Chapter 2

•RIPLEY•

"Why does he hate me so much?" Sloan asked as her eyes fell on my father.

I sighed, Sloan was my brother Renato's girlfriend. She also just so happened to be the daughter of Noah O'Clery, one of my father's many enemies.

"I don't know. As far as I can tell, he has no issues with your uncle." My parents had told me the story of how Fin O'Clery helped them.

It was always a little strange to me how my father was okay with Fin, but hated the idea of Renato being with Sloan because of her family.

I watched my father talking to Bobby over by the pool and I couldn't help but feel resentment bubble up within me.

How could he not sense that Bobby was no good? 

If he would just do some digging, he would find out. A part of me wished he would, that way I wouldn't be at fault.

But I couldn't be the one to tell them anything.

Bobby would ruin my father if I did. And with his health all up and down, that was not a risk I wanted to take.

"Are you okay?" Sloan asked me suddenly, "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just thinking."

Sloan nodded, but she was looking at Bobby, "I don't want to offend you, but are you happy with him?"

The question threw me off guard and I frowned, "Of course. Why would you ask me that?"

She shrugged, "I don't know. I've known you since Renato and I started dating and I just feel like you aren't as bubbly and happy as you used to be. You seem more stressed."

"Oh. I'm fine. I'm happy and everything is going well. Better even. But sometimes I miss my job."

"Well, why don't you go back? I'm sure they would be happy to have you."

I shook my head, "No. Bobby doesn't want me in that line of work anymore. He says that it's too dangerous."

Sloan turned to me, "You can't let a man tell you what to do. You have to do whatever makes you happy, Rip. If he can't support you on that, then maybe he isn't the one for you."

I sighed, if only she knew.

He definitely wasn't the one for me, but I was stuck at the moment.

I chewed on my thumbnail, "I'll figure it out. You don't have to worry about me, Sloan."

She wrapped an arm around my shoulders, "How is little Faith doing?"

Sometimes I regretted telling Sloan about Faith. The more people who knew my secret, the more chance of it coming out.

"She's doing well. She's growing so quickly."

"Is it getting easier?" She asked.

I shrugged a shoulder, "I guess. I don't really know if I'm being honest."

She nodded, "I hope you figure it all out. You deserve all the happiness in the world."

Bobby turned to us and narrowed his eyes at me.

He said something to my father before coming over to us, "Ladies, sorry to interrupt, but Ripley and I need to go." He gave me a pointed look.

I didn't dare to argue.

I said my goodbyes and followed him out to the car.

"Why did you pull me out of there? We were only there for an hour."

He sighed, "You looked uncomfortable. I know you don't like being around your family, so I will be the bad guy who gets you out of there."

I didn't point out that the only reason I didn't like being around them was because I was worried they would figure out that something was going on.

"Do you want to go out to lunch? You're all dressed up, I would hate for all your hard work to go to waste."

I nodded. Bobby was being nice, that was something that was rare these days. And I knew I had to go along with it or he would go from nice and sweet to cruel and evil in a split second.

He smiled as he drove, one hand resting on my exposed knee.

"There's a beautiful new restaurant that opened last week. I brought Nikita for dinner and I've wanted to take you ever since."

Of course, he brought one of his many fuck buddies to the restaurant before he would take me.

Maybe if I wasn't so used to it, it would hurt.

But it stopped hurting a long time ago. I thought back and wondered if that was when I stopped loving him.

I couldn't be sure when it was, or which of his transgressions had caused it.

But I knew that one day I woke up and simply felt nothing but hate for him.

"Ripley, did you hear me?"

I turned to him, "Sorry? I was lost in thought."

He chuckled, "You always have your head in the clouds, don't you? I was saying, Nikita is coming over tonight. I was hoping the three of us could have some fun together."

I frowned, "What? You want me to join you and your mistress?"

He nodded, "Yes. You always lock yourself away when you could be having fun with us. There's no reason for you not to be included."

"Do I have a choice?" Although I knew the answer before he answered.

"Not tonight. I just want you to try it, and if I don't push you, you will never try new things."

I exhaled in annoyance and turned to look out the window with pursed lips.

There was something about this man that was really beginning to make me feel sick to my stomach.

Prostituting me out to his friends was bad enough, along with the beatings. But demanding that I join him and his mistress was a whole new thing. Something I hadn't been expecting at all.

And definitely not something I was looking forward to.