Betraying Marco [Book 2 of the Stavros Series]✔️

20 |Clark Kent and Lois Lane|

We walked in silence on the bustling streets of New York with our hands entwined but our minds elsewhere.

We didn't speak because we didn't have to.

But there came a time when we were forced to speak when we walked into the same office building that held everything the Stavros family had built thus far. It came in the form of my father.

I was shocked to see how much he had changed in the past five years. He looked less like a business man and more like a Yedi. He had grown a beard that nearly reached his chest, his stomach was protruding from obvious over eating and not enough exercise. There were wrinkles on his face that weren't there before but I knew they weren't caused by years of laughing and smiling.

He looked completely different, he looked like hell.

He was speaking with another business man in the lobby of the building, talking over a closed file but our eyes had met automatically, as if on instinct and he waved the man off instantly.

I tried to warn Marco of the impending doom we would be facing but it was too late, Quinton was already standing in front of me, catching Marco completely off guard.

"Eliza," he said with enthusiasm that I didn't believe in my whole twenty four years of being near him. He always knew how to manipulate people, it was his job after all. "And Marco my boy," he said with much more honestly, pulling him in for a hug.

Marco almost sent him flying to the floor by how fast he shoved him away. On instinct Marco shielded me with his body.

It didn't take long for me at all to realize what Quinton wanted. He locked eyes on Marco and mine entwined hands like a baby looking for his pacifier. All he saw was a pot of gold.

Twenty-four years of being a horrible father, of not even accepting the truth that we are in fact related, and being a total asshole has made me hate Quinton more than almost everything else on the earth. I knew what he wanted from me, the only thing, and that was what I could give to him.

He thought that if I married Marco than I would be sharing my wealth with a father and sister who had tormented and pushed me away from the very beginning. But Quinton obviously forgot how much Marco hated him and his daughter.

"How long has it been," he asked me with a grin. I couldn't help but notice the bit of smeared lip stick on his neck. Apparently he finally moved on from his wife who left him after she found out about me.

As much as I hated her I felt bad for Riley. Her mother left her when she was only a year old because her Dad couldn't keep it in his pants. She grew up without a mom because of me but I grew up without a dad.

"Not long enough," I sneered.

Living with Shai the past five years had taught me how to stand up for myself when I need to and how to really hate Quinton. There is no one in the entire world who hates my father more than Shai. I don't know how many times I had to listen to him spew cuss word after cuss word describing Quinton. Shia had been my mother's longest friend, it was only right that he feel protective of her and hate the man who broke her heart.

Shai made me promise him something years ago; if I were to ever see Quinton or Riley again I would speak my mind and stand up for myself. It might not have been something my Mom might have condoned but Shai refused to let me be bullied by them any longer.

Besides, I didn't need Quinton when I had Shai.

Marco squeezed my hand in reassurance while Quinton blinked in surprise before his eyes turned icy and he glared at me. Marco coughed once, catching Quinton's attention.