There was once a young man who had everything.

He had a wealthy family, and his father paid for everything he could possibly want in life. His mother loved him dearly and spoiled him any chance she got.

He was a very ungrateful young man, and he didn’t appreciate everything he had.

There were times when he thought he was lucky. To have so many opportunities, to have any door he wanted open for him on command. But there were other times when he wasn’t so sure. Other times when he was convinced he must have been cursed, because he believed there was nobody in the world who cared about him.

So, he gambled his life away. He spent his twenties doing drugs, drinking too much, and hopping into bed with way too many women to count. He was a spoiled, entitled brat. He’d become the very thing he’d despised his entire life, and he hated himself for it. He wasn’t close to his father. He’d known the man was cheating on his mother since he was only a little boy, and he feared he would never be able to forgive him for it. He wasn’t close to his mother, either. She seemed more concerned with her charity functions than her son.

But when his father offered him a job at the family firm, he couldn’t resist.

Maybe it was the sign of still being a kid, wanting to impress his dad.

Or maybe it was a sign of finally growing up and taking some responsibility.

Of course, he didn’t realize he was accepting the reins to a falling empire when he decided to take on the job.

On the first day at work, he realized the company was sinking. Sinking so fast there might not even be anything he could do to save it.

There were debts. His father spent recklessly. But that was fixable. The part he was really worried about was the reputation of the family firm going to shit.

People respected his father, yes. But no one wanted to work with him, and they wanted to invest in his dealings even less. It was time to make a new name for the company.

Of course, it seemed like his father was dead-set on making sure that would never happen. He was intent on making his son’s job harder on him just because it was easier.

But he stuck through, and he did all the research possible to ensure things would end up the way they should. The money came pouring back in, and slowly, the company started to recover and breathe on its own again, without the young man having to support it… until disaster struck again only a few months after he’d started his new job.

It all came down to an administrative mistake that came from one of his employees. Someone non-important, a family man in a low-class job that made an average salary to support him and his family.

He tracked the man down and called him into his office. There was only one thing he could possibly do, and that was fire him.

The man didn’t take it well, and it caused the young man’s life to change for a few months. He got his first tattoo when he found out the employee committed suicide a little while later. But still, he didn’t completely understand what happened there. He just assumed the man was deeply disturbed by something else, and there was nothing else to it. That was that.

But that wasn’t the full story.

Only the young man wouldn’t find out the whole truth until over a decade later…

* * *

“What do you mean?” she asked, her voice shaky. “Was that man my father?”

“Yes,” I nodded. “It was, Evangeline. And you were right all along. I was the one who fired him, for an administrative mistake that cost our company close to a million.”

She stared at me, trying to process this new information.

“It was only when you disappeared,” I went on, “that I realized you were his daughter. The name got hazy in my mind, but I always remembered him, Angel. I always did. And my father… he finally explained the whole story when you ran away from home.”

I took her hand and kissed the tips of her fingers gently. I was nervous about the next part, and I knew it was going to make her hate my family. Probably some other people, too.

“You will hate me for this,” I told her. “But you need to know, Angel.”

“W-what?” her sweet voice was shaky. She needed to be reassured, but I couldn’t offer her that just yet. I could only give her the truth, and it would just have to fucking do.

“Your father was an innocent man, Angel,” I told her, and she took the deepest breath I’d ever seen her take. “I want you to know that, and I want to apologize because I didn’t believe it. I only found out about it when my father told me.”

“What happened?” she asked, her voice hurt.

“My father happened,” I sighed deeply. “This was right around the time that Empire Sin was being created, and he was getting ready to buy a girl… Just like I bought you. He embezzled the money through the firm. Half a million dollars, a bit more, I think. And he pinned the mistake on your father and told me to fire him. We never expected the story to break, the accusations to come out. I had no idea what the truth was.”

“He… what?” she whispered.

