Crushed (44 page)

"She knew that the child would ruin her life, so instead of letting the situation get out of hand, she made a decision."

"What kind of decision?"

"I helped her keep the child a secret from her family, and in exchange she gave it up for adoption."

"The child's only three days old." Tristan's voice was just above a whisper. He couldn't fathom was he was hearing. "She can't have just abandoned it."

"Miss Ellison saw the bigger picture. I can find a family who will give the child a decent life, and we can all forget this mistake. Miss Ellison can return to her fiancé, and you can return to your old life. No one has to know anything else."

"You want to erase everything?" Tristan felt choked by disgust. "You just want to erase my daughter's existence?"

"It's for the best. Do you think the girl would've had an easy life when others found out? She would've never been respected in our family."

"Why?" Tristan dropped to the floor. His pain was suffocating him.

He didn't want things to end this way. How could his father be this cruel? How could a child become a mistake that was worth this much trouble? Was it that bad for him to raise the girl? Was it anyone else's business what he did with his family?

"This is your responsibility as a Fallbrook. You've been blessed with this wealthy life. It's your duty to make sacrifices to protect it."

"My duty." Tristan spat, his body shaking. The idea of going back to his old lifestyle now was like sentencing himself to a living hell.

He would never be satisfied going back. He would never once be happy returning to his family's plan, knowing he'd given up on his daughter. Alyssa's selfishness could be understood, but he would never forgive himself if he walked away.

"You didn't raise me as a man who erased his own mistakes."

"I didn't raise you to screw up this badly. I thought you were better than this."

"I thought you were better than this too. I respected you. I honestly looked up to you."

His father was not affected by his words.

"I won't go back." Tristan collected himself, his rage turning into a potent weapon. He stood up, his fists clenched and his head lifting. "Try to drag me back and see what I do. If you think this was a mistake, I'll show you what a true mistake is. I'll destroy your image and everything that goes with it."

"Strong words for a boy."

"You said yourself that I'm clever. You've even taught me how easy it is to be cruel." His scowl distorted his face. "Where is she?"

"Alyssa or the child?"

"My daughter." It was a struggle to keep his voice level.

"She's in good hands, don't worry. I've placed her with a foster family who's willing to take care of her for the time being."

"Do I need to start making threats? Tell me where she's at."

"You're not the only one who can throw out a threat." His father's eyes were cold. "Push me and I'll make sure your daughter never finds a home."

Tristan felt like he'd just been stabbed. "Do you realize what you're saying right now? She's your granddaughter...she's just a child."

"You're my son. Sometimes we have to make tough choices in life."

"You're sick." He spat.

Tristan had never hated the world he lived in. Sometimes he'd felt out of place, and sometimes he'd been bored, but never had he truly regretted being born a Fallbrook.

At least, until this moment.

"This whole situation is sick."

Tristan felt like throwing up. His father had successfully taken all of his happiness and shredded it mercilessly.

"If you won't tell me where she is, I'll find her." Tristan turned his back on his father. "I hope it was worth it. I hope your empire is worth losing your son over." His eyes were like ice when he glanced back one last time. "This is going to be something you regret for the rest of your life. Enjoy hell." He whispered as he slammed the door behind him.

The man who left the hospital that day was no longer Tristan Fallbrook.

The moment he'd turned away from his father, he left behind any connection he had remaining to that name.

*  *  *

"So, that's how my soap opera ended." Robert's voice was upbeat, but his eyes were cold. "It was really that simple."

Sophie was staring at the ground in front of her. She didn't know how she was supposed to reply. Finally, she decided to go with her honest feelings.

"It's so hard to believe." She replied. "I know you wouldn't make it up, but..."

"It was hard for my to believe at the time." Robert answered. "I couldn't imagine at eighteen that money and influence would distort someone so much."

"What happened after you left?" There were still so many pieces missing from the puzzle.

"I found Cleo." His eyes turned up to the dark sky above them. "I'd heard rumors about her before. I knew the kind of business she was connected to, and I also knew the span of her influence. She was as powerful as my family, but her circle of acquaintances was different. I thought she'd be able to help find my daughter."

It was odd hearing Robert talk about having a child. When he'd spoken about himself as a teenager, he seemed completely different from the man before her now.

She could see flecks of the person he'd once been. He was still as daring, clever, and stubborn as he'd been before. However, he was colder now. More focused and bitter than in the past.

"I was wrong, though." He continued. "My father knew what he was doing when he made her vanish. Even when it became obvious that I would never come back, he never once slipped up. Cleo did the best she could, but there was so little to work with. We hadn't even given her a name."

"I still don't understand why you chose Cleo."

"She had the influence and guts to go up against my family. At the time, that's all I needed."

"How did you get into stealing?" Sophie was surprised her questions came to her so easily.

