Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
Addison was having trouble concentrating on her work. Smiling as she worked on the Batman cake she was making for a customer’s six-year-old son, she thought about the last few days. She and Ricky hadn’t made love since that first time, but he’d proven how good he was at oral sex, and she’d returned the favor. Nothing with him seemed awkward. Their time was limited to after the kids were all put to bed, and even then it was a crapshoot if Yana or one of the boys woke up and needed something. But they made the little time they did have count.
Standing up and stretching her back, her smile faded as her mind switched to a less pleasant topic.
Today after school, Ellory would be meeting her biological father for the first time.
To her and Ricky’s surprise, she’d been excited to learn about Brady, even more so to know that he wanted to meet her. Addison was relieved but also cautious. She just hoped Brady would follow through, wouldn’t just meet her once and then decide he didn’t want to be a father anymore. That would crush Ellory.
Since Ricky would be going with them, Artem, Borysko, and Yana would hang out with Preacher and Maggie after school, here at the house. Their friends would pick the boys up from school while Ricky grabbed the girls.
The truth was, the closer the time came for Ellory to meet her bio-dad, the more worried Addison got. Time had a way of making things she hadn’t seen back when she was in her twenties clearer. Brady had been impatient, concerned with outward appearances, and he didn’t have a very high tolerance for any kind of behavior that was outside the norm. She just hoped that he’d changed over the years.
A few hours later, the woman who’d ordered the Batman cake arrived and gushed over how adorable it turned out. Addison was pretty pleased with it herself. She still had an hour or so before Ricky arrived home with Ellory and Yana, and she figured she should do something productive, like laundry or vacuuming, but she was too nervous.
She sat on the couch, then immediately got up. She couldn’t stop wondering how today would go. Worries about how Brady could treat Ellory kept creeping in.
When her phone rang, Addison was glad for the distraction. Looking down, she saw Maggie’s name on the caller ID.
“Hi, Maggie.”
“Hey.”
“Please tell me you aren’t calling to cancel,” Addison begged.
“Nope. Shawn and I will be there soon. I was just calling to check on you. See how you were doing. I know when we get there, we won’t have much time to chat.”
“Oh…I’m okay.”
“We haven’t been friends for long, but you can talk to me.”
And with that, Addison found herself pouring out all her worries to the other woman. “It’s just that…Brady wasn’t reliable twelve years ago, and I have no idea what kind of person he is today. I can handle him being a jerk, but I don’t want that for Ellory.”
“You’ve warned her that things might not go the way she wants, right?” Maggie asked.
“Of course. But that doesn’t mean she still isn’t hoping he’ll end up being the perfect dad.”
“Right. So…what’s the worst-case scenario?”
“Huh?”
“The worst case? If you think about what that might be, anything he actually does has to be better, right?”
Addison chuckled. “Right. Um…he’s a drug kingpin who wants to use Ellory to run drugs?”
“Or he owns a circus and wants Ellory to move in with him and become his main act.”
They both laughed. Addison took a deep breath. “Or he’s a changed man, honestly wants to get to know his daughter, and they click and things work out just fine,” she said quietly.
“Yeah. I’m hoping for that one,” Maggie agreed.
“I appreciate you coming over to stay with the kids while we meet with Brady.”
“Of course. I miss them. And since they already know Shawn and I, hopefully they won’t be as nervous with you guys gone.”
Addison had already warned Maggie that the three of them were still a little skittish when it came to being separated from her and Ricky. She didn’t blame them, and they were working on building their confidence back up. “They’re looking forward to hanging out with you guys,” she said. “How are you doing? Everything all right with the baby?”
“So far, so good. I’ve been getting a little nauseous in the mornings, but I’m hoping this will be the worst of it.”
Addison couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Shit. I know, I know, it’ll probably get worse. I just really hate throwing up. Seriously.”
“I agree. So I won’t tell you that when I was pregnant with Ellory, I had morning sickness for four months straight.”
“No, I definitely don’t want to hear that,” Maggie said, sounding horrified.
“Well, if you feel up to it, I tried something new and made cake-batter brownies.”
“I have no idea what that is, but it sounds delicious.”
Addison smiled. “Oh, it is. It’s a mixture of brownies that somehow looks and tastes like a cake.”
