TAKE ME THERE, DADDY (Tangled In Temptation And Lust Erotica Collection)

WHAT IFS

“We’ve seen everything happening online, Elioza,” Mrs. Baelafort starts after I sit next to her on the bed. She’s staring at me coldly, but I can tell she’s trying to restrain herself from sounding rude. “My husband, he… um… he discovered your… ‘relationship’ with our first son, and before you deny it, Cainan saw you both at the gala…”

I shift uncomfortably, adjusting the towel I draped on my shoulders to cover my half-nakedness.

The mood of this conversation was awkward, but now it’s even more awkward. There’s also embarrassment on my side, as I wish the ground would open and swallow me.

Knowing that Mrs. Baelafort is aware of the truth, I’m afraid to just sit beside her. And I cannot imagine the level of shame I would be in when I see Mr. Baelafort, or even Cainan. Why did she have to expose me like that? I would have preferred the truth to come from Adam and me.

“Anyway, the internet is demanding justice for… I don’t know… the girl you fought with?”

“But that was four or five years ago.”

“It doesn’t… pff… let me finish. Right now, it doesn’t matter because it’s the Baelafort name and legacy receiving the heat. Our stocks are plummeting, and Edward’s presidency is being questioned. He says you have to render a public apology for starters, but that alone would not solve the issue. He and I will handle other solutions behind the scenes.”

I shake my head in disbelief. How the f**k did a brawl between teenagers half a decade ago escalate into this?

“I… I—”

“Anyway, that’s all I came to say,” Mrs. Baelafort cuts in while rising to her feet. “The apology is scheduled to happen tomorrow. You’ll be notified.”

She leaves me without proper explanation, while I stare dumbfounded at the space she left, still trying to wrap my head around what I’ve just heard.

Adam walks out of the bathroom but leans against the door with his hands in his pockets.

“You look really worried,” he mumbles.

I shrug. “Of course, I am. You… your parents know what we’re doing.”

“That’s no new thing. My dad already suspected from my body language whenever you were around. It’s why he asked Cainan to watch you in the first place.”

My stare of disbelief diverts to him. “But it’s concerning how I have to render a public apology to the girl who provoked me and initiated the fight in the first place.”

“That’s part of the struggles of being a public figure. Everything you do is scrutinized.” Adam pushes himself off the threshold and approaches me. “It’s why my parents are usually calculative of their actions. It’s not about the fight, by the way. It’s because you found your way into the Baelaforts’ family. And, really, there’s nothing big to that, but so many people would kill for it. I don’t even know why. Being a part of this family is hell. Even you got involved.”

He sits down beside me and crosses his arm around my shoulder.

I rest my head on him and sigh. “It just doesn’t make sense to me. It’s frustrating.”

“Don’t worry,” he mutters, rubbing my shoulder. “I won’t let you do anything you don’t want to do.”

And he meant that.

Adam went live that afternoon to defend me in detail.

He stated that the video was not the actual reason for my online crucifixion and that it was my mere presence in the Baelafort family that triggered it all.

He even went as far as saying that I have nothing to be sorry for, and if the public wanted an apology, he would offer it to them, but not on my behalf since I’m at fault for nothing—in his words.

Hell broke loose in the Baelafort mansion after that. And I dare not step out of my room for fear of being burnt by the rage.

Edward Baelafort has been barking. His wife has been trying to calm him down. And I can tell Adam pisses him off more by merely staring at him in silence as he runs out of wits.

The internet has long forgotten about me and is now busy tearing Adam’s live video apart, pulling several meanings out of their asses.

Meanwhile, I put on my work gear.

During all the chaos that has been going on, between the gala drama and Mrs. Baelafort’s conversation with me, I let my savage side slip out for a while, and I did something the Elioza of five years ago would have done.

It’s that action I’m just about to confront.

For the very first time since my visit to the Baelafort mansion this summer, I go to the library.

As usual, Cainan is seated pretentiously at a desk, reading a book.

I heard her personal tutor’s voice when he arrived a while ago, but it seems he’s nowhere to be found now.

She doesn’t regard me as I sit down across her.

Resting my elbows on the desk, I lean in, my eyes squinted as I scrutinize her face.

She looks serious. Dead serious. But I’m currently studying psychology, so I know that no matter how she’s trying to pull off such a healthy facade, she can’t hide her twitching eyebrows, or her shifting eyes, or the sweat pulling just below her hairline, or the slight shivers of her fingers on the book she’s holding.

She’s nervous, which means she’s hiding something. And whatever she’s trying to cloak is right here.

I lean back in satisfaction. “I wish I were half the student you are; then my mom wouldn’t distrust me as much as she does now,” I say, sucking my teeth as I add. “You’re so serious with your studies that despite the struggles and chaos surrounding your family, you study… with your tutor.”

Cainan’s eyes move from her book to me with the speed of lightning, her brows tensing up. But, as if she realizes her reaction is a bit much, her expression shifts again.

“Are you just here to compliment me, or do you have something to say?” she asks calmly,

“The former,” I reply. “God forbid a girl compliments another.” Cainan continues with her reading, and I sigh, tucking my phone out of my pants pocket. “Being the president, one would think your father looks at things past the surface. But with you, he’s completely blind, isn’t he?”

Cainan swallows hard, but she doesn’t indulge me.

“You have so many fancy layers up. If he would just see through one, he would realize who you really are, and then the other layers would crash down.”

Cainan still doesn’t respond.

“You, on the other hand, have been shallow. You were so careful of your actions. You put too many topcoats on. You even took some…” I look up at the seven surveillance cameras one after the other, “…safety measures. But you failed to check the ‘what ifs’.”

As I return my gaze to Cainan, I realize she had followed mine to the cameras. Now it’s more obvious that she’s trying to hide her anxiety.

I feed on the look of restrained fear on her face as I place my elbows on the desk and lean in again, bleeding myself dry of whatever chained my ability to kill with words.

“What if someone saw through my cover?” I whisper, my phone now set on the desk. “What if there were more than seven digital witnesses in the library?”

The video playing on my phone completely defeats Cainan’s restraint and wipes the seriousness off her face. Now fear dwells in those eyes as they stare at my phone screen, her lips visibly twitching.