Sixteen
Linc
Stevie went right back to watching her show once Branwen stepped out of the limo. My eyes followed the sway of her hips as she walked up to the entrance. Fuck, I wanted to grab her ass. I blew out a sharp breath and forced my gaze in another direction. The decision to fly home rather than drive had been made for Stevie’s benefit, but, damn, it was for mine too. Another six hours with her sitting across from me, and my dick would have had a permanent zipper imprint on it.
My cell started ringing, and I leaned forward so I could slide it out of my pocket. Garrett’s name lit up the screen, and I frowned. I didn’t hear from him too much since he’d handed over the running of things to Blaise.
I hit Answer, then put the phone to my ear, leaning back in my seat again.
“What’s going on?” I asked, preparing for some shit I was going to have to deal with.
“I’m the one who should be asking you that,” he replied.
I glanced over at Stevie. “I’m assuming you are talking about the background check I had run.”
“That, and I was curious how she was doing. It’s been years since I checked in on her.”
I frowned, trying to figure out what the fuck he was talking about. Checked in on who?
“Uh, I’m not following you. I only had one background check pulled in the last week—on a Branwen Hester. Who are you talking about?”
“Branwen. How is she? And why didn’t you mention you’d fucked her five years ago?” He let out a deep, amused chuckle.
I shifted in my seat, trying to figure out how Garrett knew Branwen and why he thought I knew her too. Before Vegas. “I met her in Vegas. At a club. Am I understanding that you know her?”
I’d not read through her entire background check. I didn’t care about her childhood or even her twenties really. That wasn’t my concern.
Had she been connected to someone within the family? Or a business associate? She was too young to have been a friend of his. Unless he’d dated her once. Before he met and married Fawn, he had fucked around with some young ones.
I sat up, my hand tightening on the phone. If she’d fucked Garrett, then had she known who he was? About my connection to him?
“Linc”—his tone sounded incredulous—“you’re kidding, right?”
No, I wasn’t fucking kidding, and if he hadn’t been the boss for most of my life, then I would be demanding he tell me what the hell he was talking about.
“No,” I replied as calmly as I could. “I’m not. How do you know Branwen?”
There was silence for a moment, and I was starting to feel caged. A pounding behind my eyes took root as I waited for him to tell me who she was.
“She’s definitely grown up now, and not recognizing her is understandable, but you have the same background check that came through Blaise’s office. I can’t believe you don’t remember her, of all people. She was your fucking shadow. You called her something…some nickname.”
My eyes swung over to look at Stevie as she giggled at whatever the dogs were doing. The pale blonde head, full of curls, and her perfect little features. Then, she turned to look at me and smiled.
“Jesus Christ,” I whispered.
Garrett was saying something, but all I heard was her laughing, and another laugh from years ago began to replay in my head. That was why she’d looked familiar. Even the freckles that peppered her nose.
“Linc.” Garrett said my name into the phone, and I blinked, then swallowed hard.
“Yeah?” I croaked out.
“Everything okay?”
I shook my head, although he couldn’t see me. No, I was not okay.
“Yeah,” I replied. “I, uh…yeah.”
He chuckled again. “I can’t believe you didn’t remember her when you saw her name. And she didn’t say anything to you? She might have been a kid, but she was twelve when Demeter died. She’d spent six years of her life at my stables with him. And she worshipped the ground you walked on.”
Holy fuck. This was not real. How could Branwen be her?
My gaze went to the office building she’d walked into.
She had known who and what I was. So, she did know me. She recognized me in Vegas. She could have found me before. She lied about it. She’d kept Stevie away from me on purpose. That marriage license was the only reason she had shown up at my door.
“I don’t think I ever called her by her name before. The first time I met her, I nicknamed her. The name just didn’t register. The last name rang a bell though. But it was a lifetime ago when Demeter worked for the family.”
The surge of anger was being met with sheer fucking shock as I tried to replay every interaction with Branwen in Vegas that I could remember. Had she mentioned it, and I missed it? Or had it been during one of the spells where I blacked out from the opium and booze? Why hadn’t she said something when she came to get me to sign the divorce papers?
She’d probably expected me to see her name and realize who she was…but I hadn’t.
“She’s good now?” he asked. “I kept a check on her until she was grown. Made sure her aunt had what she needed financially to provide for her. I only checked in on her one more time when she was around twenty-six, I believe. She had a secure job at a dairy farm and was dating the owner’s son. Seemed serious from the report I got back. I was surprised to hear she hadn’t married the guy. From the pictures I’ve seen, she turned into a real beauty.”
Garrett hadn’t forgotten her. He’d checked in on her. Made sure she was okay. Out of loyalty to her father, who had been one hell of a trainer and bookie. One of the best the family had ever had.
The day he’d dropped dead from a heart attack was brutal. I held her while the paramedics came, and she sobbed hysterically. The funeral was the last time I had seen her. She’d rushed to me with tears streaming down her face and told me she had to go live with her aunt.
I knew nothing about her life after that.
I wasn’t the same person I had been then. Life had changed me. Made me darker, colder, and detached. I didn’t get involved. I didn’t show affection.
It seemed it had changed her too. She had grown into a liar. A cruel one. She had planned to keep my child from me and let another man raise her.
“She’s good,” I finally said.
Looking over at my daughter, I knew I wouldn’t put my hands around Branwen’s neck because of her. But she was going to pay for this. The betrayal stung, but my grief over the four years I’d lost from Stevie’s life was greater than anything else. No excuse or apology could give that back to me. Or to my daughter. She had wanted a dad. She had wanted one, and I couldn’t be one because of Branwen.
It wasn’t just me she had stolen from, but our daughter too.