“I don’t care about the particulars, I just want it in my belly,” Maggie joked.
Addison’s smile faded. “Maggie?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m really nervous about today. I want to shield Ellory from any hurt, and I just have a feeling this meeting isn’t going to go well.”
“Of course you want to keep her from getting hurt, but that’s not how life works. All you can do is teach her how to deal with disappointment, celebrate successes, and be there for her when things don’t go the way she wants. And from everything I know about you, you already do all that. Just be there for her. Love her.”
Her words made Addison feel better. “Yeah.”
“If I’m half the mom you are, I’ll consider that a success.”
Addison was overwhelmed at her new friend’s words. “Thanks,” she said.
“You’re welcome. Okay, I need to go and get ready to meet Shawn when he gets off work so we can go get the boys. You good?”
“I’m good,” Addison confirmed.
“All right. We’ll be there in half an hour or so. Don’t worry. Whatever happens will happen.”
“Am I doing the right thing?” Addison blurted. “I mean, by letting Ellory meet Brady.”
“Yes. The last thing you want is her finding out later that she had the opportunity to meet him and you didn’t allow it. No matter how things go, she has a right to meet her father. To make her own decisions about whether she wants a relationship with him or not.”
“You’re right.”
“I know,” Maggie said. “But that doesn’t mean the decision is easy. He hurt you. And there’s no guarantee he won’t hurt his daughter. But you have to take that risk and deal with the consequences after.”
“How’d you get so smart?” Addison asked.
“It’s easy to be when I’m not in your shoes. If I was, I’m sure I’d feel differently. I’ll see you soon.”
“All right. Bye.”
Addison hung up and realized she felt better. Maggie was right. If there was the smallest chance that Brady had changed, that he really did want a relationship with his daughter, she wouldn’t stand in the way of that. It meant a new complication in her and Ricky’s already pretty hectic life, but if things worked out, Ellory would have someone else who loved her. And that would never be a bad thing.
Deciding she had time to fold a load of laundry—she swore the damn clothes multiplied when she wasn’t looking—she’d just finished putting the clean items away in dressers and closets when she heard a knock on the door.
It was Maggie and Preacher with Artem and Borysko.
The younger boy immediately ran forward when the door opened and hugged Addison tightly. He was the more clingy of the two boys. While Artem didn’t offer a hug, he still looked relieved to see her.
“Hey. How was school?” Addison asked.
“Good,” Borysko said. “I learn how to spell lasagna. It is strange word, but good in stomach.”
Addison laughed. “Very true. Unfortunately, there are a lot of words in the English language that are spelled strangely. Artem? What did you learn today?”
“Girls say one thing, but mean different.”
Addison sensed a story there. “Yeah?” she said, encouraging him to keep going.
He nodded. “Girl in class, she say she no like me, but when we outside, she want me to chase her. So I did. When I caught her, she kiss me! Blech !”
Addison, Maggie, and Preacher all laughed. “Yeah, girls can be weird about telling the boys they like that they actually like them,” Addison told him. “How about you two go change. Then you can get a snack.”
“Cheese!” Borysko yelled before running toward his room.
Artem was a little more subdued, but Addison knew how much he loved his snacks too. He smiled at her, then followed his brother just as a car pulled into the driveway. It was Ricky with Ellory and Yana.
Yana raced into the house, hugged Addison, then ran to find her brothers. It was always the first thing she did when she got home.
Ricky’s arm went around Addison’s waist. “Ready?”
She nodded. Ellory had stayed in the car, waiting for them.
“She okay?” Addison asked.
“Excited. Nervous. But okay.”
“Things will be fine here. Take as much time as you want,” Preacher told them.
“Yeah, we’ll just be stuffing our faces with your brownie cake thing,” Maggie said with a smile.
“Wait, what? Brownie cake?” Ricky asked.
Addison smiled. Her man had the biggest sweet tooth…it was adorable.
“Come on, let’s get this over with,” she said, dragging Ricky toward the open door.
Maggie waved and Preacher gave them a chin lift before they shut the door behind them. Ricky’s hand on the small of Addison’s back felt good. To have him by her side was all the confidence she needed to put on a brave face for her daughter.
