Free FullDisclosure by Nikki Soarde

It was a tiny Italian place, complete with checkered tablecloths, wine-bottle candleholders and a violinist in the corner. It was categorically cliché and therefore not popular with any of Evan’s colleagues or cohorts. It would have been perfect, but…
    “I can’t.”
    “Jesus fucking Christ, Evan! What is wrong with you? You can’t take an hour out of your busy schedule to—”
    “I’m busy , all right?”
    “With what? A date?”
    “I’m seeing a movie.” The rest slipped out before he could stop it. “With my daughter.”
     
    Jake felt as if he’d been sucker punched. Those words knocked the wind clean out of him. “What? What did you say?”
    Evan’s expression was pained. “Damn it. I didn’t intend to tell you like this.”
    Jake sank down into the soft leather of Evan’s couch. “No. I can see that.” He shook his head to clear it. “Seems to me you didn’t intend to tell me at all.”
    Evan didn’t deny it. He just sat there looking torn and tortured, every blink of those big blue eyes tearing a tiny strip off Jake’s heart.
    “Who’s her mother, Evan? Why have you never mentioned her before?”
    “I didn’t mention her when you and I first met because I didn’t even know she existed. I only found out about her about eight months ago.” He held up a hand. “And I didn’t mention her then because I had no idea what to think myself. There was so much baggage that came along with that information, it took me a long time to process it. And then I had no idea how it would go, or what would happen, once we did meet. It was all so uncertain, Jake.” Evan clasped his hands together on the blotter in front of him. “And then when I did meet her, got to know her, that sealed it. She can never know about you, let alone meet you. So what was the point in even mentioning her?”
    “I don’t get it. Why can’t she know about me?” But then he rethought that question. “Hang on. Why don’t you start at the beginning. Who is her mother, for starters? And why didn’t you know about her until a few months ago?”
    “Her mother is Melissa Martin and I met her way back in my early twenties. You remember that story I told you about the former owner of this company? The man who seduced and abused me and put me off men for years?”
    Jake nodded. “Of course.” How could he forget? The scars on Evan’s back were vivid and constant reminders of the pain he’d endured at the hands of that sadist.
    “I’m afraid I wasn’t his only victim. Melissa got sucked in as well. Only she was even more vulnerable than I was. She’d come from a rural community, run away from home to find her way in the big city. And that was what she got for taking that risk.”
    Before Jake could ask the question that was burning on the tip of his tongue, Evan answered it for him. “We got to know each other because he…played with us together one night. After that we slept together a few times, sought comfort in each other’s arms. But we did so unbeknownst to our master . And when he found out about it he was furious. He beat Melissa pretty badly, and after that she disappeared. I never knew what happened to her. I just always hoped she went back home and found some comfort there. But it turns out she went even further than that. She was so horrified by what had happened that she fled to the other side of the country and joined a religious…commune of sorts. She’s spent the last twenty-six years repenting for her sins and living in isolation in northern British Columbia. And that’s where she raised our daughter. Rachel.”
    “So you had no idea she was even pregnant.”
    “No. None. I guess I was naïve, considering we were idiots and didn’t use protection, but I had no reason to worry about it. She was gone.”
    “And then suddenly you heard from her?”
    “Yes. Rachel had finally worn her down. She wanted to know her father, and rightly so. But Melissa was—and is—terrified that her daughter will