“He stole over half a million from the company,” I repeated. “And he did it from your father’s account. But there’s more, Evangeline…”

Her bottom lip trembled as she looked up at me. She was so fucking hurt, and I hated doing this to her. I wouldn’t blame her if she never wanted to speak to my father again, or me, for that matter. But I sure as fuck hoped she would still want me.

“The money,” I went on. “It was tied down for the longest time, and when my father finally got it back… He used it to repay a debt.”

“What debt?” she asked, her voice so small and soft.

“Carolina’s,” I replied. “It was the money he used to save her.”

She stared at me as she processed this information.

I knew there was no excuse for what my father had done to hers. But I hoped the knowledge that Carolina, someone who she was becoming friendly with, was saved because of what happened, would calm her down a little.

“A life for a life,” she whispered. “He died so she could live.”

We looked at each other and a single tear slid down her cheek.

“I’m sorry, Angel,” I told her gently. “I didn’t know until a few days ago. I would’ve told you the moment I got the chance, I fucking swear.”

“You did,” she nodded slowly. “You did, thank you. But him… I can’t believe what he did. I can’t believe your father did that to my family.”

“I know,” I said gently. “It’s awful.”

Suddenly, her tiny body convulsed in sobs, and I pulled her against me forcefully. I held her in place and she clung to me so desperately I thought I really was her lifeline in that moment.

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered into her hair. “I’m so sorry.”

She sobbed against me and I just held her. We stayed like that for hours, and even when my injured arm got sore, I didn’t say a word.

I just held her, because it was the one thing she needed, and the one thing I craved the most.

* * *

2 weeks later

I got the call that morning.

I still had to tell Evangeline.

She was slowly settling back into her life, although it seemed like it would take her a very long time to make the transition. She still slept in her cage, even though I’d asked her over and over again to come sleep in my bed. She didn’t want to. She wasn’t ready, and I’d just have to accept it for the time being.

I walked into her room and watched her stretch in the morning sunlight streaming through the window. The bars of the cage covered some parts of her body from my eyes, but she still looked as beautiful as ever. So sinful.

“Angel,” I said gently, and she looked up.

Her fingers wrapped around the bars of the cage and she lifted herself up on her knees.

“Yes, Daddy?” she asked.

She was so fucking innocent it killed me to tell her.

“My father,” I said roughly. “He died this morning.”

“Oh…” She covered her mouth with her palm and crawled out of the cage while I kneeled down next to it. She crawled towards me and took my face in her hands, trying to look into my eyes.

I wouldn’t let her. It hurt too fucking much.

“I’m sorry, Daddy,” she whispered. “I’m so very sorry.”

“Don’t be,” I said roughly. “Everyone pays for their sins someday. His day just came earlier than we all expected, that’s it. It’s okay.”

“It’s not,” she said. “He was your father. You’re bound to be upset. It’s okay. I’m not angry. I want to help.”

She kissed my lips gently.

It was the first kiss like that we’d shared, and I clung to her, realizing I needed her just as fucking much as she needed me. Maybe she’d been my lifeline all along.

“It’ll be okay,” she whispered against my lips. “It will all be okay because I love you so much, Daddy.”

I pulled her back gently by her hair and she gasped when my fingers tangled in her mane.

“What did you say?” I asked her, my voice broken. “What did you just say to me, little toy?”

“I…” She swallowed, trying to keep her gaze on mine. “I said I…”

“Please.” I hated pleading, it made me look fucking weak. But now, I couldn’t fucking resist it. I had to know.

“I love you…” her voice was soft as she whispered the words, and her eyes floated away.

But I grabbed her face in my hands and made her look at me.

“You’re fucking perfect,” I told her. “I love you too, Evangeline Lovell. Despite everything. Because of everything. I just fucking love you.”

She smiled as a few tears fell from those beautiful green eyes.

“Thank you, Daddy,” she whispered, and I melted, her mouth against mine.

She tasted so beautiful, like tears and happiness.