Empire of Desire by Rina Kent

“Can you believe he’s been searching for her for years when she’s been under his nose all this time?” The PI laughed, then went on with a grandiose speech to show how smart he was in connecting the dots of the timelines they met. He even performed a secret DNA test by stealing Aspen’s toothbrush from one of the hotels she stayed at and using a sample from Gwyneth that King willingly gave him.

That’s what I was going to hold over his head and wouldn’t have hesitated to use so he’d stop trying to separate us. But it’s all null and void now that Gwyneth knows.

“Right?” she repeats, staring at her father now. “Tell me it’s not true, Dad.”

“Angel…” He steps toward her, but the moment he reaches for her, she jerks into my hold.

He pauses, flicking his lighter on and off, but it’s not in the slow, steady pace that he’s used to. He’s doing it as manically as her nail-clinking.

“It doesn’t make sense.” Gwyneth shakes her head slowly. “She can’t be my mother; she’s only thirty-five. When did she even have me?”

“I was fourteen when I found out I was pregnant,” Aspen says quietly, but for the first time in the years we’ve known each other, her voice shakes.

She’s not the type who shows her emotions. Like me, she doesn’t even get emotional. That’s why we got close in the first place.

Right now, though, her put-together front and aloofness are gone. Maybe that’s been a façade, too, just like with me, because she’s crossing her arms over her chest to stop them from trembling.

Like Gwyneth does sometimes. Now, that I know they’re mother and daughter, I can see the similarities. She has her nose and a darker shade of her hair.

And that heterochromia? It’s a mixture of King’s blue-gray eyes and Aspen’s hazel ones.

“You should’ve left your age in the note when you threw me in front of Dad’s house then. That way, I wouldn’t have felt abandoned by the woman who gave birth to me.” There’s so much venom in her voice that she trembles with it.

Aspen jolts, but instead of stepping backward, she starts toward us. “Let me explain.”

“No, no, no! You had twenty years for that. Twenty damn years of me crying on my birthdays because they remind me of the mother who threw me away on that same day.”

“Just hear me out. Five minutes, no, three is enough.”

King blocks Aspen’s way. “She said she doesn’t want to talk to you. So fucking disappear.”

“You shut up, shut up! You ruined my life, you fucking asshole, and you don’t even remember it, so don’t stand there thinking you’re better than me. You’re not.”

“Oh, I don’t just think I’m better than you, I am. It’s a fucking fact. I didn’t throw away a few hours old baby in the cold, not caring whether she lived or died. I raised her, I took care of her. I became both her father and mother when you were living your life with not a care in the world. So go back to that life and leave us the fuck alone. You vanished once. Surely you can do it again.”

“I didn’t vanish. And who the hell are you to judge me? Were you there when I carried her in my womb when I was a fucking kid? When I couldn’t sleep at night, terrified something would happen to her?”

“No, but I was there for the following twenty years when you fucking weren’t, witch. And I will continue to be there when you’re gone.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“Yes, you will.”

“You can’t make me, Kingsley.”

“Fucking watch me.”

Tears are streaming down Gwyneth’s cheeks and I wipe them with my thumb. The more she watches them arguing and on the verge of hitting each other, the harder she cries.

I’m used to this from them—not to this violent extent, but similar. Gwyneth isn’t.

“Stop,” I grind out, making them shut up as I hold Gwyneth tighter. “Stop being fucking selfish, this isn’t about either of you. It’s about her.”

“Angel, you don’t have to worry.” King takes her hand in his. “I’m going to make sure the board removes her from the firm, then she’ll disappear like she never existed.”

“There’s no reason for the board to remove me, and I swear to God, Kingsley, if you try any underhanded methods, I’ll sue you and take away your money. Oh, also, even if I’m out of W&S, I won’t leave the city.”

“Don’t listen to her, Angel. I’ll definitely get rid of her and we’ll go back to being the two of us.”

“No, Dad. No. I can’t just forget she exists because you tell me to. I have feelings and there are many of them. I can’t just erase them or pretend they’re nonexistent like you do.”

“Gwyneth…” Aspen stands beside King. “I…”

“This doesn’t mean I want to talk to you. Not after you abandoned me.”

“I didn’t. I would never do that.”

“All these years would testify otherwise”

“I thought you were dead!” Aspen cuts her off, her voice breaking before she inhales a sharp breath. “They put a dead baby in my hands and said she was mine. They…told me she didn’t survive childbirth and I thought…I thought that was you. All this time, I was mourning you.”