personal motivation that had driven Sev. Unasked, he filled in the parts of his sibling’s story that Amy hadn’t known, and her heart sank even more. Her birth father, it seemed, was a total creep, a user and abuser of women, shallow, manipulative and dishonest and a complete bully when things didn’t go his way. Two decades on, the man who had embittered and disillusioned her mother had clearly not changed for the better.
‘I was determined to punish him but I also needed to protect my sister from further exposure,’ Sev continued flatly. ‘Once I found out about you and understood how very careful he had been to keep your existence a secret from his wife, I realised that you were his weakness and would make the perfect weapon.’
‘The perfect pawn,’ Amy contradicted bitterly, and then she compressed her lips together to prevent her emotional turmoil from spilling out and humiliating her even more. She was nobody, she was nothing to Sev, a means to an end and nasty Oliver’s unwanted daughter. Sev had utilised her without any thought or consideration of what he might be doing to her. It hadn’t mattered to him that in targeting her father and using her to do so, he would also be hurting her.
Amy clenched her teeth together so hard that her gums hurt as well. Like a robot, she got out of the car and preceded Sev into his home.
‘I don’t know about you, but I could do with a drink,’ Sev confided.
‘Water for me,’ she said woodenly, incredulous at his unswerving composure, his entire attitude after what he had done to her.
‘Take your coat off,’ Sev urged.
‘No...it’s cool in here,’ she fibbed, because she wasn’t staying once she had told him what she thought of him. And that awareness reminded her of the diamond necklace she still wore, and she reached up under her hair to undo the clasp.
‘What are you doing?’ Sev asked.
‘Taking it off. I wore it to be polite and I don’t want to keep it,’ she admitted curtly, detaching the necklace and laying it down on the nearest surface where it glittered accusingly at her. She hadn’t wanted to accept or wear the wretched thing, but she had trampled over her own sense of morality to wear it simply to please Sev. Now that lowering recollection made her feel nauseous.
‘I realise that all this has come out of nowhere at you and shaken you up,’ Sev conceded, slotting a moisture-beaded glass into her hand. ‘But I was hoping that you’d be pleased to finally find out your father’s identity.’
‘Oh, yes, so much to celebrate there!’ Amy scorned in a voice that emerged with a shrill edge and didn’t sound familiar even to her own ears. ‘A father who is a lying, cheating adulterer! How am I supposed to feel about that discovery?’
‘That’s your private business,’ Sev countered, watching her warily, seeing the colour now freshly highlighting her cheeks, the overbright sparkle of her violet eyes, finally recognising the fierce anger he had never seen in her before.
‘Private?’ Amy stressed. ‘My goodness, that’s a funny word to use! As far as you’re concerned, there’s nothing private about my sad little life. You know more about my background and parentage than I do! And even worse, you knew it all even before I first met you, didn’t you?’
Sev gritted his teeth, his strong jawline clenching. ‘Yes. I didn’t enjoy faking ignorance though. I’m relieved that I can be honest with you now.’
Amy drank down a gulp of sparkling water, her throat tight, her fingers even tighter on the glass because she wanted to throw it at him and was only just resisting the urge. He had made her feel like a fool and she didn’t need to make that obvious by attacking him. ‘But the damage is done, isn’t it? You hate my father but you decided to punish me.’
‘That’s not true, Amy.’
‘You mean you don’t think it’s a punishment for a woman to discover that the very first man she slept with was simply using her and playing her like a fish on a line?’
Sev shot her a furious glance. ‘I wasn’t just using you! There was nothing fake about my desire for you... However, if I’d known in advance that you were that innocent, I like to think I would have stepped back. Unfortunately, you didn’t give me that choice.’
‘Sev...you didn’t give me one single choice about any of this!’ Amy pointed out in strong rebuttal. ‘And