Malone's Fate (Haven, Texas Book 14)

Chapter 35

Fuck.

That was a twist he hadn’t seen coming.

Tanner stood, studying Ryleigh. She didn’t really look like them. Then again, most of them had different mothers, so they all looked slightly different from each other. Only Alec, West, and Jaret shared the same mom.

Still . . . this was insane.

“There are no Malone girls other than Lottie,” he said. “There haven’t been any born for generations.”

“I don’t know what to tell you,” Ryleigh replied in a shaky voice. “I’m a Malone. You don’t have to believe me. I mean, we can just do a DNA test or something. I don’t know. I don’t care. All I know is that I’m a Malone and I’m your sister.”

“And how do you know that?” Alec asked in a low, soft voice.

Ryleigh bit her lip and Lilac got to her feet, wrapping an arm around her friend.

Okay, nope. That wouldn’t do.

“Lilac, sit down.” He reached for her.

She shook her head.

“Lilac,” he said warningly. “I don’t care what family drama is about to happen, you need to rest. Sit down.”

“I’m fine. Ryleigh, I’m so sorry. You don’t have to say anything more.”

“I do. I’ve got this. It had to come out at some stage. And I don’t want them to be mad at you for keeping my secret. That’s not fair. Lilac went to meet you guys for me. I . . . I was too nervous. I thought if I saw one of you it might just all come out. I’ve never been good with secrets or lies.”

“Yo, Ryleigh, if you’ve come out here for some alone time, you might want to put your pants back on because Linc is . . . ” Opal trailed off as she walked into the guesthouse, staring at them. “Hey! You’re all having a party without me. Lilac! Babe! Thank God they let you break out of the hospital.”

Opal rushed toward her, but Tanner held a hand out to stop her. “Easy, Opal. She’s fragile at the moment.”

“I am not!” she said as Opal snorted.

“Lilac? Fragile?” Opal stared down at Lilac, concern filling her face. “Hmm. Okay, I get your point. I’ll go easy.”

Lilac ignored the look Tanner shot her, wrapping her arms around Opal.

“What’s going on?” Opal whispered.

“Ryleigh’s about to tell them.”

“Oh, fuck.” Opal drew back and turned toward the door. “Linc! There you are!”

Linc stepped inside, staring around in surprise. Kye was cradled in his arm. He looked tiny in the big man’s arms. “Uh, what the heck is going on here?”

Alec stared down at Kye, looking a bit ill. As though he’d seen something unexpected. Then he glanced over at Tanner.

“What? What is it?” Tanner asked.

“Nothing . . . he just . . . it’s nothing.”

“What?” Ryleigh asked, moving quickly to take Kye from Linc. She held him against her chest as though she thought that Alec might harm him.

“I just forgot you had a baby. Fuck.” Alec blinked, staring at Ryleigh. “Are you really our sister?”

“What?” Linc asked. “Sister?”

Ryleigh stepped away from Linc, moving toward Opal and Lilac. They flanked her, giving her strength.

“Yes, I am,” Ryleigh replied. “I’m really your sister.”

“How did you know about us?” Alec said.

“My dad told me,” Ryleigh replied proudly.

“Lilac, I want you to sit,” Tanner demanded.

“Who is your dad?” Alec asked.

“Thomas Sanders was how I knew him, but he told me that his last name was really Malone.”

“Wait. I’m still trying to catch up here,” Linc said. “You knew you were their sister before you came here?”

Poor Linc. He really was struggling to keep up.

“Everyone needs to sit the fuck down!” Tanner said.

Kye let out a shocked cry.

Linc shot Tanner a dirty look, stepping forward to take Kye out of Ryleigh’s arms. Then he started lightly bouncing him, patting his back.

“What’s going on?” Lilac whispered across Ryleigh to Opal.

“Linc has turned into Mr. Mom. It’s pretty funny. This morning when I got up, I found him vacuuming in a flowery apron.”

“Why aren’t you at work?” she asked.

“I don’t go in until later this afternoon for training. Then I start for real tomorrow. The apron was pure gold.”

“Are the two of you finished?” Linc grumbled. “And it was not a flowery apron. Those were birds.”

“The birds were sitting on flowers,” Opal muttered.

“I think the fact you were wearing an apron says it all,” Lilac added. “Flowers or birds, doesn’t really matter.”

Poor Linc. He looked rather red in the face. Tanner would be amused if he wasn’t so worried about Lilac.

“Lilac. Sit. Down.”

Whoa.

Lilac found herself sitting before she even had time to process Tanner’s words. To her surprise, Ryleigh was seated beside her.

“Whoa. Didn’t know you had that in you, Cowboy,” Opal drawled as she sat slowly. She crossed one leg over the other. “Are you sure you’re not a Dom?”

Tanner shot her a quelling look.

“Right. Enough talking. Except for you.” He pointed at Ryleigh. “You need to keep talking.”

“Don’t point at her,” Linc growled, stepping in front of Ryleigh. “And do not growl at her like that. Understand me?”

