Page 496 of Once Upon a Fable

Ah, fuck, what the hell am I doing?

I was having a meltdown in front of a total stranger who didn’t give a rat’s ass about me.

Gemma pressed against me, trembling harder than I was.

It broke my mania, and I groaned. Lifting my head to the ceiling, I was blinded by a big glittery ball with rainbows refracting off its mirrored surface. Inhaling heavily, I dropped my head and shrugged at Tony. “I’m just sick of...being sick, okay? I’m sorry for my outburst. I should probably go. I understand that you’d rather not enter into any collab—”

“Can I say something?” Tony interrupted.

I held my breath while Gemma wiped away her tears and nodded on my behalf. “What is it, Tony?”

He never looked away from me, his hands curled into fists by his sides before one rose and pointed a finger in my face, just like I’d done to him. It was an aggressive stance. It sent whispers of anger and self-preservation through me, but I locked my knees and waited for him to say his bit.

After all, I’d shouted at him. So I supposed it was only fair that he shouted back.

The crowd around us didn’t disperse, not being polite or feigning that they had no interest in our little debate. One even had her cell phone out, recording the entire thing.

Tony sucked in a breath, his finger shaking. “That.That right there is why I want you to do this. Why Ineedyou to do this.”

I frowned at the raw agony in his tone.

The mask of successful businessman fell, revealing a truth I’d never expected.

Tears didn’t just glitter in his eyes; they fell unbidden down his cheeks.

What the fuck?

My heart raced.

He looked like a man who knew firsthand what I’d said. He looked as distraught as I felt.

With a tattered inhale, he shook his head and spread his arms, uncaring that the crowd around us had grown. That the music somewhere in the ballroom had been turned off, making it deafeningly quiet as every man and woman in their fancy getups watched two men break apart.

“I have the greatest of respect for you, Kassen.” His voice caught, but he cleared his throat and continued. “In fact, I owe you everything, and you don’t even know it. I owe you my greatest thanks and my undying support for what you’ve done.”

“What the hell have I done?” I scowled.

He ignored me. “I’m not going to say I understand how hard it must be to suddenly be back in normality. I’m not going to say I understand how hard it must be not to lash out at those who have no idea what you went through. You don’t know who to trust. You don’t know how to ignoreyour instincts that have been trained to fight and run. You have filth inside your head that can never be washed clean. I know what it must be like to act as if you’re not a threat. But that’s the thing...it is an act. All of it. I know it’s an act because...”

He dug his fingers into his eye sockets before dropping his arms and bracing his shoulders. “I know because my daughter just came home. After she’d been missing for almost eighteen years.”

I froze.

Something prickled the back of my neck.

Something hissed in my guts that I wouldn’t like where this was going.

A sixth sense sent my pulse skyrocketing as Tony sniffed with a mixture of joy and grief. “She was taken on her ninth birthday.” His voice wobbled as he glanced at the fascinated crowd around us. “I’ve...I’ve never spoken about this publicly. After those first few years of her disappearance, the countless police searches, the endless dead ends, my wife and I shut down. The horror of not knowing what was happening to our baby girl destroyed us. Every day she was gone was a nightmare of our own kind.” His lips twisted. “But it wasn’t until three weeks ago that we knew firsthand just how easy we’d had it.” His tears fell faster now, unchecked and real. “We got the call we didn’t think we’d ever receive. She was delivered to a hospital by a man who wouldn’t leave his name. A man our daughter says she grew up with. Who—” Tony choked and wedged a fist into his mouth.

No one spoke or moved while he gathered his composure and continued. “She has scars on her body that she can’t talk about. She has nightmares that make me sob into my pillow. She has a haunting in her gaze that I doubt we’ll ever be able to cure—no matter how much love we give her.”

Gemma openly cried beside me, her hand latching around mine. “I’m so sorry, Tony. So unbelievably sorry.” Her voice hitched. “So that’s why you were so keen to have Kas do this? To open a line of communication and a safe space for those who have been found. Because...your daughter is one of them.”

He nodded. “That is one reason. Yes.”

My hackles rose. “The only reason?”

Tony slowly shook his head. Standing taller, he swiped at his tears and spoke with a much braver voice. “There is another reason. A reason I wasn’t going to mention. I’m not a man who believes in coincidences. I’m not overly religious. I don’t know how the universe works...but—” He smiled at Gemma for a second as awe filled his teary gaze. “But I can’t deny that something bigger than us is at work.”