After she got in the car and put on her seat belt, Addison turned slightly to look at Ellory in the back. She looked…freaked out. No matter how nervous Addison was about this, she wanted the visit to go well. She needed to calm her daughter a little.
“Hey, how was school?” she asked.
“Fine.”
“Learn anything new?”
“No.”
Right. This wasn’t going well. “Breathe, El. This is going to be fine.”
“What if he doesn’t like me?”
“How could he not like you?” Addison asked.
Ellory shrugged.
“El, listen to me. Are you listening?” Ricky said as he drove down the road.
“Yeah.”
“Whether or not Brady likes you isn’t the point of this visit. It’s so you can meet him and he can meet you. You have plenty of time to build rapport. You’re going to have to get to know each other. This is like a first date, they’re almost always awkward. Just go with the flow. Besides, if he doesn’t like you, it’s his loss. Because you’re an amazing young lady. Kind, smart, compassionate, beautiful, and strong as hell. Got it?”
Addison loved this man all the more for always sticking up for her daughter.
Ellory said nothing.
Turning back around so she was facing forward once more, Addison looked over at Ricky. His hands were tight around the steering wheel and his knuckles were white. He was as nervous about this as she and Ellory were. She suspected he was feeling uneasy about his role in Ellory’s life. He’d settled into being her father as if he’d been born to it, and now another man—one who held the official title as her father—was coming into their lives. It had to be nerve-racking for Ricky.
Reaching over, Addison took his right hand from the wheel and held it tightly. He looked over at her for a brief moment, gave her a small smile, then turned his attention back to the road.
It wasn’t long before they arrived at the café where they’d planned to meet Brady. There was a parking spot not too far down the street, and Ricky deftly parallel parked. Before long, they were entering the café.
Brady hadn’t arrived yet, so they found a table near the windows—because the seating situation would be awkward in a booth—so they could see him when he got there.
“Do I look okay?” Ellory asked, smoothing her hair back.
“You look perfect,” Ricky told her.
The waitress came over and Addison ordered waters for them all. Ellory was still fasting, so she wouldn’t be eating anything, but it didn’t seem as if she was interested in food right now anyway. Addison herself wasn’t sure she’d be able to keep anything down with the way her own stomach was rolling with nerves.
Five minutes went by. Then ten. When fifteen minutes past Brady’s scheduled time went by, Addison started to get mad.
“He’s not coming, is he?” Ellory asked, her shoulders drooping.
Addison reached for her daughter’s hand, holding on tightly when she tried to pull back. “Brady’s always late,” she reassured the preteen. “Seriously, when we were together, we didn’t get anywhere on time. We’d always miss the previews of movies when we went to the theater, and everyone knows that’s the best part. Hell, he was late for your birth, sweetie. He missed the entire thing, showing up an hour after you were born, strolling in as if he had no clue that he’d arrived late.”
“Really? You aren’t just saying that to make me feel better?”
“I’m absolutely telling you that to make you feel better,” Addison said. “But it’s also true. I should’ve remembered that about him and gave him a meeting time half an hour before we really wanted to meet.”
Ellory nodded and sat up straighter.
Addison wanted to kill Brady. Couldn’t he attempt to show up on time just this once? He had to know this was important to Ellory.
Just as she had the thought, she saw him walking toward the café. “See? There he is.”
Ellory’s head spun around, and she watched as Brady strolled down the sidewalk as if he didn’t have a care in the world. “Oh, he’s not very tall.”
Addison suppressed a chuckle. She was a couple of inches taller than her ex, and while Brady wasn’t exactly short, her daughter had obviously gotten used to her height, and being around Ricky and his friends, who were all at least six feet or taller.
Addison stood as Brady entered the small café, and he immediately saw her and headed toward the table.
Ellory was staring at her father as if entranced.
Brady leaned forward and hugged Addison before she could step back. It was an uncomfortable moment, as Ricky had stood with her, his hand on the small of her back as her ex held on for a beat too long.
“Good to see you again,” Brady said when he pulled back. He held out his hand to Ricky. “And you must be the husband.”
“I am,” Ricky said, waiting a long moment before shaking Brady’s hand.
Then her ex turned to Ellory.