"When I realized that there was a chance I never would see my daughter again, I wanted to die. I felt like I'd lost everything. I was disgusted with this world, where people could trade their own flesh and blood so easily. I was disgusted with myself for not being able to do anything about it, and I hated the fact there was nothing I could do to change the way I felt. My life had been filled with so much color, so many opportunities, but they'd always been hollow. So what if I became as powerful as my father? That would never make me satisfied. Money isn't everything...people just think it is. I was willing to throw everything away for that little girl, but it was if the world was telling me I couldn't do that. I couldn't put my daughter ahead of my duty as Fallbrook, because everyone around me said I couldn't. I didn't have a choice."

There was so much bitterness in his voice, Sophie knew she couldn't begin to understand his pain. She'd never been a parent, or known what it felt like to be that suffocated. She'd thought she'd been drowning in her old life, but Robert had felt tens times the pain.

"For a long time it was easy to blame my family. My father was the one who took her away from me, but that was only a part of my anger." His fists clenched tightly. "I've always known that my life was supposed to have a purpose. As an heir to the Fallbrook family I understood that, but never felt it. When I heard Alyssa was pregnant, I actually felt like I was going somewhere. I felt like I was really living my life. I was going to be a father... I was young but I wanted to try my best to be a good dad."

He paused for a long moment.

"When Alyssa chose to give away the child, all the responsibility I'd been willing to take was lost. With that one choice she refused to give me the chance to be the father I know I could've been. I wanted to struggle with her to make something out of our lives, but she didn't trust me enough. None of them trusted me to make my own decisions. They took my choices from me."

His eyes closed. He hadn't been through these feelings in a really long time.

"Cleo never offered me the chance she gave you. I begged her to let me become a thief. It was dangerous on her end to hire me. If my father found out where I was, he wouldn't hesitate to use his influence to destroy hers. All I knew was that I wanted to make my own choices from then on. I was a broken man, but I was going to prove that I could stand up on my own. I had to find my own purpose, and eventually I did."

Robert's body relaxed. The worst part of the story was over.

"I didn't know where my daughter was, so for a long time I thought that meant I couldn't do anything for her. Then, I happened to read that book I lent you."

Sophie thought for a moment before she realized what he was talking about. "Robin Hood?"

"Stealing from the rich to give to the poor. Back then, it was the perfect way to kill two birds with one stone. I could take out my hatred on my family, and attempt to provide for my daughter. Cleo thought I was crazy, but I made her promise to help. I can be very persuasive when I want to be."

"How could you provide for your daughter?"

"All the money I earn from Cleo I donate to orphanages." Robert glanced at her, his eyebrow raising. "It sounds cliche, but if you want proof you just have to ask her. Initially, it was just orphanages in France. I gradually began to realize that there were millions of children who had been abandoned by their parents, so I broadened my range. My salary is larger than you can imagine, so I'm able to offer help to many different areas."

If the moment hadn't been so serious, Sophie would've sworn he was lying. She'd never pinned him down as a compassionate human being, and he was right that the story sounded cliche.

"Is that why you call yourself Robert Locksley?"

"I thought it was fitting. I didn't want to have any connection to my old name. Some days it's easy to forget I was a Fallbrook."

"You really have a way of making me feel pathetic. Here I was working for my own gain."

"You shouldn't feel that way. Ignore what I've told you in the past. You've got a bright future ahead of you, so continue to dream. I'm not confident enough to dream anymore."

"You're planning to stay here forever?"

"For as long as Cleo's willing to hire me. The last eleven years have changed me. I'm not the person I was before. By now, I'm a criminal to the very core. There are still things I want ... like for those kids to have a better future, but for myself I'm done."

"This is a lot to take in at one time." Sophie whispered.

"I know. You'll have more questions once you wrap your head around the basics. I gave you the highlights, and there's a lot of events that I've left out. You can always ask me tomorrow when the shock wears off."

"Shock is the right description for what I'm feeling." Sophie shook her head. "Here you were calling yourself a villain."

"Was I the only one listening to my story?" He asked with mock-hurt. "I'm still a villain. Stealing from people is bad, darling. Robin Hood was working for justice, while I work out of a mix of guilt and anger. It's not the same."

"I don't see you as a bad guy. Not if everything you've told me is true."

"Don't blind yourself with the past." He reached out to lift her chin. "I'll do anything to get what I want. I've done terrible things to you too. Things that should not be ignored because I know how to mail a check to an orphanage."

"It's too late to try to change my mind." Sophie replied. "Now that I know you're a secret hero, I'm not going to let you live it down."

She smiled up at him, and for a moment he was surprised. It was if he'd honestly believed she would hate him after learning the truth.

Sophie stood and offered out her hand to him. They'd been outside for hours, and the sky was completely black above them.

"Come on, let's get inside. Remembering the past is exhausting, isn't it?"

"That's it?" Robert's eyes were wide. "No more questioning?"

"Not right now. I've got some processing to do while I sleep. Prepare for part two of the interrogation tomorrow."