Lilac turned to Ryleigh, who was staring at Linc’s back, her mouth open in shock.

“If Ryleigh is our sister, then she’s under our care,” Alec snapped back. “And you have no say in this.”

“I have every say since I’m her guardian. And I don’t care if you are her brothers or not. Ryleigh is mine.”

“Holy moly,” Ryleigh whispered.

“Okay, maybe everyone should calm down a bit,” Opal said as she stared down at her nails. “I really need to get a manicure. Where was I? Oh, yeah. You do remember that we’re all in the room, right? All of this male posturing is cute and stuff. But we’ve all got shit to do and Ryleigh has a story to tell. So why don’t you all sit your butts down so she can tell it.”

Linc turned, staring down at them. His jaw was clenched.

“Please,” Ryleigh whispered. She had taken hold of both Lilac and Opal’s hands. “I need to get this all out and I can’t do that if you’re all at each other’s throats.”

Linc nodded and stepped away to sit in an armchair. Tanner squeezed in next to her even though they all had to shuffle over. Then he lifted her up onto his lap.

“Tanner!” she protested.

“Hush. I need this. And you’re going to give it to me.”

Damn it.

She was. Because she wanted to give him whatever he needed. And because he’d stuck by her, even when his brother was telling him not to. Even when he should have been angry at her, he’d decided to trust her.

So yeah. She’d give him whatever he wanted right now.

“When were you born?” Alec asked. He was the only one still standing. His face was stern, but he didn’t appear angry. More thoughtful.

Ryleigh told him her date of birth.

“Right, so you’re about four years younger than Tanner. Fuck, why did he never tell us about you! That fucking bastard.”

“He wasn’t a bastard!” Ryleigh jumped to her feet. “My dad was a good man. I loved him.”

Lilac shot a look at Opal. They both knew the truth about Ryleigh’s dad. And it wasn’t pretty. But they’d agreed not to tell her since she still held him up on a pedestal.

Perhaps that had been a mistake.

“A good man?” Alec asked. “Would a good man leave his sons to the mercy of a dangerous Mafia boss so he could save himself?”

“What? My . . . my dad didn’t do that.”

“If we have the same father, then he did,” Tanner said gently.

“Fuck. I’m not sure I should hear any of this,” Linc said with a sigh.

“You can leave,” Alec told him.

But Linc didn’t move.

“No. Nope. My dad was a good man.” Ryleigh shook her head.

“Was?” Alec asked. “He’s dead, then?”

“Y-yes. He died about nine months ago. He had liver cancer.”

She felt Tanner tense under her. No matter how they all felt about him, that was his dad. Was he upset to hear he was gone?

“Surprised the asshole lasted that long,” Tanner muttered.

Okay. Maybe he wasn’t upset at all.

“That’s a terrible thing to say,” Ryleigh said.

“Fuck.” Tanner sighed. “Look, Ryleigh, from what you’ve just said, it seems you had a different relationship with the old bastard than we had. But I haven’t seen him since I was around nine or ten. I don’t even remember what he looks like. All I know is that he was never around. That he left us with a series of nannies. And that when shit went down and we were all in danger, Alec was the one who stepped up and saved us all. In fact, the old bastard probably did me a favor. Because no doubt that Alec is a hundred times the father he ever was.”

“You . . . you never saw him after that?” she asked. “Really?”

“He never even knew I was alive most of the time,” Tanner told her.

“He abandoned you all?” She looked to Alec. “I can’t believe it.”

“Obviously you had a different upbringing with him,” Alec said.

“Well, sort of. He . . . he had to go away a lot. Sometimes I wouldn’t see him for months. But he always came back. And he’d bring me a gift from wherever he’d been traveling. Or that’s what he’d tell me. I loved it when he returned home. Mom would actually get out of bed. She’d make an effort. She . . . she suffered from depression and when dad was away, she’d just stay in bed a lot.”

“Ryleigh,” Linc said in a broken voice.

“But it was okay. Because Dad always came back.”

“Fuck, maybe you’re not our sister,” Alec said. “Seeing as your father sounds different to ours.”

“He told me about you all, though. When I was twelve and there were some bullies hassling me at school, I told him I wished I had some older brothers to help protect me. He said that I did. They just had other lives away from me. But if I ever needed them, I could go to them, and they’d help me.” Ryleigh let out a sob.

“We would have been there for you, Ryleigh,” Tanner told her. “I promise.”

Ryleigh turned to him. “I just . . . I don’t know why I didn’t ask to see you. To see some photos. Why didn’t I ask him for that?” She rubbed her forehead.

“It doesn’t matter,” Alec told her gently. “What’s important is that you’re here now. But why didn’t you come straight to us yourself?”

“There were . . . are complications.”

“My brother,” Lilac said. “My brother is a complication.”

“What does he have to do with Ryleigh?” Alec asked.

“He . . . he’s my fiancée,” Ryleigh said.