“And you have to be Ellory. I’d know you anywhere. You have your mom’s bright red hair. Can’t miss that.” He chuckled at his own joke. “Shall we sit?” he asked, not waiting for anyone to answer before pulling the fourth chair out at the table.
They all sat. It was awkward that he hadn’t hugged his daughter, or even offered to shake her hand.
“So…” Brady said. “You’re my daughter. I thought you might be taller by now. You’re twelve, right?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Your mom is a giant, and I’m no slouch. Wonder what happened to you.”
Addison’s belly rolled. This wasn’t starting out well. “Puberty happens at different times for different people, Brady. She’s only twelve, lots of time for her to grow.”
“Right. So…tell me about you? What do you like to do? Where do you go to school? Are you in any activities?”
Ellory was hesitant at first, but she slowly relaxed, especially since she had her father’s undivided attention. He’d turned toward her and was nodding and offering the appropriate responses to everything she said. He genuinely seemed interested in what she was telling him, which made Addison relax a fraction.
But Ricky was still as tense as ever next to her. Addison put her hand on his leg, trying to reassure him. That didn’t seem to help at all. He was sitting ramrod straight, staring at Brady.
“Have you lived in Riverton long?” Ellory asked after a while.
“Been back here about a year or so. I’ve lived in New York City, Chicago, DC, Atlanta…but always missed the West Coast. There’s nothing like being back in California. It just has a different vibe, you know?”
Ellory nodded eagerly. “I love it here.”
“But it’s good to get away, to see more of the world than one little corner. You ever been to LA? Or out of the state?”
Ellory shook her head.
“Pity. I’d love to take you to New York. Now that’s a city that never sleeps. We could go to a Broadway play, eat some authentic New York bagels, see Times Square…you know, all the good stuff.”
Ellory’s eyes were huge in her face. “Really?”
“Yeah, really. And every kid should see our nation’s capital. We could rent scooters and see all the monuments.”
With every word out of his mouth, Addison tensed. For one, she wasn’t yet willing to let Ellory go on trips so far away without her. But two, she had no idea if Brady really meant what he was saying or if he was blowing smoke up his daughter’s ass. He’d been full of promises back when they were together. Promises he could never keep.
“Should we order?” Brady asked no one in particular. He raised his hand and snapped his fingers at a waitress who was across the room.
Addison winced. She’d forgotten that about him. He used to do that all the time, and it always embarrassed her. It was a rude thing to do and extremely disrespectful. Ricky’s thigh muscle tensed under her hand. She gripped him tightly, hoping he wouldn’t lose his cool.
The waitress came over to their table.
“We’d like to order. I’d like a bloody Mary, a double hamburger with cheese, and fries.”
“I’m sorry, sir, we don’t serve alcohol.”
“Well, shit. Fine. A large soda then. Ellory, what do you want? Get anything. It’s on me.”
“Oh, I’m not hungry,” she said with a shrug.
“Not hungry? How can you not be hungry? I was always starving after school. And you’re skinny as a rail. You should eat something. If you ever want to get curves, you have to eat.”
“It’s okay,” Ellory said.
Brady opened his mouth to protest some more, but Addison intervened. “I’ll have a small salad with ranch on the side, please.”
“Nothing for me,” Ricky said tersely.
“Great, so now there are two of you not eating. Whatever,” Brady said.
The waitress left to put their order in, and Brady started talking about some of the people he’d met while he lived in New York. Addison hadn’t heard of any of them, though he swore they were all famous movie stars. Ellory didn’t take her gaze from her father. She seemed star-struck.
When their food was served, Brady couldn’t keep from commenting once more on the fact that Ellory wasn’t eating. He spoke with his mouth full, something else Addison had forgotten about the man.
“Seriously, why aren’t you eating? Something wrong with you?”
Addison could see the moment Ellory decided to tell her father about her condition. She wanted to stop her, tell her to leave the explanation for another time, but it was her decision.
“I have Crohn’s disease.”
“What’s that?” Brady asked, his burger halfway to his mouth.
“It’s where my intestinal tract becomes inflamed and painful.”
Brady frowned. “So what does that mean? You can’t eat?”
“I can,” Ellory explained patiently. “But sometimes it hurts. Right now, I’m doing a new kind of treatment where I fast for a few days, then eat a little before fasting again. It’s a way to empty out my system so I don’t get cramps or any other symptoms.”
