When tragedy strikes, Y/N is forced to quit school and find a new way to make ends meet for her and her little sister.
That's how she finds herself onstage at The Diamond, the upscale Gentleman's Club owned by the powerful Mikaelson Family.
With on...
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*warning: this chapter contains mature content, including references to drug use, infidelity, and abuse, as well as explicit smut*
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"Shh, it's okay, Y/N. We don't have to do this now," Elijah reassured her. "You're tired, and I'm not going anywhere. We can talk in the morning."
Y/N sat up, shaking her head with a frown.
"No. You should know the whole story. If it's too much for you to handle, you can get out before things become more serious between us."
"Alright." He knew it wouldn't be too much, but it wasn't the time to argue. Sitting up beside her, he drew her close to his chest, nodding to indicate he was ready to listen. She took a deep breath and began.
"My father was a disaster. You name it, he was into it. Drugs, hookers, gambling.. he loved the dark and dangerous life. He wouldn't bring any of it into the house, of course -- somehow he knew to draw the line there -- but it didn't make much difference. He would come home penniless, coked up and smelling of cheap perfume, and take it out on us."
She paused, feeling her strength falter as she swallowed back the lump that had formed in her throat. Elijah took her hand in his, rubbing his thumb tenderly over the back in encouragement. He tried to ignore the rage swelling in his chest, the sudden urge to punch a wall making his fists tingle.
"I won't go into details, but my mother got the worst of it. I was in my third year of dance school, living on campus in Baton Rouge, when Sofia's Nanny, Joselia, called me in tears. She told me my mother had become quiet and withdrawn, locking herself away in her suite for days at a time. Now that I look back, I can see she suffered from depression, but Sofia needed her mother. I came home one weekend and found her like a walking zombie. She barely knew I was there. I went snooping through her things one night when she had fallen asleep, and discovered a journal."
Her voice cracked towards the end of her sentence, and Elijah pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
"All of her secrets were written inside. She had taken a lover a few years earlier, when my father was at his worst. The guy was some dirty business associate of my father's, who had attended one of the many parties here at the house.. and during their affair, he ended up getting her pregnant."
Elijah stiffened. "So the baby.."
She nodded. "Sofia is his daughter. But the guy wanted nothing to do with either of them once she admitted my father had gambled away all our money. So she lied and told my father the baby was his.
"He came home unexpectedly while I was reading all this, and I shoved the journal into a desk drawer. I thought in his debauched state, he would never even notice I was there, let alone see what I did. But the next night, when we were all in the car on the way to dinner, he confronted my mother about everything. Then he turned the wheel and drove the car off the road with all of us inside."
