Dana had a hard life. One would have thought she would have it easier being one of the daughters of Cornelius, but it was in fact the contrary. She'd been sold in infancy to one of his cronies who had a barren and unfortunately abused wife.
Danita was Marc's wife. Their life had initially been a fairytale that she didn't want to wake up from. That was before ten years of a quiet womb slowly poisoned their love. Marc had grown up without siblings and remembered what it was like to have nothing and no one. One of his biggest dreams was to have a huge family. Ten years after constant trying and no results, Marc was done.
His father had been an abusive man, beating his wife and son on general principal. He'd sworn to himself that he'd never be like his father. Looking at the life he lived now, it seemed eons ago.
Now Marc was a carbon copy of the bastard, beating his wife until the stress drained from him. He reasoned within himself that she'd provoked him. Both Marc and Danita wanted children, badly. They finally decided that natural birth was not an option; so they "adopted" a child through Cornelius' "special" agency. Danita was hopeful that this would mend what was broken. In truth, Marc was hoping the same, but he always knew. In the back of his head he knew she was Cornelius' seed, not his. The mere thought of that made him angry and he often took this out on his wife and his young daughter. By eight, she too had fallen victim to Marc's beatings.
Danita hated the way that Marc beat on them. She tried to keep Dana safe, but her fear of Marc outweighed her concern for their daughter. By eleven, Marc was advancing on Dana with the intent of replacing his wife sexually.
Dana herself was afraid. She knew much of nothing in her life except this existence. She knew her family was different once she observed the love in the families of her friends. Where Danita once seemed her ally, as Dana got older, her mother was ever more distant. Danita knew she was wrong for the feeling she harbored, but she could not help herself; she was jealous of the young beauty. The fact that Marc stole looks that fathers should never give their daughters.
Marc had developed into an upgrade of his dad. He was a slug of the worst kind, beating his wife and raping his daughter for sport. By the age of 15, the Dana was pregnant with her father's baby.
The news of his daughter's pregnancy gave Marc great pride. His bitch of a wife couldn't even pass an egg for him to fertilize. Danita was a beautiful once upon a lifetime ago, but her beauty had faded under his fist and he blamed her. He blamed her for her cursed womb, her broken looks, and their failed marriage. He was bitter, angry and delusional. No matter what had gone wrong between them; he put the blame squarely on her shoulders for the man he'd become. He felt she had snatched everything good out of him.
Now this news of Dana's pregnancy was like a second lease on life. This child was HIS, not adopted, his. Shit, Woody Allen MARRIED his adopted daughter, he was just fucking his. He filled the house with baby things and returned to the calm natured man he'd been when he and Danita dated. He'd even softened toward his estranged wife, treating her less like a punching bag and more like a housekeeper. No need in pretending there, their marriage was done.
Nine months followed peacefully until Paige arrived, beloved by everyone who saw her. Marc was still in the employ of Cornelius when Paige was born. Dana had noticed that while at the huge gathers Marc's employers gave at Bear Mountain and Heckscher State Park that Rhanna, Cornelius' wife seemed to stare at her with a longing in her eyes. She was nice enough, but the young heiress had no idea why Rhanna seemed to extend herself the way she did.
Marc didn't like the interaction between the two, but what could he do? Rhanna was powerful just off the strength of who she was married to. He seethed in silence.