Brady put down his burger. “So you’re starving yourself?”
“No. I have these shake things I drink to get nutrients.”
“No wonder you’re so small and puny. You have to eat to grow, Ellory.”
“Brady,” Addison warned, not liking her ex’s attitude. He hadn’t been any kind of father to their daughter for even one day in the last twelve years, and why he thought it was appropriate to share his offensive opinions now was infuriating.
“What? I’m just saying,” Brady said defensively.
Addison watched her daughter flush. She was sensitive about the fact that she had delayed puberty as a result of her Crohn’s. She didn’t need her father pointing it out. “Until you get to know Ellory better, you have no right to give her advice about anything going on in her life. But so you know, she’s doing really well on this new treatment. Eventually, we’ll reduce the days she rests her bowels in the hopes that her intestines will adjust.”
Brady stared at Ellory. His gaze flicked from her face, to her torso, then back to her face. “Well, sucks that you can’t enjoy things like this amazing burger and fries. They’re delicious.”
Addison gaped at the man. Ellory was used to not eating what others around her enjoyed, but to rub it in her face that she was missing out was just plain cruel.
“So, you’re a janitor,” Ricky said out of the blue. “You a contractor for the Navy then?”
Brady shrugged and took another large bite of his burger. “Yeah. Decided to try something new.”
“What did you do before?” Ricky pressed.
“This and that.”
“This and that meaning what?” He obviously wasn’t going to let it go.
As if just realizing that Ricky was interrogating him, Brady put down his burger and wiped his fingers on a napkin. “Sorry, man. I don’t feel like I need to tell you my life history.”
“If you want to keep seeing your daughter, you will,” Ricky said, his voice low and harsh. “Because if you think we’re ever going to let her be around a complete stranger without us accompanying her every single time, you’re dreaming.”
“I’m not a stranger,” Brady insisted. “I’m her father. Tell this Neanderthal he’s being unreasonable, Addison.”
Taking a deep breath, Addison said, “Actually, I’m interested in what you’ve been doing these last twelve years myself. I tried to find you after you left. You said you’d help with Ellory, then you disappeared as if into thin air.”
Brady stared at her, then scowled. “I don’t need this shit. Ellory, it was great to meet you. I hope we can talk again. But until your mom stops jumping down my throat and being unreasonable, I’m not sure that will happen. Maybe we can text or something. If she’ll give you my number, seeing as I’m obviously a serial killer and all that.” Brady sounded disgusted. He stood up abruptly and stormed toward the door.
Addison stared after him with a sigh. Yup, that was a pure Brady reaction. Twisting things so nothing was his fault. Blaming her .
Worried about what Ellory was thinking, Addison looked at her daughter. She’d turned in her chair to watch Brady storm out of the café, and now she slowly turned back around to face the table. She looked at his half-eaten meal, then up at Addison.
“Guess the food wasn’t on him, was it?”
Addison practically sagged in her seat. There was disappointment in her daughter’s face, but not anger at her . It was a huge relief.
“Guess not,” Addison agreed.
“Ricky? Are you okay?” Ellory asked.
Looking at her husband, Addison saw that his lips were pressed together, and he was sitting stock still. “Ricky?”
He took a long, slow breath in through his nose, then let it out. “If you’ll excuse me for a moment,” he said, then stood and headed for the door.
“Oh no. He isn’t going to hurt him, is he?” Ellory asked.
“No,” Addison said…but honestly? She wasn’t sure what Ricky was going to do.
* * *
MacGyver was pissed. Angrier than he could remember being in a very long time. How dare Vogel be so condescending to his own daughter. Constantly commenting on her height and weight. And when he’d found out she had Crohn’s, he’d been incredibly insensitive. If the man ever wanted to spend another second with his daughter, he needed an attitude adjustment.
Jogging to catch up to Addison’s ex, MacGyver called out, “Vogel,” as he approached from behind.
Turning, Brady seemed surprised to see MacGyver coming up on him fast. “What do you want?” he asked belligerently.
Yeah, this was the man MacGyver had sensed was under the fake interest he’d shown in Ellory.
