Chapter 26 #2
The second his eyes met mine, a small smile crawled across his lips, melting my heart.
It seemed that all time stood still. Here, with Brandon, in the foyer of my childhood home, memories rushed through my head.
Of us standing in this exact spot a million lifetimes ago and saying goodbye for the last time.
It killed me to leave him behind. Even more so when we lost contact.
This time around, I wasn’t going to mess this up. Not when I finally felt alive for the first time in ten years.
I started for the hallway leading down to the kitchen, Brandon following along while keeping in time with my footsteps.
After breakfast was done, I was going to take him up to my room and lock the door behind us so that I could finally bare all of my feelings to him without anyone else interrupting us before I could get everything out.
Behind us, the door’s bell chimed, the sound of it echoing against the empty space of the marbled floors and grand ceiling.
I stopped and turned to the sound, confusion bubbling up inside of me.
Who would be visiting at this hour? Moreover, who the hell had gotten past the gate?
No one had been following me and not close enough that they’d be able to sneak in right behind me without being noticed in the rearview. I wasn’t expecting any guests.
A visitor for one of the staff, then?
It wouldn’t be completely unheard of, though at this hour, it was rather strange.
I felt Brandon’s curious gaze fall on me—clearly wondering the same thing as me—before he, too, faced the front doors.
With a sharp heave, Jonas grabbed and parted the left one from the frame, sticking his head out into the morning air.
“Is there something I can help you with?” he asked.
A man’s voice answered. “Yes. We’re here to assess the property.”
What the hell?
Nothing was supposed to be touched with the litigations between my and Steele’s law offices were still ongoing. At least, not without proper documentation and a fucking meeting first.
Letting go of Brandon’s hand, I stormed over to the door just as the other one was pushed open. The sound of heels clicking against the stone steps was the first thing I heard, even before seeing whoever it was on the other side push their way through and step into my foyer.
Blonde hair caught my attention first, the thick waves of it cascading down over her narrow shoulders.
Her large sunglasses covered up half of her face and were dark enough that I couldn’t see her eyes through them.
Her lips were painted a cherry red, eye-catching against her pale skin and a stark contrast against her dark clothing.
One of her hands came up to rub at her protruding baby bump that was pulling at the tight fabric of her dress.
My feet instantly stilled as she turned to me, red hot anger igniting inside of my chest.
Ana Liapovich.
“Get out of my house.” The words were gritted through my teeth.
Showing up here was a bold move on her part and an act of war on mine. I’d warned her not to do anything drastic before getting that test, yet here she was trying to pull a fast one and invade my home like she already owned the place.
It wouldn’t surprise me if this was some sort of shake-down technique.
Playing on the sympathies as a poor, widowed pregnant woman to my staff while giving me the middle finger in the process in a hope to gain some sort of loyalty.
If she had any hope that she could turn my own staff against me just because she’d been married to my father, she was out of her mind and league.
The smile on Ana’s face was brief before it was quickly smothered by the flat expression that replaced it. She continued to rub her belly at me, while behind her, Alexander Steele pushed his way past Jonas with a piece of paper pinched between his fingers.
“Mr. McAllister,” he greeted with a nod. “We have this to present to you.”
The second it was within reach, I snatched the paper out of his hand.
The header was from a local health clinic right outside of Ellington Heights, Ana’s name listed under the ‘party’ line, along with mine and the child’s.
Below that was a table with DNA markers that were checked, all accounting for different percentages of the DNA and whatever else had been tested with the small sample I’d gladly sent over the second I’d been requested to do so a few days ago.
Down at the bottom, right above the signature line of the clinic’s director, was a line that stated the DNA of the child had a 50% match to mine.
“As you can see,” Steele said. “The child is biologically related to you.”
No...
“It’s a boy,” Ana stated. Just to drive the knife in deeper.
How? How had this happened so long after he’d proudly gotten a vasectomy? How the fuck had she even talked him into it in the first place?
My father was the most stubborn man on this planet. He’d barely raised me, what sense did it make to have another that he’d soon abandon, too, once things got too tough?
Fear of his legacy? The impending pendulum of morality finally catching up to him?
I couldn’t wrap my head around it. No matter how many ways I tried to.
Without warning, my body swayed, the solid weight of two hands coming up to press against my back being the only things that kept me upright while my vision began to shift from red to seeing spots of black instead.
I was holding the piece of paper so tightly in my hands that the edges of it were wrinkling.
What the fuck.
“Since we’ll need to negotiate the trust with this new information coming to light, my client requested access to the property to properly assess it and see what things she may want to negotiate for when we come to the table again.
” Steele’s voice was quick and to the point.
Something I’d normally appreciate in a lawyer if it wasn’t for the fact that my entire fucking life was falling apart at the moment.
This process was going to take much longer than a few sessions in Ted’s office while we argued over who got the family’s cast iron set and who got the titled sports cars in the attached garage. I’d have to wait for this child—my sibling—to grow up and divide everything fairly then.
Even as his mother, Ana had no claims to anything. She was merely the surrogate mouthpiece until his son was old enough to speak for himself. Until the courts decided he was old enough to make these decisions on his own.
A little less than twenty years would be spent sitting with my thumb up my ass. Everything would be frozen. Untouchable.
My eyes locked on Ana again. “Just take the money. Whatever amount you want. Just take it.”
Her mouth twitched slightly. “No. I want the house.”
“Just take the money.” I felt Brandon’s hands fisting in my shirt as I tried to step forward, keeping me from moving any further than the spot my feet had been planted in. “You could buy another damn mansion with it. Just take the fucking money, Ana.”
“No. I want my son to grow up here. With his father’s things.”
“He’s dead,” I spat out. “It’s not going to bring him back. Your son’s not going to learn jack shit about that man while living under this roof. Take the money and move on.”
She gave me a firm shake of her head. “No. We stay here.”
“Avery,” Brandon mumbled softly to me while hooking an arm around my waist.
He kept me locked tight against his chest, not letting me advance on her or Steele.
I’d never hit a woman before, never would either, but that wouldn’t stop me from dragging her and her fucking lawyer outside by whatever I could grab onto and throw them out of the house and slam the door shut behind them.
God, what the fuck.
“My client has expressed what her desires are, so we’ll be taking a look around and an inventory as we do so.
” Steele went on, completely ignoring how devastating of a bombshell that had been to drop on me.
“You’re welcome to join us but I suggest that it’s best for both your sake and my client’s to let us handle this process privately. ”
Jonas cleared his throat. “Mr. McAllister... I can notify you when they leave.”
None of this felt real.
I had to be in some terrible dream. I had to still be in bed, with Brandon tucked against me while we slept the morning away, completely oblivious to the world around us.
“Avery,” Brandon said again, this time using his arm to pivot me backward. “Let’s go upstairs.”
I was shaking my head, even as he was guiding me to the staircase and up the first few steps. I couldn’t let these strangers roam around my home. Not with these walls still seeped in such agony.
“Jonas...” My voice was tight.
He seemed to understand, even as my words failed me. “I’ll show them around and will let you know as soon as they leave.”
I wished those words would’ve given me some kind of relief, but all they did was harden the pit of dread that had long since settled in my stomach. I stumbled back into Brandon when we reached the top landing, my heels digging into the thick carpet the moment we were stationary.
None of that deterred my best friend from lurching me backward, forcing us both to take the corner that led down to my room.
And with that, both Steele and Ana disappeared from my view.