Page 59 of Enchant Me

Damien took a sip, then leaned back. “So who else knew about me back when you were a child?”

Ashton shook his head. “No one, as far as I know.”

“What about Dr. Beauchene?”

Ashton seemed to consider the question. “You mean the doctor who worked with the team?”

“Yes.” It was a long shot, but Alaine’s parents had taken care of Sofia after Richter died, so perhaps Richter and the doctor had been close friends.

“As far as I know he didn’t know anything. Why?”

Damien ignored the question. “What about Jeremiah?”

Ashton leaned back in his chair, then took his own sip of bourbon. “You mean Jeremiah Stark? Your father?”

“Yes. Did he know Sofia had a baby?”

“I have no idea.”

Damien watched Ashton’s face, but it was completely unreadable. He wondered if it was true.

He had no specific reason to believe that Ashton knew about Jeremiah. But he definitely suspected that Jeremiah knew about Ashton. Back then, Jeremiah knew everything that was going on, including what Richter had done with and to Damien and Sofia. So was it really that long of a stretch to believe that he also knew about Sofia’s child?

It wasn’t.

“Did Jeremiah tell you that I knew about you? That I stayed away on purpose?”

“I never even met the man.”

Again, his face was unreadable, without any of the usual tells that he might be lying or holding back.

“All right,” Damien finally said. “But Jeremiah Stark has a way of popping up when you don’t want him to. Now that you’ve announced to the world that you’re my son, I imagine he’ll be popping into your life. So let me tell you a few things about him. For that matter, let me tell you a few things about your mother. About Sofia, I mean. She was a sweet girl. Kind and loving. And also brilliant. I see a lot of you in her.”

“I heard she was nuts,” Ashton said, his voice flat. “That she tried to kill your wife.”

“That’s true. She was messed up. She had reason to be. But to be honest, she also liked Nikki. In the end, she saved her. She was jealous, though. And as for Nikki, she understands what happened to Sofia. What happened to both of us.”

“You mean the abuse,” Ashton said. “I read all about it in the news. My mother said it was bullshit.”

“I assure you, it wasn’t. You’ve seen the pictures. I can’t believe you didn’t watch the news when I went public.”

Ashton stood and walked to the window, looking out as he spoke. “The pictures were blurred. All we have is your word saying that my grandfather was vile. And it was in the context of that murder trial, right? The court got a hold of that evidence and dropped the charges? Wonder how easy it would be to Photoshop something like that. You were that close to life in prison,” he adds, holding his thumb and forefinger millimeters apart. “Makes the timing seem pretty damn convenient.”

“Perhaps it does to an outsider. Let me bring you inside the circle.” He opened his phone to show the worst video of all. The one the court hadn’t received, or at least the one that no one had ever given Damien. The one where his face and Sofia’s face weren’t blurred out, and there was no mistaking what they were doing.

He passed it to Ashton. “That’s me,” he said unnecessarily. “And that’s your mother.”

He studied Ashton’s face as he watched the video. The disgust, the horror, and even the sadness. When he handed back the phone, he looked a little ill.

“Your grandfather forced us to do that. For years he forced us to do … things. It broke your mother.”

Ashton turned away, not meeting his eyes. “I thought you were going to tell me about my other grandfather. Your dad.”

“There’s not much to tell, except that he’s a shark. He’s a worm. He spent most of my adult life backstabbing me. When I was a child, he knew about the abuse, what Richter did. He knew all of it. He considered it the cost of doing business. The price that I was paying to be a tennis star. It’s not a price I was willing to pay, but I was a child. I wasn’t given a choice. And believe me when I say I never knew that Sofia got pregnant, much less that she actually gave birth.”

When Ashton looked at him now, he seemed a shade paler. “You’re saying that my grandfather was a monster. Hell, you’re saying both my grandfathers were monsters.”

Damien heard the anger and confusion, and he kept his own voice level when he said, “Family can be the best. But it can also be the worst. And yes. My father and Merle Richter were bad men. You say you didn’t know Jeremiah, and I believe you. But be careful. Because like I said, he may come knocking at your door. And a smart man doesn’t let a snake into his bedroom.”