“I want to know what your deal is,” MacGyver said. “Why you’re showing any interest in your daughter now when you haven’t cared for the last twelve years. Hell, you’ve been in Riverton for a year, by your own admission. Why haven’t you tried to look up Addison and Ellory during that time?”
“It’s none of your business,” Vogel told him.
“ Wrong . It’s one hundred percent my business. Ellory and Addison are living under my roof. They’re my stepdaughter and wife. And I protect what’s mine.”
“Do they know you’re talking about them as if they’re property? Or slaves?”
MacGyver couldn’t help it. He laughed. “I know it’s been over a decade since you’ve seen your ex, but I’m sure you remember enough to know that Addison is no one’s property. She has a mind of her own, and I love it. And her.”
Vogel rolled his eyes. “Whatever, man. I don’t answer to you.”
“Again—wrong. If you truly want to get to know your daughter, you absolutely answer to me. And when you get defensive and angry about a simple question regarding what you’ve been doing for the last twelve years, that makes me suspicious. Makes me wonder what you’ve been up to. I know people, Vogel. People who are all too happy to do an in-depth background check to protect those they care about.”
“Are you threatening me?” Vogel asked.
“No. I’m telling you what’s going to happen. If you’ve got skeletons in your closet that’ll hurt Ellory, I’ll find them.”
“Fuck you!”
MacGyver simply raised a brow. He really didn’t like this guy. It sucked that he was Ellory’s father, but he’d do whatever it took to protect his stepdaughter. Even if it made her angry. Even if she hated him for it. He’d gladly accept her ire if it meant keeping her out of danger.
“Fine. You want to know what I’ve done in the last twelve years? The same thing I do now. I’ve been a janitor. I didn’t want my daughter to know because I wanted her to admire me. To look up to me. No one wants a janitor for a dad. Yes, I’m still a janitor here in Riverton, but working at the medical center on base is a step up for me. I earn a decent salary and benefits for the first time in years. That’s why I didn’t want to say what I’ve been doing. Happy now?”
MacGyver stared at the man in front of him. He sounded genuine. But he still had his doubts. “Ellory doesn’t care what you do for a living. All she wants is to get to know her dad. Don’t lie to her. She’s smart. She’ll figure it out, and then you’ll lose her before you’ve even had a chance to get to know her. And stop commenting on her size. She’s sensitive about it, and you constantly harping on it isn’t helping endear her to you.”
“Fine.”
“And if I can give you more advice, do some research on Crohn’s. It’s something she’s going to have for the rest of her life. She’ll never grow out of it, there’s no cure. You’ll need to understand the ins and outs of the disease so you can help her if she needs it.”
Vogel nodded. Then said, “Are we done here?”
“Yeah. We’re done,” MacGyver said.
“Am I going to get to see my daughter again?”
“That’s up to her, not me.”
“Bullshit. We both know you and Addison can keep her from me if you want. Don’t make me get a lawyer.”
MacGyver snorted. “Right. That’s not happening. If you wanted to see Ellory that bad, you would’ve seen a lawyer long before now— and you would’ve been giving Addison child support. Prove that you’re willing to do whatever it takes to spend time with your daughter, and we’ll see what happens.”
With that, MacGyver turned and headed back to the café. To his wife and Ellory, who were both probably freaking out.
Vogel said the right things…well, no. He said a bunch of not-so-right things, but his explanation of why he’d sidestepped telling them what he’d done for a living before moving back to Riverton rang true. MacGyver still didn’t like the man, though for now, he had no reason to keep Ellory from talking to him. But time would tell.
* * *
Brady Vogel paced his small piece-of-shit apartment. Back and forth, back and forth, stewing in his anger. Today hadn’t gone as he’d hoped. His bitch of an ex just had to bring her new husband, and he’d asked too many questions. Questions Brady wasn’t willing to answer.
And not because he was embarrassed . He wasn’t a goddamn janitor. Hadn’t been a janitor for the last decade…but he couldn’t afford to let Addison’s husband actually follow through on that background check.
Because he was a con man. He made money off anyone and everyone he could. Men or women. Drug addicts, millionaires, old women who were desperate for a man, young men who trusted him to invest their money. You name the con, he’d done it.
