It’s the strangest transformation I’ve ever witnessed. I used to be terrified of him, but now I feel so safe the world itself seems harmless. It’s like I’ve just stepped into a fantasy film. The monster I once thought he was has vanished and has been replaced with a man who has swept me off my feet completely.
What a puzzle of a man. I should have run from him when he took me that night. Now I know why I didn’t. There was more to him and I wanted to discover his depths. I’m getting there, but there are still so many things unanswered.
“Baron,” I say slowly. “Why did you marry my mom?”
I regret saying it immediately. Baron’s body goes tense, and he slowly swallows his bite of sandwich. Eyes on the grass, he sighs deeply.
“Yeah…that’s a pretty big regret of mine.” His voice is softer than usual. I get the sense that he’s showing me a side of himself he rarely shows anyone – if ever. “When I was young, I was single-minded. Aggressive and driven. Ambition was my only quality. I pushed people out of my life, and once I achieved success, I found myself at the top completely alone.”
“I’m sorry…”
“It was my own fault.” He shakes his head. “Your mother came to me, innocent, compassionate, pretending to understand me. And I bought it. I guess in the back of my mind there was always a suspicion, but I told myself I had to try. If I didn’t, I’d end up alone for the rest of my life.”
I never thought about what it must actually be like to be Baron. Of course from the outside everything looks perfect, ideal, incredible. More money than he could spend in ten lifetimes. Every guy wanting to be him. But I never considered the personal cost of getting to where he is today.
“It’s understandable,” I tell him. I want to help him – help soothe him in some way, so I move closer to him and rest my head on his strong shoulder. “You wanted a companion. Love. Something real.”
Baron nods sadly. “And I made a mistake. I married your mom, and then slowly but surely, came to realize she wasn’t interested in me; she was interested in what I had.”
“I’m sorry, Baron.” His body is so strong, but he’s allowing me to see his weakness. It’s as though I’ve discovered the key to a lock that has held his secrets for so long, and each word he speaks that reveals them to me brings us closer. Makes me feel even more special.
“Don’t be. As I said before, princess, my mistake with her is what brought you to me.”
Glowing, I finish my sandwich with my new daddy, and when we’re done, we make our way back down to the house. Baron plucks a bit of purple flocks from the trail and slides it into my hair. “You look like a sexy little forest nymph.”
“Uh oh,” I laugh. “Don’t tell me you’re secretly a furry. Or into monster girls.”
“Monster girls? What’s that?”
“Thank God you don’t know!” I’m still laughing when we reach the back yard of the house, but as we round the corner to the side door, I see something that stops me dead in my tracks.
Two police cars and four policemen are waiting in the driveway. I feel suddenly protective and move in front of Baron as though I could possibly do something to help him.
“Baron Stark?” one of the officers asks loudly.
“You know who I am,” Baron replies, his voice unwavering. “What are you doing on my property?”
“We have a warrant here for your arrest,” another officer announces. “If you’d come with us please.”
“Make it easier on everyone.”
“A warrant?” I turn and look up at my daddy, shocked by what I’ve just heard. “What are they talking about, Baron?”
His face is stony and unmoving. It’s a look I’ve not seen before.
“What are the charges?” he asks.
One of the officers glances down at me before answering. “If you’d just come with us we could discuss it in private—”
“The charges,” Baron presses. The officer sighs and shrugs.
“Sexual assault of the first degree.”
My stomach drops.
My first instinct was to protect him. But now…knowing what I know about him and how we met, I’m seized by a fierce panic that grips my body in a cold embrace. My mind starts spinning, as though my skull was full of fuzz, and although I’m chilled to my bones, a fear sweat breaks out across my body.
Sexual assault…
I don’t want to believe it, but can I really deny it could be possible after what happened between us? Baron must know how I’m feeling and closes his hands comfortingly around my waist. But the gesture has the opposite effect, and I pull quickly away and turn around to face him.
“It’s not true,” he says firmly. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I’ll figure it out, okay?”
I want to nod.
But I also want to cry and scream at him.
So I do the only thing I can do; I say nothing and just stare as he passes me and walks over to the officers, who put him in handcuffs and place him in the back of a police car.
My bright, wonderful day of romance comes crashing down around me, and as if the universe itself is conspiring against me, the sun goes behind the clouds, and I look up to see a dark storm in the distance making its way toward us.
This cannot be happening.
Dragging my feet, I walk over to the front door and pull, but it’s locked and I don’t have the key. I know it’s futile, but I try the side and back doors as well. They’re both locked too.
“Great,” I mutter as I pull out my phone. I scroll up to the contact for Mom and almost press it, but then I think about her boy-toy and the way she played Daddy for a fool, and I order an Uber instead.
In
