TWISTED FATE (Twisted Path Book 1)

Chapter 25

Becca

"Charles Kline is my father," my voice shakes as the words fall from my lips.

Shane's reaction is instant. The color drains from his face, his wide eyes fixed on me, unblinking. It's like my confession has rendered him immobile, as he struggles to process what I've just said. The silence between us stretches, and panic surges inside me. I can't lose him—not now, not before I tell him everything—so I push myself to continue, the words tumbling out of my mouth in a desperate rush.

"My mom was young, just a little over eighteen. She was impressionable, naïve... She thought it was love. They met at a party at the Kline estate, and from the moment Charles saw her, he was glued to her side. My mother knew who he was, of course—how could she not? She knew he was married, that he and his wife already had a son and were expecting another baby. But he... he essentially love-bombed her."

I swallow hard, my hands twisting in my lap. Shane doesn't move, his gaze locked on mine, unreadable. So I press on.

"He showered her with attention, with gifts, with trips that seemed lavish to someone like her—someone who'd never been out of our small town. To her, it felt like he was giving her the world." My voice hitches, and I take a shaky breath. For the first time since she told me the story, I can relate to what my mother must have felt back then. To be with someone who makes you feel special, seen, cared for... wanted. It's a heady thing. A dangerous thing.

My gaze flickers to Shane. But no. The thought hits me with a ferocity that makes my chest ache. Shane is nothing like the monster who fathered me. He can't be. If he was, I'd have seen it by now. I'd have felt it in the way he touches me, in the way he holds me.

"It was on one of those trips, just two weeks after they started spending time together, that he took her to Washington D.C. for some political dinner. That's where..." My throat tightens, but I force the words out. "That's where he raped her the first time. She was a virgin. He knew that, and it didn't matter to him. He was drunk and... and in the mood, I guess. So, right there in a restaurant bathroom, he took what he wanted from her."

Shane's jaw clenches, his expression darkening, but he stays silent, letting me speak.

"When they flew home that night, she went straight to my aunt and uncle to tell them what happened. She thought they'd help her, but instead, they blamed her. For going with him. For letting herself get close to a married man. They didn't see an eighteen-year-old girl who'd been manipulated and assaulted by a 36-year-old married man. They just saw someone they thought deserved it."

The knot in my chest tightens, the pain of her story hitting me all over again. "She didn't report it. She couldn't. They were all she had, and when they didn't believe her, she had no one else to turn to. So she did her best to go on with her life, avoiding him as best she could. But it didn't matter. He always found her. And every time, he took what he wanted."

My voice drops to a whisper, trembling with the horror of it all. "He terrorized her, Shane." The silence that follows is deafening, broken only by the faint sound of my unsteady breathing. "And then... she found out she was pregnant." I chance a glance at him, searching for any sign that this is too much. His jaw is tight, his eyes shadowed, but he doesn't look away, so I press on.

"When she told him, he was furious. He beat her bloody and then threw money at her and demanded she better take care of it. That night, my mother used that money to run away. She went to Philadelphia, where some of her friends were attending college. She was hoping for a fresh start and a place where she could feel safe again. Most of all, she wanted to protect me."

He takes my hand, his firm reassurance giving me the confidence to push through.

"Her friends did everything they could to help her. She got a job, and eventually, they all pitched in to rent a small apartment together. She even enrolled in some college classes, figuring she could continue to work toward getting her degree after I was born. For the first time, she thought maybe things could be okay." I pause, taking a shaky breath, his thumb brushing over my knuckles.