He’d actually come back to California because he’d gotten connected with a new contact. A man who made more money than Brady had ever seen in his lifetime…and he did it by peddling human flesh.
He bought babies from desperate women who didn’t want or couldn’t care for their children, and sold them to families desperate to adopt.
He befriended runaways and “introduced” them to pimps who needed new employees.
Befriended sick men and women, old and young, with no families to protect them, and convinced them to give him medical power of attorney. The second they died, he sold their usable body parts to big corporations for thousands of dollars.
And Brady was lucky enough to become a small part of it. At the request of his contact, he volunteered at the free clinic downtown, which gave him access to people and information that helped the man’s business. He noted the women who came in to give birth alone. Who were addicted to drugs. The sick and dying who were desperate for a friendly face. He passed all the information along to his associate, who in turn funneled money back to him.
Brady didn’t feel bad about any of it either. He’d been conning people for too long to have a conscience. Hell, he’d felt no guilt abandoning his own child all those years ago. A kid was just something that would’ve gotten in his way and cost him money.
When he ran into Addison on base, it was a surprise—one he’d hoped to benefit from. If there was anything easier than swindling strangers, it was conning people he knew well. And for a minute there, he’d actually looked forward to meeting his daughter too. You never knew where opportunities might arise in his line of work.
But now? Not so much. She was pathetic . Puny. Looked too much like his ex. If something was wrong with her bowels, that meant she probably had shitting problems.
Despite what he’d told Addison, the worst part about his job at the hospital was cleaning up after people who lost control of their bowels. The fact that his daughter was one of those people disgusted him. Twelve years old and her intestines didn’t even work right…
But he bet her other organs did.
He stopped pacing and stared into space, thinking hard. It was one thing to sell the body parts for someone who died of disease or old age. But the demand for organs and other parts from children was sky-high. People would pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for an undamaged child’s heart. Or liver. Or eyes.
Desperate people did desperate things.
He knew that so well, considering what he did for a living.
The longer Brady thought about the day—about the asshole Addison had married, about his daughter and her disease—the stronger the idea in the back of his mind became.
He didn’t want anything to do with his daughter. Didn’t want to get to know her. He couldn’t deal with the kind of issues she had. But…what if he could make some money from this situation?
Everything he did was about making money. Brady had no problem throwing anyone under the proverbial bus if it earned him some cash. And knowing his daughter would live a shitty life—literally—suffering from an incurable disease, made what he was thinking seem less…horrible.
He spent a few minutes debating with himself.
Ellory was his own flesh and blood…could he really do what he was thinking to his own kid?
But she was suffering. Crohn’s seemed like a horrible thing. Surely she wouldn’t want to live the rest of her life that way.
Bonus…it would piss off Addison’s new husband. Maybe even devastate him. Hit him in a way a physical confrontation never could.
Brady screwed people over all the time, but it was a huge leap from taking an unwanted kid from one woman and selling it to another who was desperate for a child, or waiting for an old man to die so he could sell his organs, to selling someone he had a cellular-level connection with. Ellory had his DNA in her veins.
Could he really hand her over to his contact, knowing what would happen to her?
The answer was…yes.
Brady scrunched his nose. He was an asshole. But truthfully, he’d be doing Ellory a favor. No one wanted to live with a chronic disease. She’d help other children and be relieved of her pain at the same time.
The more he thought about it, the better the idea seemed. He’d sell his daughter to his contact, who in turn would get hundreds of thousands of dollars for her body parts, which Brady would also get a cut of. He wouldn’t actually be killing her, which made him feel better in a twisted kind of way.
His idea was foolproof. He just had to play the game a little longer…something Brady was really good at. He’d conned people all over the country. It would be even sweeter to see the new husband suffer when Ellory disappeared.
He protected what was his? Bullshit . Brady was smarter than that asshole. Ellory was his daughter—and he’d do whatever he wanted with her.
The unfortunate truth was, she was worth more to him dead than alive. It was just a matter of playing the role of a lifetime to get what he wanted. Money. He could pretend to be a loving and doting father. It wouldn’t be for long. Just long enough for Addison and the asshole to let down their guards. Then he’d be swimming in more money than he could imagine.
It was time to step up his game. The new con was on, and Brady couldn’t wait for payday.