The Mistress: Book Four in The Doll Collector Series

Chapter 31: The Mistress

"All this time, the one I was hunting was you." He said.

The hurt in his voice was clear as a bell. It made my stomach twist into knots. Ah guilt, it'd been a while since we had last met.

"Alec-"

"The mother of my children, Alexandra our children. What will they think?" He interrupted.

"They don't have to know." I said.

"Of course they do! You have to go to prison. Alexandra you've compromised our lives."

"You don't have to tell anyone, this could be our secret."

"I've kept your secrets long enough." He said.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"I've known all along who you were, not this, not the Mistress, but I knew were you Alexandra Stern from the moment we met."

"... H-how did you know that?"

His eyes trembled.

"Because I'm Connor Campbell."

Despite that I was sitting my knees grew weak and it spread to my entire body. I could hear my heart beating in my ears.

"No-no-no you're not. Connor Campbell is gone, there's no trace of him." I stuttered.

"After getting put into the foster system, I was adopted a year later by the Valentines, who you know to be my parents. I wanted no trace of that past, Connor Campbell died that night too. So I changed my name to try and forget that any of that had happened. It worked for a long while, then I met you. I wanted so desperately to apologize for the actions of my parents. I saw how it had broken you, but here I had a chance to make things right as Alec Valentine, so I kept your secret until you told me about your childhood and I couldn't bring myself to reveal who I was. It would have hurt you more." He said.

"Then why now?" I asked.

"Because just like your father, you've destroyed this family."

It was a dagger to the heart. I dropped the knife and tightened my body to keep from crumbling. I was not like my father, I was nothing like him.

"You take that back, you motherfucker, you take that back. Your father killed my parents in front of me. I watched them die. I looked into the eyes of my father as the light left them and I watched your father stab my mother in the back. She died innocent in all of this because your whore mother couldn't keep her legs crossed. Your father obliterated any sense of security I had. In a few minutes I was alone in this world. You think that by marrying me you've rectified the sins of your father? No. You haven't, you didn't do me any favors."

Alec was glaring at me, so much hurt and anger were in his eyes. They battled for dominance, it was hard to watch the man I loved confess to being the product of the people I hated most. I hadn't realized how much hated I harbored against Connor Campbell. I knew it wasn't his fault, he wasn't even there, but he had thrown the first shot, and I wasn't one to lose a fight.

"I grew up with that anger inside of me until it festered and manifested into what I am. The Mistress. The sins of your mother and my father gave birth to her, and she isn't going anywhere. She is cleaning up this filthy world, one adulterer at a time." I was shaking with rage at this point.

"Alexandra, this didn't have to be you. I saw the crime scene, I've lived with the guilt, the anger and the hatred for my father, but it didn't turn me into a monster. I try to do good in my life by protecting those who can't protect themselves." He said.