The Billionaire's forbidden daughter

Chapter 2

EMMA

I crushed the picture between my hands. Crushed it to bits.

Dull fury went up from my stomach to my head, making it throb.

"Bastard," I hissed, looking down at the mutilated image of my father.

Years ago, after mother had died, I had found among her things the name and address of the man who was my real father.

On my way back home, I had almost managed to convince myself that I had been mistaken, that the man whose car had almost run me over wasn't really Ethan Cole.

But it was. Right down to the mole on his left cheek.

"Em... What's wrong?"

Father's voice came from somewhere behind me. I started to swipe at the tears streaming down my cheeks but father was already gripping my shoulders, turning me to face him.

"What's wrong?" he asked again.

"I- I ran into him," I choked out.

Father nodded his head, understanding at once. I buried my face in his shirt and cried as he gently stroked my hair.

Marcus Bennett was more a father to me than Ethan Cole ever was. Ethan, who had gotten mother pregnant and denied the pregnancy when she had told him about it, calling her a slut who wanted to force another man's baby on him.

Mother hadn't come out to say all that, but it had been implied. She had found love again with Marcus years later and married him. Marcus had loved me like his own.

"I hate him," I sobbed. "I hate him so much."

"Hush now," father soothed. "I think you need closure, Em. How about you go to see him? Talk to him-"

"No," I shook my head. "I don't want to see him ever again. He's dead to me."

And I meant it.

The next day, I went to the diner, still sore and limping a little. I didn't think much of the fancy sports car parked in front until I was swabbing down the counter and felt that odd sensation of being watched.

I looked up and there he was. Seating alone at a booth in the corner, staring at me.

Ethan Cole.

His lips moved, formed the word "Emma" as he started to stand.

I dropped the rag, ran for the kitchen. I placed my head against the wall, breathing harshly as the hate and anger I felt threatened to choke me.

What the hell was he doing here? What did he want? Had he figured out the relationship between us

"What the-" I heard my boss exclaim as he stopped in the doorway. "Get back to work Emma! We have customers! Customers!"

I avoided Ethan. Or tried to.

He sat in the diner all that day, occasionally ordering stuff, trying to catch my eye.

I avoided going anywhere near his table. The others girls were only too happy to take his orders.

They kept gossiping and giggling about, "That moody, hot, rich guy."

At closing time, outside the diner, he approached me. I told him we didn't have anything thing to talk about and stormed off.

The next day he was at the diner. And the next and the next. He was sat at the same spot. Always watching me, a look of longing on his face.

This went on for weeks. By then I was nearly half out of my mind with anger. People at work had begun to gossip, maybe thinking he was my lover or something.

Why the hell wouldn't he leave me alone?

I began scanning through the ads of newspapers every morning, looking for another job.

The diner had closed very late one evening and I was heading home. It was almost midnight. Even Ethan had gone.

For some reason, the usually busy streets were deserted. I was passing under a busted street lamp when I suddenly felt something sharp dig into my back.

"Don't move," a harsh voice said in my ear.

I stopped dead. My heart seemed to freeze in my chest.

"Please, don't hurt me," I whimpered.

"Hand over the bag," the robber ordered, digging through point of the knife in deeper.

Moving slowly, I started to hand over the bag when I heard the roar of d acar engine. The street was suddenly lit with a blaze of light so bright it was blinding.

"Get away from her!" the voice of Ethan Cole barked.

The mugger gasped in surprise, whirled around, hesitated and when Ethan came charging at him, dropped his knife and fled.

I doubled over, wheezing, shivering from shock.

"Are you alright?" Ethan asked softly, trying to hold me up.

The anger came then, swamping the shock.

"Leave me alone!" I yelled, tearing my hand from his grasp. "Why are you stalking me? Why are you-"

"Because you are my daughter, Emma!" he shouted.

Silence. Heavy silence. I gulped, swallowed.

I started to deny it but he was already holding out something. A well worn piece of paper stuffed in an envelope.

The words DNA TEST were written on top.

The anger came back, more intense than ever. My hands closed into fists.

How the hell had he gotten my DNA sample? Had he hired people to snoop around my house to get my saliva, hair, nail clippings? If he thought he could get away with that because he was rich-

"Emma please," he said, reaching for me. I stepped back. "I know what you might have been told, but I loved your mother. I really did. Pease, just- just hear me out... Five minutes... It's all I ask..."

I don't know why I agreed. Perhaps it was something I heard in his voice when he said he had loved my mother.

A few minutes later, I was in his car. He parked it in front of an all night bar and grill, killed the engine.

I sat as far away from him as possible, hating him. Starting to hate myself for even agreeing to be in the same space with him.

And then began to talk.

"I wasn't lying when I said I loved your mother. She was my first love. She was beautiful, free, kind, loving..." He swallowed. "She used to work as a maid at my house nineteen years ago. We fell for each other. Hard."

"Get to the point!" I growled.

He exhaled. "We had an affair. I was going to marry her. I swear I was even though I knew my family- my mother- wouldn't have approved. Then our family doctor paid me a visit, shortly after my twice yearly medical checkup. He said everything was fine with me except for the fact that I was infertile. I couldn't father a child. Azoospermia, he said. He showed me the results and it- it broke something inside me. I didn't know how I was going to tell Ava the news. Imagine my surprise when she told me barely two days later that she was pregnant. For you."

Ethan's throat bobbed as he swallowed hard. "I thought she had cheated on me. I said... terrible things, threw her out of the house and- and-" He paused. "When I saw you and the picture you took with her the other day, I was shocked because I saw at once the resemblance we have. You have my hair... my eyes. So I got a DNA test done." He shot me a guilty look. "It came back positive. I confronted the family doctor. He confessed. Someone had paid and threatened him to fake the results saying I was infertile. Someone had done everything to make sure Ava and I never ended up together."

I turned in the car seat to look at him. I still wanted to be mad at him, but I could understand now why he had walked out on mother and I.

"Who?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper. "Who could have done such a terrible thing?"

Ethan's face tightened with pain, anger and hurt. "It was my mother... Your grandmother."