Page 58 of Shining Through

He brushed a kiss against her temple. “Tell me why you doubt.”

She tilted her head to look at him, dark eyes, soft mussed hair, and handsome face, softened by a warm smile that showed his gentle soul. She’d become so used to hiding the ugliness in her life. She yearned to break free and put it behind her. She wanted to trust his love, and that he wouldn’t hurt her. The only way to know was to make herself vulnerable. She’d already told him she loved him.

It was time he knew why she feared him.

“The night I told you about my meltdown in front of the rink owner, I said that it was one of the worst experiences of my life. There was another. It happened to Samara, but I was there. I’ve never forgotten it. It changed how I looked at....”

“Men?”

“At everything. Have you ever heard of Jason Hart?”

“Can’t say I have.”

“He’s a producer and a session guitarist now, but in the eighties, he was in a band called Noyzz. My mom met him when they played a show in Daytona Beach.”

She told him of moving from a trailer in Florida when she was four, to the house with the pool in Benedict Canyon. Of the famous musicians who dropped by, people Jason and Fiona had considered friends. And the day they brought her baby sister home and Jason had declared them a family.

“My mom and Jason were together for five years but never married. I remember her telling my grandmother once that they didn’t need a piece of paper to prove they loved each other. I think it was more about Jason keeping his options open.”

“What happened?”

“He cheated on her with some model, so she moved out. He said fine, go, but he wanted custody of Samara. She refused, so he threatened to sue. Then she told him Samara wasn’t his child.”

“No? Whose was she?”

“This guy Fiona met at a party while Jason was away on tour. I don’t think she even knew his name. They were only together one night. But it was enough.”

“Jason demanded a blood test, which confirmed he wasn’t Samara’s bio-dad. After that, he wanted nothing to do with us. Samara was devastated. She was too young to understand all of it.”

He frowned, his brow furrowed. “So were you.”

“I know. But the walls were thin, so it was impossible to ignore.”

“Did your sister see him after that?”

“A couple of years later. Samara was seven, I was nine.”

She closed her eyes, remembering the hot day. The melting ice cream cone she’d dropped on the path leading up to Cinderella’s castle.

“We’d gone to an amusement park for Samara’s birthday, and he was there, with the model and their little girl. Samara ran toward him, screaming, ‘Daddy! Daddy!’ But he turned and walked away. Fiona tried to calm her down and convince her that it hadn’t been Jason. But it was.”

“Does she know that this Jason was not her father?”

“She does now. Fiona told her eventually because she thought it would help. But how much help is it to know that you resulted from a hook-up with some anonymous guy? Given Samara’s history of screwed up relationships, I have to think, not much.”

“And that is why you avoid hook-ups. Or anything that looks like your mother’s life.”

“Yes,” she said, quietly. “That’s why.”

Loud pounding came from the apartment’s front door. They both sat up. Tabitha’s first thought was that Peter had discovered her whereabouts, but a voice shouted in Russian. She turned to Daniil. “Is it the police?”

He spread his hands, baffled. He rolled from the bed, grabbed his pants and went to the door. Tabitha groped on the floor for her clothes, but realized she’d been out of them before reaching the bedroom. She jumped from the bed naked, gathering up items. In the middle of the living room, Daniil listened to the shouts, then said in a whisper, “Drug test team. I have to let them in. Hide in there.”

Stark naked, she dashed into the bedroom closet.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

The men continued to shout through the front door.

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