Page 33 of The Daddy’s Girl

He can never know I was here watching this. It would change us forever, and that’s something I could never sacrifice.

Silently, I crawl backward, hoping to hide until he leaves. But then my knee lands on something hard and with a little bit of pressure…

Crack.

I glance down at the broken pencil beneath my leg and then back up at his face. He’s staring at the curtain with alarm on his features.

“Who’s there?”

Shit.

My heart has never pounded so hard in my life. I’m practically shaking from head to toe as I realize that it’s all over. Once Matis finds out I was here, that I saw all that, that I heard what he said, he’ll never look at me the same way again.

I try to be still and hope he’ll just rush out of the room.

Instead, he bellows again, “I said, Who’s there?”

There’s so much anger in his tone I know there’s no escaping now.

Slowly, like a dog with its tail between its legs, I crawl out from behind the couch and reveal myself to Matis.

The look on his face when he sees me is one I’ll have etched into my memory forever. It’s terror and shock and anger all mixed into one.

“Oh God!” he cries out, digging his hands in his hair. “Amelia?”

“I’m sorry,” I whisper.

“What are you doing here? Have you been there the whole time? Oh God, did you see…?”

“Yes.”

“Why?” he shouts. “Why would you watch that? You should have…closed your eyes or showed yourself!”

“I’m sorry! I just came in here to focus⁠—”

“To focus?! Amelia, you’re in a—” He stops himself, letting out a loud disgruntled sound.

“I know, I know. I’m sorry! I fell asleep and slept past my reservation time and…”

Matis begins to pace. “You should have never seen that. I had no idea you were there. Oh God, if your father knew…”

“I won’t tell him, I promise,” I say, stepping closer to him.

When my hand touches his arm, he flinches and backs away. Then our eyes meet, and I see the frantic alarm coursing through him like a storm.

That’s when he remembers. He said my name while touching her.

“Oh God,” he mumbles to himself, recoiling away from me. “That was a mistake, Amelia. I didn’t mean to say your name. It meant nothing.”

I don’t respond. I can’t.

It’s clear to me now that no matter what Matis said in the moment or how much he’s flirted with me or how badly I want him, the mere idea of seeing me as anything more than his goddaughter disgusts him.

I will never be anything more.

“We must forget this ever happened,” he says, pleading.

Slowly, I nod.