. I had never seen my father so distraught. See by then, I had three years to come to terms with how sick and twisted Jack Colton was. I already hated him. My dad had no idea. I was actually relieved he wanted nothing to do with Tack. I wanted him nowhere near us. I told him he didn’t need to worry, that I’d rather die than tell my son who his father was, and that after Kim’s funeral, he would never see me again. He could forget we even existed … but that wasn’t good enough. I never dreamed he could do or say anything else to make me hate him more … I was wrong. So wrong.”